2016 is the International Year of Pulses and over the year we will be bringing you some interesting recipes to join in the celebration of these nutritious foods. We will try to share recipes that add pulses to seasonal vegetables so that each month you will have some new ways to add pulses to your diet.

Our first recipe uses red lentils, French shalllots, herbs and and your favourite spices to make some tasty patties to have with a garden salad of the seasons best produce for a healthy lunch.

Many thanks to Veronica for growing the wonderful potatoes used in this dish.

Red Lentil and Potato Patties

Ingredients

• 1kg red potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup of red lentils, washed
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 90g butter
• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• I egg, lightly beaten
• 3 French Shallots
• pinch of sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 C
2. Boil the potatoes for 25 minutes, or until soft.
3. Drain, then mash the potatoes with 50g of butter.
4. Set aside to cool
5.  Fry the French shallots in 40g of butter and sugar for 10 minutes.
6. Add the lentils and shallow fry for 5 minutes.
7. Add the stock and reduce until lentils are soft, about 10-15 mins adding extra stock if needed.
8.  Add the shallot and lentil mixture to the mashed potato and mix until well combined.
9. Stir in the beaten egg and mix well till thoroughly combined
10. Stir in the chopped parsley, season to taste and set aside to cool.
11. Allow the mixture to cool before shaping
12. Shape the potato/lentil mixture into patties, covering with plain flour or fine bread crumbs.
13. Place the shaped patties on a tray lined with baking paper
14. Spray the patties with olive oil spray
15. Bake the patties for about 35 minutes or until golden, turning once after 15 minutes
16. Serve the patties with salad, hummus or simply in a big bowl for sharing.

Variation

You can substitute the parsley for coriander and add 1 tblsp of cumin, 1 tblsp of paprika and two tablespoons of tomato paste at step 10.

Once cooked and cooled patties can also be frozen by laying them out on a flat ray and freezing before storing them in containers.