Green Lentil & Buckwheat Flakes Burgers Without Oil

Hello dear friends. What's been cooking in your kitchens these days? 😍

A few days ago, I made these fasting patties prepared “on water.” In Orthodox fasting, that means the food is made completely without oil, so we do not add it when frying, baking, or to salads, and we also avoid any products that clearly contain oil.

Of course, this does not apply to naturally occurring oils in certain foods, such as olives, walnuts, sesame etc. Although sometimes our priests, spiritual fathers, make the fast stricter for parishioners in this way, by excluding nuts as well on days when meals are prepared without oil.

For the mixture, which gave me exactly 19 patties, I used the following:

INGREDIENTS: 250 g of green lentils, 100 g of buckwheat flakes, one larger red onion, one smaller yellow onion, and two cloves of garlic, a small piece of parsley root, fresh red pepper, 7 dried plums, one larger carrot, as well as spices: salt (2 and a half teaspoons of pink Himalayan salt), 1 tablespoon of sweet ground paprika, half a teaspoon of black pepper, and just a tiny pinch of turmeric, along with chopped fresh parsley leaves. I also had about 40 grams of a mixture of corn flour and toasted sesame, and I added that to the mixture along with two more tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds.

For the coating, I used one teaspoon of mustard, 3 teaspoons of flour, a little salt, and a bit of water. And that’s all the ingredients.

The preparation went like this:

First, I soaked the lentils in water for about an hour before I started cooking, so they would cook faster later. I usually do that with all legumes, when I don't forget. :D I also soaked the buckwheat flakes, adding enough water to cover them by about a finger, so they could absorb it well and swell. In the meantime, I started chopping everything by hand. Even though I have a food chopper, I was too lazy to take it out, set it up, and then wash it afterward. Not to mention that I cut myself twice on its blade the last time I washed it, so no thanks, I'll stick to doing it by hand.

I chopped all the onions and garlic as finely as possible, diced the pepper, did the same with the carrot and the dried plums, and added everything to a pan over medium heat. I sautéed it all in water, without any oil, gradually adding more liquid whenever it evaporated. I kept going like that until the ingredients started releasing all their rich, delicious juices. <3

At the same time, on another burner, I cooked the green lentils. I first drained the water they had been soaking in, rinsed them well, added fresh cold water, and put them on the stove to boil. I let them cook for about 30 minutes, until all the grains became nice and soft.

Once the vegetables were nicely sautéed, the lentils cooked, and the buckwheat flakes fully soaked and swollen, it was time to combine everything into one sticky mixture for shaping the patties.

Before that, I mashed the cooked lentils by hand, and then thoroughly mixed all three components together, adding the corn flour and sesame. Then came the spices: salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric, as well as fresh parsley. I kneaded everything into a nice, compact mixture, covered the bowl, and put it in the fridge to rest for about an hour.

Was that step absolutely necessary? I'm not sure, maybe not, but it worked perfectly for me, haha, a little coffee break and an episode of a series. 🥰

After the break, I got to shaping the patties. I tried to make them even in size and nicely formed so they wouldn't fall apart when turning, which I assumed I would need to do halfway through baking. Oh, and I also turned on the oven to preheat to about 220°C.

Before baking, I brushed one side of the patties with this mixture of water, mustard, flour, and a bit of salt, just to give them a little extra flavor. The mustard could have gone into the mixture itself, but oh well, this was an experiment anyway, a recipe made on the spot. Honestly, it didn't turn out bad at all, unlike some of my misses that end up being eaten by the domestic animals, hihi. :D

And voilà! This is how they turned out, on the side without the mustard coating.

I won't lie to you and say it's the most delicious thing I've ever tasted or that it's so amazing that you absolutely have to make it. One of the things we learn during fasting is to be more content with things as they are, while still trying to improve them and give our best. So, when it comes to food, I'm quite satisfied with how these patties turned out. Could they have been better? Yes, of course, just like me, just like all of us. 🤗

In the first photo below, you can also see how they look on the side coated with the mustard mixture. It kind of reminds me of those crinkle cookies, the sweet treats where the dough is rolled in powdered sugar, then puffs up while baking and the surface cracks, creating those beautiful, decorative patterns.

Anyway, since I ate them yesterday, on Wednesday, and now after the first two weeks I'm following a slightly less strict fast, trying to keep the no-oil days only on Wednesdays and Fridays, yesterday I ate them fresh and hot straight from the oven. I chopped them up, put them into a buckwheat crepe made from just three ingredients (buckwheat flour, water, and salt), added a mix of greens (lamb's lettuce, radicchio and curly endive), squeezed some lemon juice on top, added a bit more salt, wrapped it all up like a tortilla, and enjoyed a lovely meal.

Lemon gives such a nice touch when squeezed on top. The Turks definitely know what they're doing when they serve it with their delicious lentil soup. :D

Today I tried them in a slightly different way: a buckwheat crepe, this time cooked in olive oil, patty, arugula and vegan mayo - not the most ideal choice but it helps keep everything together in the crepe so it doesn't fall apart while you're eating in front of the laptop; otherwise half ends up on you, half on the keyboard and then we wonder why grass starts growing there between space and C. xD

Just kidding, it hasn't actually happened to me, but I can totally imagine it happening... probably has for someone at some point, haha.

And thats it for this blog! Thank you to everyone who read all the way through, kisses and hugs for all!