Red Lentil Patties--A Vegetarian Burger Option

Last week, when I was cleaning my overstuffed kitchen cabinets, I found several bags of different lentils. I like to have them handy whenever I feel like cooking my family's favorite Afghan lentil dish, but even though I think my stock was too big. I decided to use some of them and to try finally a vegetarian recipe I had in mind for a long time.

This is another recipe from Metropolitan Home, which I thought could become a success also in my home and I thought I could use it on my younger son, who refuses to eat meat burgers and most other meats, to give him all the necessary proteins.

Many similar dishes come from the Indian cuisine, which is largely vegetarian, and often incorporates lentils, for their remarkable nutritious values. In Poland we use a similar technique to make potato patties, as a meat alternative. Last Saturday, while exchanging recipes with my Afghan friend, I learned that also in their cuisine there is a fairly similar dish, a sort of kebab, which can be made from both lentils and potatoes,and to which beef can be added as an option. We have already scheduled our cooking session for one of the forthcoming weekends, when I will try to learn some of the Afghan cuisine secrets.

But before that, today we are cooking lentil patties. I made some changes in the original recipe, most of all cutting on the amount of carrot, which I was afraid would make them taste too sweet. The dish was suggested to be served with curried mayonnaise or chutney. I found both sauces too rich and too bland. I tried my burgers with wasabi mayonnaise, that gave a nice hot contrast to their delicate taste, but most of all I enjoyed them with a thick Greek yogurt sauce, which is naturally sour, and I spiced it with garlic and chopped fresh coriander. And of course a bowl of a fresh cucumber or green salad on the side to lighten up a little bit the burgers, which because of lentil and cashews I found extremely fulfilling.

Lentil Burgers
(Makes 10 burgers)

Ingredients:
1 cup red lentil,
1 cup roasted cashew nuts,
1 cup diced carrot,
1 large onion chopped (about a cup),
1 large egg,
1 cup breadcrumbs,
3 garlic cloves, minced,
3 tsp mild curry powder,
2 tbsp olive oil, plus some extra for frying burgers,
1/2 tsp salt,
pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Put lentils and carrots in a medium pot, cover with water(about 1 and 1/2 cup), add salt, and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and cook until all the water evaporates and lentils become soft. This should take about 12-15 minutes. If there is some water left just drain the excess.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet, add onion, and fry until soft. Add curry and garlic and stir fry for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
3. Chop cashews in a food processor, add lentils with carrots, onions, and an egg. Pulse until the mixture is smooth but still has some texture. Transfer to a bowl and add breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper, and blend well all the ingredients.
4. Divide the mixture into 10 equal portions, and with hands dusted with flower form patties.

5. Cook burgers in a skillet on hot vegetable oil for about 2-3 minutes per side. Serve hot.

For yogurt sauce:
1 cup of Greek yogurt,
1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves,
1 minced garlic clove,
salt and pepper.
Mix all the ingredients and serve over the burgers.

Mascarpone Tart with Bloody Oranges--The End-of-Winter Dessert

I usually try to alternate recipes for desserts, main dishes, and appetisers, savory and sweet dishes, but recently I feel like doing desserts all the time. Maybe it is winter and low energy that make me crave for sweets more often, or maybe just seeing all kinds of fruits, especially all the beautiful citrus specimens, make me think about what to do with them.

So I make and bake desserts all the time. And I eat them! Before one disappears, already a next one is taken out of the oven. I have probably twenty different desserts so far photographed and still keep making them. Recently, I have been experimenting with tarts. I like tarts because they can be prepared ahead. I always keep in my refrigerator, and sometimes freeze, tart pastry ready to be baked at any moment. And chilling it for a long time makes it only more short.

It is my Polish habit from the old times to be able to make something sweet when someone calls that he or she will pop in in half an hour for a cup of tea. Well, here of course it is more formal and visits are rather scheduled, so we have plenty of time to be prepared. Nevertheless, I like to have always my tart base in the refrigerator, when I buy seasonal fruits to bake with that.

Yesterday, I bought beautiful bloody oranges. They were so intensively red inside that I decided to preserve their beauty and use them raw for my cake. This time I just baked a very short tart, which is my oldest, most classical, and most frequently used recipe. I made a cream to spread on top and decorated it with segments of fresh oranges.

