Lentil Veggie Burger

My brother, Ben, gave me a new vegetarian cookbook for Christmas.

He’s thoughtful like that.

The other day I made my first recipe from this gem.

I changed it a bit from the original, but the possibilities of additional adaptations are really endless.

Adapted from Vegetarian by Anthony Carroll

Makes 6 burgers

• 1/2 cup red or brown lentils, rinsed well
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 3/4 cup rolled oats, finely ground
• 2-4 Tbsp. wheat germ, as needed to thicken
• 1 small egg

1. Place lentils in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, simmer for 25 minutes and drain.
2. Return lentils to the saucepan and add the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until the stock is nearly all absorbed.
3. Meanwhile, add half of the olive oil to a non-stick skillet and fry the onion, red pepper and carrot for about 5 minutes, or until tender.
4. Mix the lentils, onion, peppers, carrot, ground pepper and soy sauce in a large bowl. Stir in the ground oats and egg to combine. Add wheat germ as needed to help the mixture stick together.
5. Divide the mixture into 6 equal parts and form into patties. (An ice cream scoop with the pushy-outy spring works well for this.)
6. In a clean skillet, heat the remaining olive oil and fry the burgers for 1-2 minutes per side.

The flavor of these burgers was a bit bland as is, but this got my wheals a turnin’ with possible variations like…

Indian Lentil Veggie Burger

• Add fresh ginger and garlic to the onion mixture and garam masala, chili powder and cumin to the spices.

Italian Lentil Veggie Burger

• Toss chopped olives, garlic and capers into the veggie mixture and Italian seasoning into the other spices.

Mexican Lentil Veggie Burger

• Spice it up with taco seasoning and fresh cilantro

I’ll let you know when I try some of these variations. I also want to try making the burgers with canned lentils as that will save about an hour and 10 minutes of time.

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