waste not: leftover lentil faux-lafel.

May 2, 2018

leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves Waste Not is a collaboration with my friend, Carrie King. The premise is simple: Carrie, a food writer and editor, shares a recipe highlighting at least one particular way that we can curb food waste. I make it at home, take a bunch of pictures, and share it with everyone here. 

This week, Carrie tackled the container of lentils that seems to be forever lingering in my fridge. My kids eat a huge amount of lentils, and while they’re generally not very picky about how they’re served, I admit that on the third day of lentil leftovers for lunch, everyone’s craving something a little more…vibrant.

Carrie saved the day with a lentil-studded take on traditional falafel. To gather ingredients, I hit up the string of Middle Eastern shops along Atlantic Avenue near our apartment in Brooklyn, refilling my jar of cumin, filling up another small jar with chickpea flour, and getting a freshly made batch of pita for serving. (Yes, okay, and saying hi to Mushamash, the cat, and nibbling on nougat. Who can resist?) When I found myself with still more cooked lentils on another night, I made a variation on the theme with parsley and oregano and served them “meatball”-style with tomato sauce and pasta. So satisfying.leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves
From Carrie:

It’s hard to beat a big ole’ pot of lentils. They’re easy on the wallet and heavy on the nutrition. And cooking a bag of lentils always seems to leave leftovers for days. Helpful in the food budget department, not so helpful in the enthusiasm-for-lunch-or-dinner department. Leftover lentils can lose their appeal as they hang in the fridge, drying out. And, let’s be honest, even in their most freshly cooked state, cooked lentils aren’t winning any beauty awards—especially green ones. A food stylist’s nightmare is a bowl of green lentil soup. My enthusiasm for them definitely wanes when I open the jar of leftovers and know that straight-up reheating them in a saucepan will result in a pasty glob of dry lentils.leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves

But, have no fear! I am here with the recipe version of lentil CPR. The best way to breathe new life into any leftovers is with vibrant, fresh elements and flavors like herbs and aromatics and citrus. Falafel is full of those very things! Its origins are rooted in the Middle East, where it would seem they were doing “fast casual” more than 1000 years before harried New Yorkers even knew it was a thing. It’s quick, nutritious, and tasty – all the hallmarks of a modern-day grab and go recipe. As is pretty typical with foods steeped in years and years of tradition, there are also lots (and lots!) of opinions on what constitutes a “classic” or “traditional” falafel preparation. General consensus is it includes either chickpeas or fava beans as the main component, both legumes, just like their cousin, the lentil! So, with apologies to falafel purists, it’s a no brainer that some sort of falafel-like situation would be perfect way to bring lentils back from the food waste dead.leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves

No matter the legume (or bean) that you use, the idea is the same—mash them up with lots of fresh herbs like cilantro and parsley, aromatics, and dried spices. Add a little flour for binding. Roll up as a ball (or in more of a flattened slider shape) and shallow fry. Lots of people are into baking their falafel—I’m not one of those people.leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves

This recipe is more of a guideline when it comes to the shaping of the falafel. Since leftovers will vary in terms of seasoning and consistency depending on how you first prepared your lentils, you’ll have to just get a good feel when it comes to how much flour to add. Too much, and the falafel will be dry and fall apart. Too little, and the falafel will be wet and…fall apart. A good way to dip your toe in before ruining the whole mixture is to shape one, and give it a trial fry in the skillet. If it works well and retains its shape, you’re good to go!

I recommend serving these with warm pita or other flatbread, and lots of fresh lime for squeezing over top. Alternatively, you could serve them “protein-style,” wrapped in butter lettuce or baby gem leaves and topped with fresh lime juice, more fresh herbs, and drizzles of tahini or plain yogurt (or both mixed together!)leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves

Leftover Lentil Faux-lafel

2 cups cooked green lentils
1 loosely packed cup cilantro leaves and stems, finely chopped
1 loosely packed cup flat leaf parsley leaves and stems, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons – ¼ cup chickpea flour
Olive oil (or neutral oil, like grapeseed)
Flaky sea salt (I like Maldon or Jacobsen’s)leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves

In a large bowl, combine the cooked lentils, chopped cilantro, parsley, garlic and shallot.
Stir in the ground spices. Continue to mix, smashing with the back of the spoon to mash most of the lentils. (Note that you could do this by pulsing all of the ingredients in a food processor or vitamix.) I prefer to leave a smattering of the lentils whole for texture.

