Lentil Walnut Burger Buns

LENTIL WALNUT BURGER BUNS 

(adapted from Lauren Toyota of Hot for Food)

Burger Buns (8 pieces, 4 two-part buns):

    • 1 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 onion)

    •  ¾ cup finely chopped carrot (about 1 carrot)

    • 2 roughly chopped garlic cloves

    • ¼ cup sherry or white wine, more as needed

    • 1 cup cooked or canned lentils

    • ½ cup raw whole walnuts

    • ¼ cup buckwheat flour*

    • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

    • 1 teaspoon dried parsley

    • 1 teaspoon onion powder

    • ½ teaspoon sea salt

    • ¼ teaspoon cumin

    • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

    • ¼ teaspoon coriander

    • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

  Creamy Cashew Pesto (to serve in or on the buns)

    • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked 20 minutes in hot water

    • ⅓ cup unsweetened nondairy milk

    • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

    • 2 garlic cloves

    • ½ cup packed basil leaves

    • ½ teaspoon sea salt

    • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

 • Drain and rinse cashews from the soaking water and add to a high-powered blender with the remaining ingredients for the cashew pesto. Combine until very smooth and refrigerate until ready to serve the burgers. [Editor’s note: A regular blender will also work, but you won’t get as smooth a result. Try soaking the cashews longer if you use a regular blender or food processor.]

    • Preheat oven to 400°F.

    • Heat sherry or win in a pan over medium heat and cook onions, carrots, and garlic for about 7 to 8 minutes until soft and slightly browned and caramelized. Add this mixture to a food processor with the lentils and walnuts and process until it's a fine mince and nearly smooth.

• Add the remaining ingredients for the burger buns and process until a smooth dough forms.

• Use your hands to form patties. [Lauren T suggests you lightly oil your hands to do this, but it’s optional.] Use about 1/4 cup of the mixture for each patty (should make 8 in all).

    • Place the burger buns on a parchment lined or lightly oiled baking sheet, and bake for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

    • Spread cashew pesto on one side of a burger bun, add toppings of your choice, and place another burger bun on top. Serve immediately.

*Editor’s note: To substitute for buckwheat flour, the site Salted Plains suggests brown rice flour, oat flour, or chickpea flour (all of which are easily found; you can make your own oat flour by buzzing rolled oats in the food processor); or quinoa flour or sorghum flour. All of these options are gluten-free, as is buckwheat flour. If you make your own oat flour, you must start with gluten-free oats for it to be gluten-free.

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This was a Recipe Challenge recipe.

I made the recipe and was pleasantly surprised! These Lentil-Walnut Burger Buns were delicious!

Looking at the ingredients, I had thought: “There is not enough here to make 8 patties.” But there was: with almost scientific precision, there was enough to make 8 one-quarter cup patties. They came out crispy and delicious. We served them as suggested: two patties together with creamy pesto in the middle, like a sandwich cookie.

But that was the weird part—what was the point? If I make them again, I will serve them like a traditional burger, inside a bun, not with two burgers making a bun! Either way they are yummy, and I like how crispy they came out.

By the way, I used brown rice flour instead of buckwheat flour. It’s only ¼ cup and you could use any kind of flour.

Enjoy …

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Hot for Food is the blog and website of Lauren Toyota who says she’s “hot for food… as long as it’s vegan! She’s cooking up vegan love and bringing the increasingly popular lifestyle to food fans across the globe.”

Prior to launching Hot for Food, Lauren was a TV host and producer for nearly 10 years. Her YouTube channel has nearly 450,000 subscribers.

Lauren offers personal chef services and has two books, Vegan Comfort Classics and Hot for Food All Day. 

Lauren does use oil and processed ingredients like commercial vegan cheese in some of her recipes; but there’s plenty to choose from and many of her recipes are WFPB or can be adapted. Here’s a recipe for a highly innovative burger-in-a-bun. Enjoy!