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A frugal but delicious vegan curry. Serve with brown rice for a filling and nutritious meal. This green split pea curry recipe is ideal for vegetarians, vegans and those on a gluten-free or nut-free diet.
When I was challenged recently tomeal plan for £2 a day per person to include breakfast, lunch & dinner, my mind immediately sprang to pulses. They are not only delicious, but are also relatively cheap, especially if you use dried ones rather than tinned. Find out about the challenge below along with my recipe for green split pea curry – a British take on an Indian classic.
Voucherbox £2 Challenge with Zamcog
Voucherbox has teamed up with Zamcog to raise awareness of child poverty. The challenge is to feed ourselves and our families for £2 each for a day. I am always humbled when I take on this sort of challenge. Many people around the world have less than £2to live on for an entireday and we didn’t even have to factor in the additional cost of the actual cooking.
Whilst food is scarce for many, we in the West are thoroughly spoilt and throw away an astonishingamount. It’s really very shocking.
80%of Zambian children live below the poverty line and 75%don’t have access to education. Yet it costs just £2 per day to feed, cloth and educate a child there.Zamcogis a UK based charity that is dedicated to helping feed and educate Zambia’s most at-risk children. They believe that education can eradicate poverty and build futures.
I had a friend who lived in Zambia when I was a child and it all sounded very exotic and exciting. I had no idea so many people there lived so badly. Voucherbox are donating £50 to Zamcog for each blogger who takes part and helps to spread awareness of this shocking plight. If you’re a blogger and would like to take part in the #2poundchallenge, head over to Voucherbox for further details. It’s running throughout February.
Frugality & Variety
I have a frugal streak that relished this challenge and I didn’t really find it much of a hardship. In fact, I was surprised at how well we ate. But it did make me think. I like to eat nutritious ingredients and organic produce where I can.
Although the food was healthy and well balanced, I was unable to get as many organic ingredients in as I normally would and the foods were very basic. Much as I love pulses and the green split pea curry, I also relish variety: such a restricted diet would soon drain the colourout of life.
£2 Food for a Day Challenge
So what did we eat on the day, apart from green split pea curry of course? I had £4 for the two of us, but even then I managed to underspend.We ate well and healthily and the plan even included a slice of my chocolate cake for £1.
I used a few organic ingredients; omitting these and being a canny shopper could reduce the cost to almost the £3 mark.I already had quite a lot of the ingredients in stock, so I used a mix ofsupermarketprices and the actual prices I paid for costing up purposes.
Frugality was the name of the game, butI thought a bit of luxury to start the day was called for. I made this filling and nutritiousprune porridge with walnuts and cinnamon. The walnuts were expensive and breakfastcame in as the most costly meal of the day, but it was worth it. Feeling miserable first thing in the morning is not a good way to go.
We drank tea and water throughout the day. Rooibos isn’t the cheapest of teas, but we like it and unlike conventional tea, the teabags can be used a secondand even a thirdtime. One teabag in a pot gives us 4 good cups of tea.
There are some things I won’t compromise on and eggs are one of these. I buy free-range eggs from my local Country Market and they are by no means cheap.I’d rather go without though, than eat factory farmedeggs. As it turned out, I was able to have egg on toast for lunch and this proved to be the cheapest meal at 77p.
Green Split Pea Curry. PIN IT.
Green Split Pea Curry
For supper I made green split pea curry with carrots and served it with long grain brown rice. I made double the amount we needed, so there was no need to cook the next day. The curry was totally delicious, nutritious and filling and I wondered why I’d never thought to use British split peas in a curry before.
The higher quality the curry powder the better your curry will taste. I used Steenbergs organic curry powder, which is a particularly good one.
For another frugal curry but elevated with roasted carrots, try this lentil carrot curry.
Meal Plan for My £2 a Day Challenge
Breakfast – prune porridge = £1.39
- organic rolled oats – 80g = 16p (7p for non-organic)
- milk – 1 pt (enough for porridge and plenty of tea) = 44p
- prunes – 6 prunes =20p
- ground cinnamon – 2g= 2p
- walnuts – 50g = 50p
- rooibos tea – 2 teabags (providing 8 cups of tea) = 7p
Here’s my recipe for prune porridge, if you’d like to see it.
Lunch – Poached egg ontoast with Marmite = £0.77
- 4 large slices wholemeal bread = 16p
- butter – 20g = 7p
- Marmite = 1g per slice = 4p
- 2 free range eggs (from local farmer’s market) = 50p
Afternoon Tea – Chocolate Cake = 25p
- 2 slices of my chocolate cake for £1 = 25p
Dinner – Green split pea curry with brown rice = £1.25 plus spices
- 125g green split peas = 24p
- 1 tbsp (15ml) sunflower oil = 2p
- 1 organic onion (100g) = 13p
- 2 organic carrots (100g) = 13p
- clove garlic = 3p
- ½ a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes = 19p
- ⅓ tsp sea salt = 1p
- 1 tsp organic curry powder = 16p
- ¼tsp turmeric = 2p
- ¼tsp chilli flakes = 2p
- 120g organic long-grain brown rice = 30p (ordinary brownrice = 12p)
Grand Total = £3.66
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this green split pea curry recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or via social media. Do share a photo on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot it.
For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter,Facebook, InstagramorPinterest. And don’t forget toSUBSCRIBEto my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?
If you’d like morecurry recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Green Split Pea Curry – The Recipe
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5 from 10 votes
Green Split Pea Curry
A frugal but delicious vegan curry. Serve with brown rice for a filling and nutritious meal.
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr 25 minutes mins
Soaking Time8 hours hrs
Total Time1 hour hr 45 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: curry, dhal, easy, frugal, split peas
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 341kcal
Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme
Ingredients
- 250 g green split peas
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil (30 ml)
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 4 carrots scrubbed and diced
- 2 tsp curry powder use mild or medium, depending on preference
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
- ½ tsp sea salt or up to a tsp (as required)
Metric – US Customary
Instructions
Soak the peas overnight and for 24 hours if possible. The longer they’re soaked, the quicker they will take to cook.
250 g green split peas
Wash well. Cover with water. Bring to the boil then simmer for an hour or so until tender. They can also be cooked in a slow cooker or pressure cooker.
Fry the onions, carrots and garlic in the oil over a moderate heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally.
2 tbsp sunflower oil, 1 large onion, 4 carrots, 2 cloves garlic
Add the spices and fry for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes and salt and simmer for a further ten minutes or so. Add the peas and simmer for a few more minutes.
2 tsp curry powder, ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp chilli flakes, 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes, ½ tsp sea salt
Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Serve with rice or flatbreads.
Notes
Overnight soaking required.
Halve the amount for two people or save half of it for the following day.
Will keep in the fridge for 3 days if covered.
Please note:calories are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.
Nutrition Estimate
Calories: 341kcal | Carbohydrates: 52.1g | Protein: 17.4g | Fat: 8.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.9g | Sodium: 64mg | Potassium: 891mg | Fiber: 19.9g | Sugar: 12.9g | Calcium: 1020mg | Iron: 0.7mg
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.
Linkies
As I cooked enough for two days running, I’m sharing this green split pea curry with Corina at Searching for Spice for Cook Once EatTwice.
My green split pea curry also goes to Jac at Tinned Tomatoes for Meat Free Mondays.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. As it’s written for charitable purposes, I’ve only taken a small fraction of my normal fee.I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are, as always, my own. Thanks for supporting the brands andorganisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
