A hearty, vegan lentil and quinoa burger stuffed full of herbs, olives and marinated peppers then slathered with an incredible avocado-dill tzatziki sauce.
- 150 g raw red lentils
- 90 g raw quinoa well-rinsed
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium carrot finely grated
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 8 Kalamata olives sliced
- 8 antipasti-style peppers sliced
- 2 tbsp chia seeds or use one egg
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1/2 English cucumber peeled, deseeded, grated and squeezed of most liquid
- 1 small garlic clove grated or minced
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp dried dill or 1tsp chopped, fresh dill
- 1/4 tsp dried mint or 1/2 tsp chopped fresh mint
- Oil or oil spray for the baking tray
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Bring to the boil the lentils and quinoa in separate pans, cooking for 10 minutes . Drain well and let air-dry to cool a bit.
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When the lentils and quinoa are cooled (you should have around 300g of cooked lentils and 200g cooked quinoa) add them to a mixing bowl with and use your hands or a potato masher to really squish it all together. Add in the herbs, olives and peppers and stir well.
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In a separate, small bowl mix the chia seeds, lemon juice and water, and let sit to form a gel. This is your egg. You may of course use an egg if you wish. After about 15 minutes add this gel to the mixture and really stir it in. Cover the bowl and pop in the fridge for half an hour. Preheat the oven now to 180C fan/200C/400F
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Shape the mixture into burgers - about 6. Oil a baking tray and lay on the burgers. Brush the burgers with a little oil if you like - I used garlic oil. Bake for 10 minutes on each side.
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Serve warm on buns (or not), with the avocado-dill tzatziki and salad bits. These reheat well - about five minutes at 180C.
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While the burgers are chilling, make the avocado-dill tzatziki by putting everything in a food processor or blender. Blend just until mixed.
These can be made with an egg instead of the chia "egg".
If using precooked lentils and quinoa, this recipe requires 300 grams of cooked red lentils and 200 grams of quinoa.
I used Peppadew peppers as my antipasti-style peppers.