We tried the Clipstone‘s Sunday Arrosto, and they included a card thanking us (you’re welcome!) and also suggesting we could use the chicken bones for a stock. Why, of course! You don’t need to say that twice.
I immediately placed the bones and a few vegetables into my pressure cooker and had it extracting all the flavour that could be left for an hour. But then I was not quite sure what to do with the veggies because they had become a bit too mushy (specially the leeks).
Then I saw Miriam’s recipe and I was like A-HA!
I deviated a bit from her recipe: I used slightly different vegetables, although I kept the carrots as binding agent. I also slightly changed the spices, upped the amount of garlic and reduced the amount of oats as my patties were quite cohesive already. And finally I decorated with a bit of sesame seeds because I wanted to.
This is a bit like that children’s telephone game, but with recipes. Miriam’s recipe was initially adapted from another recipe. Then I made it but adapted it from Miriam and so it’s not entirely like hers. Maybe you should do the same! Let’s have a chain of adaptations!!
😃⛓😃⛓😃⛓😃⛓😃
Ingredients
- 175g lentils (I used green ones)
- 3 small carrots
- 1 onion
- 1 leek
- 4 garlic cloves
- 100g walnuts
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Up to 100g oats (I used a mix of rye, oats, wheat).
Preparation
Cook the vegetables until soft and mushy (mine were already cooked). Cook the lentils until they’re cooked and soft-ish but still have some bite.
Peel the garlic cloves.
Blend the lentils, vegetables, cloves, walnuts, seeds, and paprika using your blender or kitchen robot. You might need to do it in batches like me, if your kitchen robot isn’t super big. Since the vegetables are soft enough you could finish mashing them on the big bowl at the end, using a spatula or wooden spoon. I didn’t even need a mashing implement!
Add the oats slowly and mixing them in, about 25 grams at a time, until it gets to a good consistency. I only added 50 g. You don’t want the mix to become too dry, or your patties will fall apart.
Leave the mix to rest for 5-10 minutes.
In the meantime turn the oven to 180ºC (fan).
And shape into patties. Optionally coat them with sesame seeds—it’s best to gently place the seeds on a dish and place the patties on top, flipping them so both sides get seeds. Place on the oven tray.
Bake until they acquire some nice colour. Don’t overbake, or they’ll lose their moisture and become too dry, and also possibly crumble in your hands. The worst!
I served them with a simple lettuce and tomato salad and two (TWO!) sauces: a tahini one (with oil, salt, pepper, water, some lemon juice) and a speedy-tzatziki made of just cucumber, salt and oil in yoghurt. This was supremely satisfying!
I had tried making some lentil patties in the past and the result was abominable as they were really boring, tasteless and compact. In contrast, I enjoyed these ones SO MUCH.
In retrospect, it looks to me that the key here is to not over-blend and make sure you keep a nice mix of textures—some bits are more like a fine paste, others like a coarse one, and you might even have entire lentils still there. We don’t need to hide what the patties are made of!
I also feel that I sort of cheated, because the lentils themselves are really tasty. They’re are from Hodmedod‘s and we absolutely love them. They have such a deep and complex flavour, it’s a bit nutty, not sour (I find some types of lentils leave a sort of unpleasant sour tinge on the back of my tongue). You’re cooking them and you’re already thinking: oh this is going to taste delicious. Yum!
If you like this idea, I also made flatafels a while ago. Worth trying if only for the seasoning! Cardamon on your patties? Why not?