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Lucky for me, I had a lot of family living in the same city and they were often kind enough to pick me up (the transit system in Kingston, Ontario is not so hot) for dinner, laundry (student!) and general fun. I was also usually sent home with containers of food (or at least as much as my little fridge could hold) for which I am forever grateful. One time, my aunt Ha, gave me some lentil burgers that she had made and I loved them! I also made a mental note to try and make lentil burgers. Well, here we are three years later...
I wasn't sure where to start aside from boiling and mashing up some lentils so I did a bit of research online to find something that matched what I wanted. The recipe I found on the Food & Wine website involved baking the burgers so I ran with that idea. I made a few adjustments according to what I had in our fridge and off we went!
Red Lentil Burgers with a greek yogurt dressing, adapted from Food & Wine
Printable Recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups red lentils
Extra-virgin Olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped (I actually used about 1/4 of a large red, and a small white one but it'd be all red onion in an ideal world)
3-4 medium carrots, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cayenne pepper
3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
Coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and stems (1/4 cup parsley leaves originally)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Preparation
In a large (This is important, mine was too small and I burnt my lentils) saucepan, cover the lentils with cold water by 2 inches and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are very tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well. I actually let them sit there nearly the whole day, which in hindsight seems like a terrible idea but they sure were dry.
In a hot skillet, add a splash of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and stir-fry at medium-high heat until golden. Add the carrots, 2/3 of the garlic cloves and cook until soft. Add and combine the cumin and cayenne into the mixture. Once mixed in there, remove from heat. Let the veggies cool a bit. Pre-heat the broiler. Add the lentils, bread crumbs, cilantro (or herb of choice), eggs, salt and pepper and mix well. It's best to get in there with your hands if you let it cool enough. Form the mixture into 1/4-cup burgers.
Line a baking sheet with foil. Brush the foil and both sides of the burgers with olive oil. Broil until golden, about 3-5 minutes per side.
While they're cooking, mix the yogurt, lemon juice, remaining garlic and some cilantro (mint would go excellently in this). Chill in the fridge while stuff is cooking and serve with the burgers.
They kinda look like cookies when uncooked and fish cakes when they're cooked.
Well, these definitely taste pretty fantastic although I will have to at some point get the recipe from my aunt for her's and try those. You can top them with regular burger toppings such as peanut butter! If this idea is appalling to you, then you clearly have never tried the peanut butter burger from my home town. No, but really, it goes really well on hamburgers with the mustard, relish and everything. Seriously. Try it.
Are there any weird toppings that you like putting on your burgers that you think the world should (or maybe shouldn't) try??
i've got nothing left to hide