Spiced Lentil Rissoles (perfect for meat-free Mondays)

Spiced lentil rissoles are a, lightly-spiced, easily digested alternative to meat. You can use them in all sorts of different ways, they’re very versatile. And they make a simple transition meal for families looking for a ‘meat-free Monday’ recipe.

Lentils are a very healthy legume that you’ll want to introduce to your family’s diet for nutritional wellbeing. According to the Dietary Association of Australia, Legumes are high in dietary fibre, which helps keep your bowels healthy. They’re also a good source of soluble fibre to help lower blood cholesterol levels and a healthy source of carbohydrate with a low glycemic index (GI), so you stay fuller for longer, helping prevent diaseses such as diabetes.

These are heavily adapted from a recipe in an old New Zealand vegetarian recipe book called ‘Fresh and Natural‘. They’re a bit like fish cakes, but without the fish… Anyway, they’re really tasty!

And you can use them in lots of different ways. Pat them flat and use them as burger patties, they fry well on the BBQ. Roll them into fat sausage shapes, and insert skewers after frying for ‘rissole lollipops’. Use as rissoles and top with chunky tomato sauce, chutney or salsa. You can even pop them onto spaghetti tossed with chunky tomato sauce or pesto for ‘meatballs’ and spaghetti.

This recipe makes about twelve good-sized rissoles. They can be frozen, uncooked, for future use. So you may want to make a double batch.

Spiced Lentil Rissoles

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Spiced Lentil Rissoles

This recipe makes about twelve good-sized rissoles. They can be frozen, uncooked, for future use. So you may want to make a double batch.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 225 g can of red lentils
• 8 small potatoes peeled and cooked
• 2 cups breadcrumbs fresh, not dried. Use gluten free bread if cooking for coeliacs.
• 1 small onion
• 2 small carrots grated
• 2-3 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp ground fenugreek
• ½ tsp curry powder
• ½ tsp garam masala
• Finely ground cornflakes to coat the rissoles use gluten free ones if necessary for coeliacs

Mint and cucumber yoghurt

• cucumber
• 1 handful of mint
• 1 cup plain yoghurt thick greek is best.

Instructions

1. Quarter potatoes. Place in a pot of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 minutes, drain really well, then mash with a little butter or oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Finely chop onion add a dash of oil to a frypan, and fry until soft.

3. Prepare yoghurt dip by dicing about 10cm of a cucumber, finely chop about a handful of mint, and toss to combine in thick, greek yoghurt. Add a dash of pepper to taste.

4. Mix all the ingredients apart from the cornflake coating together. If too sloppy to handle, add more breadcrumbs. 

5. Moisten hands with water, and form into rissoles and coat each one in cornflake crumbs.

6. Add a dash of oil to the same frypan you fried the onions in, and fry in batches over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until well browned. 

7. Drain on paper towels, and keep warm in the oven while you fry the remaining rissoles. 

Recipe Notes

Serve with salad or cooked vegetables of your choice. Top with mint and cucumber yoghurt.