Taste for seasoning at this point. It’s tough to give you an exact measured amount because it all depends on how seasoned your lentils are from previous meal. (Not tooting my own horn or anything, but in my case, my lentils were already well seasoned, so I only added another ½ teaspoon salt to compensate for the extra bulk from the herbs/aromatics/flour.)

Once seasoned well, add the chickpea flour. Start with 2 tablespoons and mix it to incorporate. You should start to see the mixture tightening and forming into a bit of a thicker paste in spots. If necessary, add another tablespoon or two, depending on how wet your lentils are. I would not add more than ¼ cup. (Conversely if your lentils have been in the fridge for a day or two, they are likely pretty dry, so you might find you need to add a bit of olive oil to make a wetter mixture. You’ll have to go by feel.) Once the mixture is slightly pasty, grab a golf-ball size amount and gently squeeze it in your palm – if the mixture sticks together, you’re golden.

Form 16-18 balls, each roughly the size of a golf ball. Give a gentle squeeze as you shape them to help it all stick together.

Heat ¼-inch olive oil in a heavy bottomed skillet, preferably cast-iron. Once the oil is rippling, add half of the faux-lafel to the skillet, you should hear a gentle sizzle. (It’s tempting to get them all jammed in there at once, but working in batches helps the oil stay hot enough to crisp up the outsides.) Cook until deeply golden-brown on the underside, about 2 minutes, then gently roll the balls to evenly brown another side. Cook until brown and roll again. Repeat until evenly browned on all sides.

Use a slotted spoon to carefully remove faux-lafel from the skillet and drain on a plate lined with a clean kitchen towel – sprinkle with flaky salt while still hot. Repeat until all of the faux-lafel have been cooked.leftover lentil faux-lafel | reading my tea leaves

// NOTES:

+ I made some concessions here in order to keep this vegan. If you were looking for a tighter ball, you could add a lightly beaten egg as a binder, making it even less like falafel and more of a meatless meatball.

+ A tablespoon or two of tahini (sesame paste) added to the mix is delicious, and also helps with binding. (I didn’t include it here in part because, well, I didn’t have any on hand and the point of this was to use up leftovers so as not to waste rather than accrue more food for one recipe!)

+ If you don’t have chickpea flour, you could also use a finely ground whole wheat flour, or even AP flour.

Thanks to Carrie King for writing this post and developing the recipe. When Carrie’s not encouraging me in tiny-apartment cooking adventures, she’s a food writer and editor. Her cookbook work includes Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner….Life with Missy Robbins and The Chef Next Door with Amanda Freitag. She has contributed to Gather Journal and Life & Thyme and works as recipe editor at Marley Spoon and Dinnerly. Thanks to culinary school and lots of time spent in kitchens, both professional and home, she can cook just about anything, but usually just wants a few couple few slices of pizza.

For the curious:

The cast iron skillet shown here is a Field Skillet, a gift from the The Field Company. It’s a lightweight, smooth-bottomed take on the classic cast iron pan and it’s been a dream to cook with.

The shallow blue dish used here for mixing is the Weeknight Serving Bowl from East Fork Pottery. 

The checked napkin is the Jenn Napkin from Fog Linen. (The oily dish towel is “vintage” Fog Linen, much-loved, finally showing signs of wear, and kept on hand for just this sort of messy project. Subtle encouragement to kick paper towels to the curb, greasy projects be damned!)

And now your turn: Any other favorite ways to use up lentil leftovers?

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21 Comments

  • Reply mado May 2, 2018 at 10:37 am

    This looks delicious! I always think making falafel takes too much time but this looks so simple.
    My kid loves rice, so when he turns his nose up at leftover legumes of any kind, I’ll make “arroz relleno”: cook up some onions and garlic, add rice, cooked beans, spices, water, whatever other veggies I might have wilting in the fridge, cover and simmer until the water is evaporated and rice is done!

    also, love the note about cloth towels for grease soak up! felt like such a lightbulb moment when I realized I could do that. I do wonder how much grease I can soak up before it causes a laundry problem, but so far so good!

  • Reply Milou May 2, 2018 at 11:12 am

    I smiled when I read the cat’s name. “Mish mish” means ‘apricot’ in Arabic and is also used as an endearment – thus, it’s a very common cat name!

    • Reply ERIN BOYLE May 2, 2018 at 11:29 am

      Yes! Faye and Silas’s babysitter is Syrian and so we get lots of Arabic lessons in our house!

