Lentil Walnut Burgers

Tonight I made Mollie Katzen's lentil walnut burgers without a food processor. This meant that it took approximately a half hour longer to make than last time because I am not quick at mincing everything by hand. Also, I had to weep frequently over the onions. As always, lentil walnut burgers are much softer and mushier than ground beef or commercial vegetarian burgers, but if you're expecting that textural difference, they're a real treat.

Changes I made to Mollie's recipe: no spinach, no dry mustard, added more water to the lentils because they ran out of moisture before they were done, and I chose the rolled oats version. I froze the burgers for an hour instead of refrigerating them. They were still sort of warm but who cares? I served the patties with whole wheat kaiser buns, tomato, lettuce, mayo, and Dijon mustard (which is so pretty!). George added a slice of double gloucester cheese. If you want them gluten-free you need to use GF oats and GF bread. Mollie Katzen said it made 4 to 6 but it made 9 for us. The whole process took me about 2 and a half hours. I don't think it's supposed to take so long.

My biggest problem was that I couldn't form proper patties. They ended up like a cross between a matzoh ball and a samosa. I have this problem making onigiri too! Luckily, George the sculptor caught this in time and reshaped them properly. He also panfried them properly. You want to make the patties smaller than the buns you use because they smush down, especially if you are an aggressive biter like Doug. These are much better than Boca or Garden burgers! Of course, Quorn is a whole 'nother category…