Heat the olive oil in a large casserole and sauté the onion for 5 minutes over medium-low heat.
Stir in the spices, salt, garlic, ginger and butternut squash.
Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a rolling simmer.
Add in the red lentils – they tend to become a solid mass once you rinse them so break them up with a spoon.
Add the chickpeas and tomatoes and simmer, partially covered for 15 minutes until the curry has thickened and squash is tender.
Mix in the spinach until it starts to wilt and then stir in the coconut cream. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and a pinch red chilli flakes.
Slow cooker method
Fry the onion with the spices, ginger and garlic then add to your slow cooker together with the squash, chickpeas, and tomatoes.
Add the stock and give everything a good stir. Cook on low for 8 hours, stirring in the spinach and cream at the end.
Video
Notes
This one-pot dhal is naturally vegan and gluten free.
You don't need to soak the red lentils, however you do need to give them a good rinse.
You can experiment by adding different veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and so on.
If you like to add a bit more flavour into the curry you can fry mustard seeds in rapeseed oil until they start to pop. Drizzle the seeds and oil over the curry before serving.
This dhal curry is quite mild. If you want to dial up the heat you could add one or two chillies and their seeds in with the onions.
The curry will keep for up to four days in the fridge and up to three months in the freezer.