Veggie burgers have been a bit hit and miss in my experience but these went down well in our house. In fact, I think Rob mentioned how much he was enjoying them three times during the meal! Definitely a winner. And they go wonderfully well with some sweet potato chips, mixed summer salad and gorgeous wall to wall sunshine. Enjoy!

If you’re making the buns, I suggest starting around 1-2pm to give the dough plenty of time to rise (recipe for the buns below)*. If you are just making the burgers they take around 45 minutes start to finish.

Ingredients

1/3 cup red lentils
3 medium sized carrots
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1 slice bread (we used sourdough)
Makes 4-5 burgers (depending on the size of the carrots and how big you want your burgers 😉)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and put a baking tray with some oil in to heat up. Chop the carrots into chunks and, once the oven is up to temperature, put them on the baking tray to roast. They need to be in around 30 minutes to begin to char and be nice and soft.

Boil the lentils in plenty of water for 20 minutes until they go almost like a puree. Drain and set aside.

Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry with a little oil until soft. Add the cumin and coriander and fry for another couple of minutes. Set aside

Blitz the bread in the food processor until it turns into crumbs. Add the carrots, lentils and onion mixture and blitz until combined. Divide into 4 or 5 burgers and bake in the oven on a silicon baking sheet for 10 minutes.

To serve, place your burger in the bun. Our choice of additions was some lettuce, gerkins, tomato relish and a bit of cheese. Delicious with sweet potato chips and a tasty garden salad.

*Recipe for 8 burger buns. 500g strong white flour, 1 tsp instant yeast, 1 tsp salt, 320ml warm water. Mix all the ingredients then knead for 5-7 minutes. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for at least an hour. Knock back and divide into 8 buns and place on a baking tray. Leave to prove for another 1-2 hours until doubled in size. Glaze with egg or milk and sprinkle on sesame or poppy seeds. Bake in a preheated over for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.