      • Reply Milou May 2, 2018 at 6:05 pm

        That’s awesome!

  • Reply Hannah May 2, 2018 at 11:53 am

    So timely! I made an accidentally absurd batch of green lentils on Sunday and have been wringing my hands over how to finish them. Thanks so much for this!

    • Reply ERIN BOYLE May 2, 2018 at 11:58 am

      Yay! Yes: The lentil expansion is real!

      • Reply Hannah May 4, 2018 at 1:34 pm

        OMG, I made this last night sans flour of any kind, plus a generous glop of tahini and it was DIVINE. Worth making lentils just to make this recipe!

        • Reply ERIN BOYLE May 4, 2018 at 1:57 pm

          So glad! I’m already craving more!

  • Reply Danielle May 2, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    I love this series!!! Thank you!
    Here’s one way I have really enjoyed lentils (rather time intensive but worth it). It’s from Sarah Britton’s book Naturally Nourished:
    http://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/smoked-lentil-tacos/

    I also want to try this:
    http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/green-lentil-hummus

    And I also

  • Reply Danielle May 2, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    (Sorry sent the last message before I meant to)
    I also really love this lentil soup recipe (although not sure if it would work for leftover lentils)
    http://www.wholeheartedeats.com/2017/05/best-lentil-soup/

  • Reply Elizabeth May 2, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    Man, I love this kind of content. How to get more life out of something. I also love a loose recipe that has some flexibility and legs!

    Thanks!

    • Reply Maryann May 3, 2018 at 10:18 am

      I agree – this content is great and super useful. Reminds my of Tamar Adler’s Everlasting Meal. Cooked lentils seem to multiply in our house, so I will be trying this one out!

  • Reply Em May 2, 2018 at 9:32 pm

    Brilliant solution! My husband LOVES to make (too many) lentils nearly every week. We usually end up making some kind of lentil and tomato sauce based bowl with some veggies, but this would be a lovely alternative. I wonder if it would also work with quinoa (which we always have heaps leftover at the of the week). Maybe the result would be too mushy though? Hmmm

  • Reply Jennifer May 3, 2018 at 7:24 am

    Will try this tonight with our leftover lentils! I love a dish of lentils and rice topped with caramelized onions (can’t remember the name) from our favorite Mediterranean restaurant. Also Tamar Adler has a version of lentil/rice salad in her book that I’ve made a few times.

    • Reply ERIN BOYLE May 3, 2018 at 10:01 am

      Yum! Yes! Mujaddara!

  • Reply Elizabeth May 3, 2018 at 11:36 am

    Lentils are food budgeting gold. We also love making lentil sloppy joe’s with fresh or leftover lentils.
    https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-sloppy-joes/
    It’s a great meal (toddler approved!) that comes together quickly with pantry staples like tomato sauce and whatever veggies you want to use up. Hooray for lentils! And, always, for using what you have.

  • Reply May May 4, 2018 at 2:12 am

    This is a great series Erin!! So good! I’ve never really thought about food waste but reading this was a gentle wake up call. I have thrown many a good meal of leftovers in the bin, or left them in the fridge festering and forgotten when I could’ve revamped them. I realise how lazy/wasteful this is. I threw out the last leftover batch of lentils, I could’ve done this, ah well…. Next time…

  • Reply Jacqueline Taylor May 6, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    This is great! I’ve been on a lentil kick lately. And I’ve been rather sick of our garbanzo bean falafels. Going to try this instead! Thanks!

  • Reply Rachel May 9, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    Hi Erin and Carrie,

    This recipe is so delicious! My partner and I plan for a big batch cook on Sundays to provide lunches during the week, and this weekend we made these faux-lafel, to be paired with an Israeli salad and a batch of fresh hummus. It’s been blowing my mind these last 3 days, and I can’t wait to eat it again tomorrow. Today I topped the whole thing with half a sliced avocado, and the flavors were scrumptious.

    Can’t wait to cook these again soon, I’m seeing them become a summer favorite.

  • Reply Christie May 11, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    This is the best series. Please never stop. There is no blog like yours anywhere… can you make it into a magazine?

  • Reply Tanya May 17, 2018 at 11:49 pm

    When I’m really desperate I have been known to even add leftover lentils into a banana-based smoothie (because bananas are a pretty dominant flavor). Sometimes the taste isn’t completely covered up, but it’s nice to have some protein to ground out the super sweet flavor of the fruit, and I feel more full!

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