Food & recipes

Lentil Burgers With Dulse

You don’t need meat to make a tasty burger

It’s important for vegetarians to have a good burger option and the dulse gives these a smoky, savoury deliciousness, with a bonus layer of texture and taste added by the melted cheese.

Serves 4

You’ll need:

1 tbsp butter or 4 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp dulse flakes

400g brown lentils (or cooked puy lentils)

120g hard mozzarella or sheep’s milk cheese (vegans can miss this out)

100g breadcrumbs (can be gluten free)

1 fresh chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

A small bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp plain flour (gluten-free)

To serve, wedges of lemon and steamed broccoli with sea lettuce

Method:

Put a pan of water to boil on a medium-hot ring. Boil your sweet potato for 10 minutes until tender. Drain, mash and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat half the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion, spring onion and garlic. When translucent, add the dulse and lentils and stir for a few minutes so that all of the flavours are absorbed. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl with the sweet potato.

Add the cheese, breadcrumbs, chilli, parsley and cumin. Add enough beaten egg to bind the mixture but make sure it doesn’t get too sticky.

With your hands, form burger shapes and dust in flour. Don’t worry if the mixture gets a bit tacky, it will harden in the fridge. Chill the burgers for 30 minutes.

Remove the burgers from the fridge, preheat the oven to 200c/gas 6 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and the rest of the oil in a hot frying pan. Cook the burgers on a medium heat on each side for approximately five minutes.

Article by

Emily McMullin

Article by

Emily McMullin