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.

Where's the beef??? Not here! Chicken/turkey burgers!

 Don't let the title fool you. I'm not anti-beef. I'm not anti-meat. I'm just pro-alternatives. I. LOVE. BURGERS. Hamburgers, turkey burgers, chicken burgers, sweet potato burgers, veggie burgers..As long as it's "burger-esque", I'll more than likely try to make it.
   Last week one of my friends posted a Facebook status about wanting a big juicy burger. Naturally, I began craving one too, but since I'm making an effort to eat more cleanly, I decided to make one myself. When it comes to ground meat, I prefer to grind my own. Especially with my deliciously sexy hot pink Kitchenaid mixer with grinder attachment. Anywho, I scavenged through the contents of my freezer, and found some undedicated (not reserved for a future meal) chicken! I searched some more and found ONE.. yes, ONE, whole wheat burger bun (My freezer has everything. I know if I looked deep enough, I'd probably find a portal to the land of Narnia). I'll make chicken burgers!!! I Googled and found a recipe for chicken burgers. This was all coming together so perfectly, as if orchestrated by the burger lords themselves!!...

Undedicated chicken breast

Sexy Kitchenaid with meat-grinder attachment

....Except the amount of undedicated chicken I found was barely enough to make 4 burgers. So back to the freezer I went. I found undedicated turkey breast cutlets!!! Turkey/chicken burgers were born.

  The beauty of non-beef burgers is that you can often shove as many chopped vegetables as you can into the mix.

Here's the recipe I used.  The only changes I made were using the turkey breast to make up for the   lack of chicken breast. Also, I think I added some chopped up zucchini.

NomNomNom... non-beefy deliciousness.

With the excess burgers I don't cook, I cut wax/parchment paper into squares, place each burger on a wax square on a baking sheet or some other flat surface. Transfer to the freezer, and leave until solid. Then take each burger and its wax paper, stack them and place them into ziplock bags for later use. Now, you have a 5-10 minute lunch in your freezer. :)   You're welcome.



Do you have a favorite non-beef burger recipe? Share it here!