Red lentil burgers: recipe

This was very tasty and very frugal too.  I had one yesterday with lettuce  home made red cabbage coleslaw and a few oven chips with it and spooned some home made 'allotment' chutney on top.  Another I will definitely do again, especially when money is tight.  I think this will be a very versatile recipe for me as lentils can be seasoned in many different ways.  Also, one could add little shreds of leftover meat that aren't enough to make a portion on their own.

I adapted it for Thermione as that's what I used to make it and what I did is below the normal method.  It was jolly easy that way too.

Red lentil burgers

I found this recipe while trawling around for a lentil burger recipe and tried it because it looked easy and not too fussy.  The original recipe is here.  I changed it just a bit, halved the amounts and used my burger press to shape them.  I love my burger press - a simple little gadget but it's great!.

With the ingredients I used, each burger costs around 11p

Ingredients to make 4

100 g dried red lentils  

150 mls water and 1/2 tsp stock paste (or 150 mls vegetable stock)

1/4 medium carrot, chopped very small or grated

1/4 stick celery, chopped very small

1 small onion, chopped very small

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

a squidge of garlic puree

black pepper

40g fresh breadcrumbs

1/2 tbsp oil (if making in the Tmx) plus more for frying.

I didn’t use salt because the stock paste is salty enough

Method

Combine lentils, stock, carrots, celery, onion, herbs in a saucepan. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, checking that it doesn't boil too dry and start catching.

Stir in the bread crumbs. Allow to cool a bit.  Check seasoning and adjust if necessary.  Shape mixture into 3 large patties.  Cover and chill until needed.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add patties and cook until browned on both sides. Serve patties on rolls.

The Thermione way:

chop the veg into chunks (peel the onion and top or tail the carrot as needed).

chop on 6/8 until all chopped up.

Add the lentils, the water, the stock paste, garlic and herbs.

Cook at 100, reverse spoon or 1, 13 mins with cup on, then, if needed, take the cup off and give it another 2 mins at same temp and speed to evaporate water and thicken the mixture.

(keep checking as you might need to add a little water half way through and also push any stray lentils off the top of the blade where they won’t cook)

When cooked, spoon into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs.  Stir well, check seasonings and allow to cool a bit.

Shape into patties (I used my burger press and it made 4 burgers), cover and chill in the fridge until needed.

Before frying, brush both sides with oil and fry gently in a non stick pan until both sides are browned.