Red lentils and kale in coconut curry sauce

This is something a little different than what I normally make but I spotted it on Pinterest and it looked good! The original recipe is here and mine is basically the same.

1 cup red lentils 1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced 2-3 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green part separated 1 bunch of kale (5 leaves), stems removed and leaves cut into 1" wide strips 1 can unsweetened coconut milk (14 oz.) 1 shallot 1 tsp. Thai red curry paste or curry powder salt freshly ground black pepper oil for frying

Rinse the lentils and pick out any bad looking ones.

Boil 2 cups of water and use it to soak the lentils. I use my electric tea kettle to heat the water, then put the lentils in a Pyrex measuring cup and pour the boiling water over them. Soak for 15-20 minutes. Or you could put the lentils and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil then remove from the heat.

Thinly slice the shallot so it forms rings or strips. Add a small amount of oil (I used canola) to a sauté pan and cook the shallots until crisp and brown, then pull them out and set them aside.

Drain the lentils.

In a large sauté pan add some oil. I just used the oil that was left after cooking the shallots. Add the minced ginger, white parts of the scallions and cook for a minute. Add the kale and cook until wilted, a few minutes. Remove everything to a bowl and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary and add the lentils. Cook for a few minutes, turn them over, and cook for a few more minutes. Add the coconut milk and curry paste or curry powder and stir.

Cook until thickened, then add the kale mixture and combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and top with the crispy shallot. Serves 3 or 4.

This was good but not great, but I'm pretty sure the problem is that I used lite coconut milk. I know I'd had really bad luck in the past when I'd used it, and I must have grabbed the wrong can by accident at the store and I only had the one can in my cupboard.