Spicy Sweet Potatoes and Lentils Burgers with Red Pepper Sauce

Spicy Sweet Potatoes and Lentils Burgers with Red Pepper Sauce

These vegan burgers are a delicious idea for dinner or a packed lunch and they are highly nutritious and quite filling, thanks to the high fibre and protein content.

Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals and lentils are an excellent source of plant based protein, which makes them a perfect alternative to meat; they are also rich in iron, B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, potassium and fiber.

Plus, you get all the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits from the spices too!

Serve on a bed of salad, or with some sliced avocado and tomato, and any sauce you like. I’ve used some left-over roasted peppers to make a quick dip.

 

Ingredients

Makes 8-10 medium sized burgers

For the burgers:

  • 1 cup of brown lentils, raw
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 large sweet potatoes, or 3 small
  • 1 small raw tomato
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons of buckwheat flour
  • bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon of chili flakes
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric root, finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon ginger root, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon cold pressed organic coconut oil
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

For the sauce:

  • 2 roasted peppers
  • few walnuts
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 garlic clove
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • A splash of apple cider vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper

 

How to:

Steam the sweet potatoes. If you have time, roast them instead, adding some paprika and garlic; it’s a bit longer but you will be rewarded in flavour. Set aside.

Cook the lentils.You can simply boil them in water and drain; I like to cook them with the spices and other ingredients as to incorporate better all the flavours.

Method 1 Rinse lentils and place them in a pot with water. Bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until lentils are tender. Drain and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Method 2 Melt the coconut oil in a terracotta pot (or similar) on a medium heat, add the onion, carrot, ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds, chili flakes and some drops of water, stir for a couple of minutes. Add the rinsed lentils and stir for few seconds, then the chopped tomato and stir a bit more; pour in some water and let the lentils cook. Once ready, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

While the lentils are cooking, prepare the sauce.

Place all the ingredients except the oil in a blender and pulse on high a couple of times, then blend on high while slowly drizzling the oil in.

Adjust seasoning to taste, leave it to rest for a minute, then put it in the fridge until food is ready.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Transfer the potatoes to a food processor, add the cumin powder and half of the coriander, then the lentils, tomato paste, flour, salt and pepper and the rest of the coriander.

If you followed method 1 to cook the lentils, add all the other spices and mix well.

Pulse until you get a chunky puree.

Let the mixture sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes to allow flavours to blend.

Using a spoon, scoop a ball of the lentil mash on the baking tray and flatten it out giving it a shape and thickness of a burger.

Bake for 15 min, flip over and bake for another 15 min. Ready!