Homemade vegetarian hot dogs

 

Beginning of December, two years ago, we were in Iceland. It’s a beautiful, magical place, and we would love to go back there someday. In the meantime, Iceland will be the inspiration of this week’s recipes, and I’ll also post tomorrow some pictures of our trip.

One of the most typical Icelandic foods is the pylsur hot dog (it’s practically the national dish) made from lamb mainly, with a bit of pork and beef.

As we try and eat less meat, I made some homemade vegetarian hot dogs for Meatless Monday.

The quantities here make 5 sausages. It’s ready in 35 minutes or so.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of red split lentils, picked and well rinsed
• Water
• ¼ cup of nutritional yeast
• ½ cup of chickpea flour
• 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce (I use the Kikkoman less sodium one)
• 1 tablespoon of ketchup
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• Olive oil

Preparation

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

Cook the red split lentils in boiling water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain well, and transfer them to a large mixing bowl.

Using a fork, mash the cooked lentils. Add the nutritional yeast, chickpea flour, sweet paprika, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste, and mix well to combine. Stir in the crushed garlic, soy sauce, ketchup and maple syrup.

Cut off 5 medium pieces of aluminium foil, and brush the middle with olive oil. Divide and spoon the “dough” onto the pieces, shaping it as a sausage. Roll up gently the “dough” through the foil to give it an even shape. Close the foil, and bake the hot dogs in the oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool a little bit before unwrapping.

Serve in hot dog buns (on the photo: I served with whole wheat rolls, but I think this type of bread is not adapted because too bready), with for example some sautéed onions, ketchup and mustard.