Veggie meatballs/burgers/falafel type thingies

Ive been having a go at sprouting chickpeas and lentils.

Theory has it, it makes the nutrients more bio-available for your digestive system and neutralise's the anti-nutrients and phytic acid. Making them more nutritious, for the price of a bit of tap water.

Nice one!

I tend to cook with half lentils and half meat, but this week I have been experimenting with some veggie/vegan recipes using my sprouted legumes.

Obviously burgers would go in a bun/pitta with sauce, or with potato wedges etc. The non-meat-balls and falafel type ones i used to top soup, top spaghetti, rice etc. You can be pretty inventive with them and the flavours are much more diverse.

The recipes I used are in need of some tweaking but the general rule of thumb is pretty standard. Grate some veg, i used carrot, courgette and onion. Fry them to soften. I put lots of garlic in the burgers and chillis in the falafels. Any spices you want, I used lots of ground cumin and some chopped fresh coriander from the freezer. Also put spinach in the falafels.

You need a base of mashed beans/legumes. Sprouted mine and boiled them until soft. Mash them up with a tbsp of flour to bind, and mix in the softened veg.

oh yeah that reminds me, i picked up a packet of linseeds, 49p for a kilo and they contain more omega 3 per gram than fish! So ive been sneaking them in things ;)

I baked the burgers and wasnt very happy with the texture. But I fried the falafels and they came out much better. Also rolled them in flour before frying which seemed to help aswell.

Will get back to you when i've worked out some recipes.