Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A new kind of burger

Sometimes, it's really hard for a vegetarian to go "out" to eat.  Most of the time it's not bad at all but I'm often left with no option but the veggie burger.

That dreaded veggie burger.

It's not that they're always bad, but sometimes they get old.  And it's almost always a plain garden burger.  I like things that aren't pretending to be some weird version of meat, but rather something all it's own.

These burgers made up our dinner last night and even threw in some homemade hamburger buns.  It was a very domestic day :).  I had them for the first time at a friends' house and they were so delightful that I requested the recipe.  I would probably call them more of a lentil patty, just to get that whole hamburger expectation out of the way.  I've made them several times and tweaked the recipe just a tad to my own liking.

I'll share the recipe just so you can try it out! 


Palouse Burger

¾ cup dry lentils, well rinsed
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced (we grated it)
2 teaspoons dried herb of choice
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon soy sauce, optional
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 bread crumbs

Place the lentils, water, and salt ion a saucepan, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes until water is nearly gone and lentils are very soft with splitting skins.  Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine.  Sauté the onion and carrot in oil until soft, about five minutes.  Mix the lentils, onions, carrots, pepper, herb, and optional soy sauce in the large bowl, then mix in ½ cup ground oats and bread crumbs.  If it seems too mushy, add the last ¼ cup oats.

While still warm, form the lentil mixture into patties.  To cook, heat a bit of oil in a frying pan, place a burger on top, and fry until brown, 1-2 minutes.  Repeat on other side and serve.


ENJOY!

  

2 comments:

  1. You know I may be risking a mutiny but that looks awesome and I really want to try it out. What did Erik, a fellow meat eater think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Erik really likes them, and he's very good about telling me what he thinks isn't good so I know he isn't just being nice ;).

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