This curry was inspired by one that my sister-in-law cooked when I was staying with her up in London- why had I never thought of combining chickpeas and lentils into one dish? I always find chickpea curries a bit too much without anything to break up the chickpeas, but mixed with lentils they just add a fantastic consistency and bulk.

My brother and sister-in-law have been so lovely about having my husband and I to stay over the past few years- when we left London for Devon we envisaged that we would both get lots of work down in Devon and hardly need to be in London at all- the reality is that a big chunk of my husband’s work (he is a freelance filmmaker), and a few bits of mine are in London, so it makes it a little tricky that we moved away!

My sister-in-law is a great instinctive cook, she makes lovely hearty, wholesome food which is mainly vegan. Last time I stayed she cooked a curry very similar to this- tinned lentils and chickpeas, lots of veg, mushrooms and a few key spices and the end result was delicious! She served it with some poppadoms and mango chutney- I loved it and asked her permission to steal it for the blog as it’s perfect for making in bulk for easy-to-reheat lunches and dinners!

I also made a version of this for the kids which just missed out the mushrooms and the chilli- they ate it all up!