Meatless Monday: Red Lentil Burgers

Since completing grad school a month ago, I've been wanting to get back to blogging recipes, but haven't made anything lately that I thought was blogworthy...Until today. As you can see, it's Monday. Yeah. That's right. Meatless Monday. One of my favorite days of the week! And as I've mentioned before, one of my favorite things to make on Meatless Monday is some variation of a veggie burger.

I bought a bag of red lentils a few months ago from my beloved farmer's market, and knew I wanted to do something epic with it. And we all know that nothing is more epic than a burger.



Red Lentil Burgers


Ingredients

1.5  C         cooked red lentils
3     tsp       curry powder
1     tsp       cumin
1     tsp       chili powder
1/2  tsp       ground coriander
salt and pepper to taste
1                small onion, chopped
1                large carrot, finely chopped
3                cloves of garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
1/2   C       parsley, chopped
1                handful breadcrumbs
juice of 1/2 a lemon

Loverly chopped veggies and lemons

1. Drain cooked lentils to get rid of excess liquid. Transfer to medium bowl.
2. Combine curry, cumin, chili powder, coriander, and salt and pepper in small bowl.

Hey spices. How ya doin'? 

3. Heat 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil in frying pan over medium fire.
4. Add onion, carrot, and garlic to pan. Sautee until soft, about 3 minutes.
5. Add half of spices to pan, and mix to coat vegetables with spice mixture. Sautee for an additional 2 minutes, constantly stirring.

6. Add sauteed vegetables to bowl of cooked lentils. Add remainder of spices, juice of lemon, and parsley. Mix well to combine ingredients.

You can use panko breadcrumbs. I didn't have any so I opted for regular ol' seasoned bread crumbs.

7. Add breadcrumb to lentil mixture, and mix well.
8. Use 1/2 C measuring cup to scoop out lentil mixture to form 4 burger patties.
9. Place patties on a baking sheet, and let firm in fridge for approx 1 hour.

Look at these beauties!

10. Bake or pan fry.

I served mine with 1 slice of whole grain toast, arugula, garlic aioli, tomato, and avocado. I found these to be the perfect accompaniments for this burger. The bite of the arugula coupled well with the texture of the lentil burger, and the garlic aioli gave it just the right amount of acidity. Nomnomnom!!

Garlic Aioli: 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of mayo, juice of half a lemon. Mix well.