So at lunch I was experimenting in the kitchen. I wanted to come up with something I could make up and keep in the fridge for a few days to use in recipes as an alternative to animal mince meat. I looked at a few recipes on the web and decided to make my own only using simple, frugal wholefood ingredients that would have been around on the home front on a good shopping day!
To be honest I wasn’t expecting much with my first attempt but this came out incredibly well. Obviously it’s not a WW2 ration book recipe but I really had to share this because it is very healthy and VERY frugal.
I didn’t have my camera with me just my phone to take a snap shot but hope you can still see that the burger looked quite delicious!
Cost: The mixture makes 6 large burgers (or more smaller ones) and based on 6 big burgers the cost is about 5p per burger without mushrooms or about 13p per burger with mushrooms.
Calories: Each burger is about 150 cals and about 10g of protein and over 10% of daily iron requirement and 25% of daily fibre…high in potassium too!
Plant Burgers
- 1 cup dry lentils (I used red split lentils but any will do)
- 2 cups water
- 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped (you could use garlic salt or powder)
- 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 4 oz brown mushrooms, quartered
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant)
- 1 or 2 teaspoon dried sage (depending on how much you like it)
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon mild chilli powder
- 3 rounded teaspoons of sweet chutney
- Few shakes of ground black pepper
Method
- Wash the lentils then place in a saucepan with the two cups of water, the chopped garlic and onion, ½ the salt, the chilli powder, sage and rosemary. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender.
- Meanwhile in a food processer, put in the mushrooms and pulse 4 or 5 times for just a second or two until finely chopped, add in the oats, chutney and the rest of the salt. Set aside.
- Drain the lentil mixture then add to the food processor and pulse again several times for a couple of seconds until a thick coarse paste is formed.
- Remove mixture and form into burgers. Will make six large thick burgers or 8-10 smaller ones.
- Fry on medium in a pan with a little olive oil until nicely browned on the outside.
The 1940's Experiment 
I like experimenting in the kitchen, these sound really nice.
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I’m going to try these. February is a vegetarian month for us. Perfect timing.
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I wonder how they would turn out using celery and asafoetida powder instead of the onions and garlic ( I have developed an intolerance to alliums in recent years)? I may try this coming week.
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Carolyn you say to set the mushroom/oat mixture aside. At what point do I add them to the lentils? I would just add the drained lentils mixture to the mushroom/oat mixture and whizz a couple of times. But does that over process the mushroom/oat mixture?
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Yes once the lentils are done drain then add to the food processor with the set aside mixture and pulse several times for a second each time to achieve a coarse paste that will stick together and form into a burger xxxxx
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Loved the recipe 🙂
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sound interesting. I have used cooked wheat in place of oats in the past.
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A real innovation. Pinned, have to share!
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Try adding a hand full of rice to the lentils. It makes the patties less heavy and it has a beautiful crunchy crust!
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Mmmmm that sounds like a good idea, like a bit of crunch!
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