Lentil Cakes With Creamy Horseradish Sauce
Lentils—they don’t seem like the most exotic ingredient to cook with, they don’t scream “flavor!,” and they have a bad rap as being hippie-ish ’70s vegetarian food. But you should push all of those ideas out of your head because lentils, when used properly, can actually be the base for a delicious dish.
One of my favorite uses for lentils is in small, crispy cakes. You form the cakes with rice, veggies, and bread crumbs or flour, and then pan-fry until browned on the outside.
Many recipes for lentil cakes have an Indian flare, but this recipe goes in a different direction by omitting some of the usual Indian spices and by topping the cakes with a creamy horseradish-red pepper sauce that definitely has kick.
Most of us have tried lentil soup, but if you haven’t tried lentils in any other recipes, then I suggest this one. Go ahead—give it a try!
Lentil Cakes With Creamy Horseradish Sauce
For the Lentil Cakes:
1 cup dried lentils
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 rib celery, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
2 cups cooked rice
Salt, to taste
1 cup ground bread crumbs or flour
- Place the lentils in a large pot and submerge, adding an additional 2 inches of water. Boil for 20 minutes, or until tender.
- Sauté the onion, pepper, and celery in the olive oil until the onions are slightly browned.
- In a medium bowl, combine the lentils, vegetable sauté, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, parsley, rice, and salt, then mash slightly. Form into small patties.
- Roll in the ground bread crumbs or flour, and refrigerate while preparing the sauce.
- When the sauce is done, pan-fry each patty until nice and brown.
For the Horseradish Sauce:
1/4 cup Vegenaise
1 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
- In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients together until blended.
- Serve with the lentil cakes.
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