I decided on this particular tart to obtain the contrast between its bottom, which is rich and very crunchy and the creamy top, which is very soft and fluffy. While making this recipe use preferably a tart pan with a removable bottom, as the cake is extremely delicate and crunchy and it might be difficult to take it out of any other type of cooking form.

Bloody Oranges Tart
(For a 10" tart pan)

The crust

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour,
1 and 1/2 stick of butter, room temperature, cut into smaller cubes,
2 egg yolks,
1/4 cup sugar,
1 tsp sour cream.

Preparation:
1. Put the flour in a large bowl and working with hands rub in butter until it acquires a crumb-like texture.
2. In a small bowl stir in together egg yolks, sugar, and sour cream until it makes a very smooth mixture.
3. Add the mixture to the flour and butter crumbs and working with hands form a ball--try to knead it as little as possible because this would make the dough harder when baked. You may need to dust your hands with flour to clean them of the dough.
4. Wrap the dough in a plastic foil and chill in a refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours. This dough can stay in a refrigerator even for 2-3 weeks.
5. Preheat the oven to 370 F.
6. Take a dough out of the refrigerator, and roll it out on a surface dusted lightly with flour into a circle of about 12 inches in diameter.
7. Butter the tart form with a tsp of butter and transfer the dough gently into it using a dough roller. Make all the the edges around the cake even, for a better presentation. Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust becomes gold.
8. Take it out of the oven and let it cool down completely.

Oranges

Supreme 3-4 bloody oranges (cut all the skin off and remove membranes to use just the clean segments).

The Mascarpone cream

Ingredients:
1 box (about 8 oz) Mascarpone cheese,
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream,
1/2 cup running honey--this is for the European taste, if you like dessert on the sweeter side you may add more honey.
2 tbsp pistachios for decoration.

Preparation:
1. Using electric mixer beat together the cream and the Mascarpone cheese--both ingredients should be the same temperature. It should make almost like whipped cream cheese.
2. Add the honey to the cream mixture and fold it in with a rubber spatula until it blends in the cream.
3. Spread the cream on the tart, decorate with oranges and pistachios.
4. Cool in a refrigerator for about 2 hours, cut, and serve.

Beans and Walnut Spread--Totally Vegan

Since my previous post was about bread, today I would like to suggest something to put on it, which is always easy if you are not a vegan, but can be a challenge if you are.

I have many vegetarian friends, but only one who is a vegan. She does this for health reasons and believes that following such a strict diet keeps her healthy and makes her feel young. She does not eat any meat or dairy products and replaced milk with soy milk. When she was visiting us, I had no problem whatsoever to cook vegan dinners. I just prepared some of my many vegetarian recipes, omitting dairy products, and served with that a large bowl of salad that usually makes any vegetarian happy.

But for lunch she liked to have a piece bread. I love breads too, but I like to eat them with cheese or meats and salads and I was not prepared to make a vegan sandwich. She did not want to be a burden and simply ate her bread with sliced tomatoes. She did not even want to use any vegetable oil spreads instead of butter, fearing that it was something too chemical. But, as a good host, I did not feel comfortable not being able to offer her anything for lunch beyond bread and tomatoes.

This past summer, while going through my old recipes that I clipped from some magazines years ago, I found this recipe for a bread spread, coming from the Georgian cuisine. That discovery led to many more Georgian recipes that I found very interesting and will share in the future.

This spread, based on beans and walnuts, is a simple and rich in protein alternative to meats and cheese. The two ingredients combined can deliver absolutely all nutrients that can be found in meat and dairy.

The other day, after baking bread, I made this spread with my vegan friend in mind. It tasted pretty good especially on a fresh, still warm piece of bread. For those who are not vegan but are just open to trying something new, it could be an interesting addition to your menu, if you just tired of the usual thing you eat with your sandwich.I added also a couple tbsp of extra virgin oil,to replace a need for butter on the bread and after tasting I was quite happy with the result. I hope my vegan friend will be too next time she visits.

Beans and Walnut Spread

Ingredients:
1 can 12 oz, red bean,
1/2 cup chopped walnuts,
4 garlic cloves,
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves chopped,
1 tbsp lemon juice,
freshly ground pepper and sea salt for taste,
1/3 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional--only if you like it).

Preparation:
1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and run it using the purée option button.

I think it is an excellent spicy and aromatic alternative to peanut butter, not only for vegans.