Mediterranean Black Lentil Falafels

I just realized the other day that I have not made a burger for a few weeks now. I wanted to make a different type of burger tonight. Since we do not have black beans here, I used the black lentil (whole black urad dal). Also, instead of a simple burger, I made Mini Black Lentil Patties instead. Here's the recipe:

1 cup black urad dal, soaked overnight
1 onion, chopped

2 green chilies, minced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1" piece ginger, grated

Few shots of hot sauce

1/4 tsp red chili powder

1/4 tsp cumin powder

1 lemon, juiced

Salt to taste

Chopped cilantro

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 tbsp corn starch

1. Soak the black lentils overnight. The next day, wash the lentils and then pressure cook with 2 cups water for several whistles until soft and cooked.

2. Now coarsely grind up the cooked black lentils with hot sauce, onions, minced green chilies, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, cumin powder, red chili powder, salt, chopped cilantro, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and a little olive oil. Refrigerate the mixture for atleast 30 minutes (the longer the better).

3. When ready to cook, remove mixture from refrigerator. Make small patties of equal size and keep to side.

4. Mix the corn starch with 4 tbsp water to make thin paste. Keep to side.

5. Trim edges of bread slices. Toast a few slices of bread on low heat until light golden brown. When the toasted slices cool down, process them breadcrumbs. Keep to side.

6. Heat olive oil in griddle. Dip each patty in the corn starch mixture and then the breadcrumbs. Shallow fry the patties until golden brown on each side. It will take about 3 minutes on low heat on each side.

Now, that the patties are made, next prepare the cucumber raita as follows:

1/2 cucumber, grated

1 cup yogurt

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp cumin powder

Salt to taste

Chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Grate the cucumber. Squeeze out excess water.

2. Beat the yogurt next. Add the grated cucumber, salt, cilantro, garlic and cumin powder.

3. Mix well and refrigerate.

Next, make a Mediterranean salad for garnish by finely dicing 2 tomatoes, 1 onion, and remaining 1/2 of the cucumber. Finally, assemble your falafels. You can use whole wheat pita bread. We used frozen Jeera Parathas. Slather the inside pocket with the cucumber raita. Insert the black lentil burger. Garnish with a few tsp of the Mediterranean salad and enjoy!

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have ourselves a WINNER! The burgers were absolutely delicious with the raita inside the warm parathas. It took a little bit of time, but the final product is well worth it.

Suggestions for next time: Possibly sauteeing the onions, chilies, ginger and garlic for a few minutes and then adding the cooked lentils to the pot before processing burger mixture.