Herby Veggie Sausages

There is a good selection of ready-made vegetarian sausages on the market these days, but sometimes I like to make my own, that way I can vary the flavours as I like. This is my favoured recipe; I make these sausages for breakfast with scrambled eggs and grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, or for dinner with mashed potatoes, red onion gravy, and steamed vegetables, or even sliced and sandwiched between toast with a fried egg and ketchup for breakfast on the go. For variety I sometimes I add a pinch of chilli flakes for a spicy kick and sometimes a tablespoon of lemon zest adds a refreshing flavour. Using quinoa and lentils as the base gives a good protein source.

Makes: up to 10 sausages

Prep time: 15 minutes, 20 minutes cooling time

Cooking time: 15 minutes to cook quinoa and lentils / 6 minutes to cook each sausage

Gluten free

Ingredients

180g (1 scant cup) uncooked quinoa

3 tablespoons raw puy lentils

470ml (2 cups) cold water

1 tablespoon vegetable bullion powder, or 1 crumbled veg stock cube (I use Marigold reduced salt bullion powder)

1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage leaves

1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme leaves, discard woody stalk

50g (1/4 cup) mature cheddar or hard goats cheese, grated

1 large or 2 medium/small free range egg, beaten in a small bowl

1 spring onion/scallion, chopped

1 medium clove garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon Engevita (nutritional yeast flakes) or tamari sauce (optional)

Olive oil for shallow frying

Method

Rinse the lentils and quinoa together in a sieve under cold water.

Place into a medium saucepan, stir in the vegetable stock powder or crumbled veg stock cube and cover with 2 cups of cold water. Bring to the boil then reduce to a gentle simmer and cover.

Allow to cook for 15 minutes, until just cooked through. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Transfer the cooled quinoa/lentil mix into a food processor or large mixing bowl.

Add the egg, chopped herbs, spring onion/scallion, garlic, cheese and Engevita or tamari sauce if using. Blitz them together, or mash well together with a potato masher. Then using cleaned hands take a large table spoon at a time and mould into sausage shapes.

Heat a medium frying pan. Add a little olive oil and once it is sizzling hot, add a batch of the sausages, fry on all sides for about 6 minutes in total, so they turn golden brown.