Lentil Burgers

Last week was Ekka holiday. It is some random holiday whose function or reason is unimportant. What is important, however, is that BBQ was involved. I wanted to give a go on making veggie burgers, using lentils, for all my vegetarian friends. I got a couple ideas around the internet and the results were really quite tasty.

Prepare:
-Soak 1 1/2 cups of dried green lentils in water (more than cover) for several hours/overnight
-Change water and simmer for about an hour or until the lentils are soft. Drain and set aside to cool-Mix about 1/2 cup bread crumbs with a tablespoon of cumin seeds and toast in a pan on low heat for about 5 minutes

-Dice half an onion
-In a food processor, mince a couple cloves of garlic and a couple hot chili peppers with a bit of coarse salt
-Add the lentils to the processor and 2 eggs and pulse until completely mixed

-Add 1tsp honey and 1 tsp soy sauce
-Mix in bread crumbs/cumin seed mixture and the onion

-Check consistency - if too fluid (they should be able to hold together fairly well) then add more breadcrumbs
-Make several medium-sized patties (about 8 or 9, I got)

Cook:
-On a hot grill with some oil, place patties and cook for about 7 or 8 minutes on either side until brown and crispy

Tips:
-These were really good, even with non-vegetarians. They do look pretty nasty, though, so try to hide them, uncooked, from people.
-Even with a decent amount of breadcrumbs, they still were a bit viscous. This was no problem once thrown on the grill, though.
-They're totally fine to taste before BBQing, so make sure to check spiciness/saltiness etc (I added some extra cayenne pepper to a batch and it was great)
-It would be good if you made a thicker patty and then cut in the middle and put tomato or avocado or cheese or something
-Freezes well

Spicy Lentil and Veggie Tomato Soup

This hearty vegetable soup is tasty, filling, and fairly healthy. Takes a bit of time to cook but really isn't that bad for what you get. The extras freeze quite well.

Prepare:
-Chop 1/2 onion, 1/2 zucchini, 1 cup mushrooms, 1/2 a bell pepper, a couple chili peppers,and mince some garlic
-In a saucepan, put 1 cup lentils and enough water to barely cover. Cook covered, on medium-high, for about 10 minutes. Drain and keep
-Ready 1 can peeled tomatoes, as well as 2 cups of stock (or water with stock powder)
-Drain and rinse 1 can of beans (borlotti is good, or canellini)

Cook:
-In a large pot, saute onion, garlic, and pepper in some olive oil on medium heat-After 3 minutes, add zucchini and mushrooms and cook for about 2 more minutes
-Add and crush the tomatoes in the pot and add the stock. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to simmer
-Simmer for 20 minutes, then add lentils
-Simmer for 10 minutes and then add beans
-Simmer for 5 more minutes and then garnish well with salt, pepper, dried basil and rosemary and serve hot

Tips:
-Fennel, broccoli, and others would go well in this soup
-Cook longer to reduce the volume and thicken up the soup
-Goes great with a simple garlic-bread: Peel one small clove of garlic, toast bread and as soon as it's out of the toaster, rub the raw garlic up and down. Garnish with olive oil and black pepper

Dal

Lentils has always been something that I knew about, but never wholly embraced. After a camping trip where a friend whipped up a simple yet sumptuous meal of dal and rice, I was hooked.
Prepare:
-Get 1 cup dried lentils and soak for 1-10hrs in 3 cups water (I used a 'soup mix' that had lentils, split green peas, beans and other pulses and it was great)-Chop up an onion, some zucchini, and 1 medium-heat pepper
-Crush 3-8 cloves garlicCook:
-In a large pot, lightly fry onion and half the garlic in olive oil
-After a couple minutes, add the zucchini-Once onion starts to become tender, add the lentils with the water they were soaking in (alternatively, you can drain them and add fresh water/stock... I used the same water and added stock powder)-Add the rest of the garlic, pepper, and other seasonings that you want (I used hot pepper powder)
-Bring to boil and then lower heat to low and cook for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes-Garnish with fresh spring onion or cilantro
Tips:
-This hearty and delicious food could be eaten as a main meal or as a side dish. I ate mine with some roasted chicken.
-Adding cumin, turmeric, and other Indian spices would give it more of an Indian-feel. Other good things to add would be ginger, coriander, cilantro, Moroccan seasoning, curry powder, etc.
-Broccoli or cauliflower would definitely go well with this