Ingredients
Units
Scale
- Lentil Cakes
- 6" fresh lemongrass stalks (you may need more than one to get 6" total)
- 1 cup dry lentils
- 1/2 cup whole cashews
- 1 large carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 1 small red Asian pepper (or jalapeño would work)
- 1" chunk of fresh ginger
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- salt & pepper
- *1/2 cup flour of your choice (optional)
- Sauce
- 1/3 cup dried goji berries, soaked in 2/3 cup boiling water for at least 30 minutes
- 1 lemon
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil (+ more if you want)
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- With the back of your knife, or a rolling pin, beat the lemongrass until it is soft and split open. Remove the outermost layer (and any other very tough layers). Chop the remaining lemongrass quite fine, and divide in half.
- Add half of the lemongrass to a pot with three cups of water, plus the lentils. Bring to a boil, and let cook until the lentils are done. Drain and remove from heat when the lentils are soft.
- While the lentils are cooking, dry roast the cashews in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook them, shaking them and flipping them, until they are golden brown. Remove from heat.
- Combine the remaining lemongrass, carrot, onion, garlic, spicy pepper, fresh ginger, and sesame oil in a food processor (you may roughly chop them first, if you want). Pulse until fairly finely ground, but not a paste. Add the finished lentils and pulse a few more times. You want a cohesive blob, but individual lentils should still be visible.
- Season the mixture with ample salt and pepper, mixing with a wooden spoon.
- *If you feel you want extra sticking power at this point, or your mixture is extremely wet, add the flour of your choice. I recommend whole wheat or oat flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, until the mixture seems dry enough to hold together. For these pictures I did NOT use any flour, so I know it's possible, but I also know they would have been easier to work with had I used a bit of flour or oats.
- Form the mixture into small patties and cook over medium heat until both sides are golden-brown. If you aren't using a nonstick pan, make sure to use enough oil to prevent sticking.
- To make the sauce, combine all ingredients (minus the water you soaked the goji berries in — but save it in case you want to thin the sauce!) in the blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the lentil cakes hot and covered in sauce!