Lentil Burgers with Kumara Chips
Serves: 4
Time: 35 minutes
My taste buds have definitely been changing over the years and I find more and more that I want less meat and more veg, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still eat burgers. These are some tasty little lentil patties. They work so deliciously with the rest of the ingredients that maybe you will enjoy the meal so much that you won’t even compare them to regular meat and cheeseburgers.
Leftovers
This mix does make enough for 4 burgers but I wouldn’t assemble the lunch leftovers. Keep everything separated and build just before you want to eat them.
What you'll need
2 x tins of lentils
1 onion
1 teaspoon of any chili sauce such as siracha
1/4 bunch of coriander
1 egg
1/2 cup of quick oats or polenta
1/8 red cabbage
1/4 bunch of flat leaf parsley
1 /4 Jap pumpkin
1 large kumara or sweet potato
4 wholemeal or gluten free buns
1 tub of hummus
From the pantry
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Dijon mustard
mayo or Vegenaise
olive oil
salt and pepper
Prep and Cook
Preheat Oven to 1eighty c
Drain Lentils
Empty lentils into a strainer and rinse with cold water. Sitt your strainer over a dish so that all the excess liquid can drain away.
Cook Pumpkin
Remove pumpkin skin and the seeds then slice the pumpkin into flat pieces, being conscious of how you want your pumpkin to sit inside the bun when done.
Toss with oil and salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes or until just soft. (You still need the pumpkin to hold it’s shape so avoid overcooking).
Cook Kumara Chips
Leave the skin on and very thinly slice your kumara into rounds/chips.
Lay your chips out on a tray lined with baking paper and try to keep them in uniform lines.
If you have an olive oil spray then this would work perfectly, just lightly spray over the chips. If not, use a pastry brush to very lightly brush the chips with a little oil and sprinkle with salt.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn each chip over and spray or brush with oil and bake for a further 10 minutes or until lightly crispy.
Make Patties
Learn to gauge by feel
There are so many variables that can alter the final outcome in any dish. With these patties if your lentils don't drain well enough the mix will be wet, and different brands of polenta can produce different results, one might suck up more moisture than another. Also if you over blitz your lentils they'll be alot more sloppy. I cook alot to feel so trust that little part of you that says actually this might need a bit more polenta or if they on the other hand feel to dry then add more egg, but the key to making your own adjustments is to do so gradually and if you are in doubt then do a smaller tester first. This is also a great way to check how they taste.
Finely chop the onion and sauté till soft.
Combine the onion, lentils, polenta(or oats) and chilli and pulse a couple of times with a stick blender. (You want to smash the lentils but still keep the mix chunky, DO NOT pulse till smooth).
Add the egg and roughly chopped coriander and season well. Mix to combine.
Set the mix aside and make the pickled cabbage before you begin to mould them, this will allow the polenta to soak up any extra moisture.
You want your patties mix to be able to hold the shape when you form it into patties, if it feels too wet add some more polenta.
Pickle Cabbage
Thinly slice the red cabbage and toss with apple cider vinegar then set aside.
Stir it once or twice over the next 10 minutes to work the vinegar through.
Cook Patties
Heat a large oven safe, non stick frypan with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Fry the patties on each side till lightly crisp then pop in the oven to finish for 10 minutes.
Assemble Burgers
Drain your cabbage then roughly chop the parsley and mix through with some salt and pepper.
Slice buns in half and spread a very generous amount of hummus over the base.
Top with a small handful of the pickled cabbage and a lentil pattie, a couple of slices of pumpkin and spread a mix of dijon and mayo over the top bun.
Serve with your kumara chips sprinkled with a touch of sea salt flakes.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
These burgers work perfectly as a roll/cold sandwich but I would recommend that you take all the components separately and build it at lunchtime so you aren’t eating a soggy sandwich.