Lentil Burgers.

So it's a Bank Holiday weekend. The sun is shining. Having or going to a barbeque is a given. But what to eat if you don't fancy a face full of "well done" meat? Avoid the taste of charcoal and get your chops around some delicious lentil burgers. Here's how:

You will need -

3 cups of cooked black or green lentils (the black ones are less mushy)
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup of toasted fine bread crumbs
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Chopped coriander, a pinch of cumin, paprika or chilli for flavour

Mix up the lentils, eggs and salt in a bowl. If you're lucky enough to have a food processor then whack the ingredients in there for a minute. If not, it's good old elbow grease I'm afraid. Now stir in the onion, the coriander and a pinch of your favourite herbs or spices to add an extra kick. Add the bread crumbs and let the mixture rest for a moment so the bread crumbs can soak up some of the excess moisture.

Now for the fun/messy bit. (You may want to sieve some flour onto a chopping board or plate as this can help to keep the mixture together). Get your hands into that big bowl of sticky mixture and create your burger patties. This recipe should be enough for 6 large burgers or 12 mini ones if you're feeling a little daintier.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the patties. Cook for 7-10 minutes on each side until they're nice and golden brown. Grab a bun, add some salad (maybe some caramelised red onions), a slice of mozerella if you fancy and Bob's your uncle, you've got yourself a tasty BBQ treat.

Studio Pics

I thought it might be nice for you to see where all the Ghulam Sakina magic happens. So here you go. A little look at what goes on behind the scenes! Sorry they aren't all the right way round, we're having a little trouble figuring out how to do that. For now though, you'll just have to strain your necks I' afraid! SORRY xxx

Sample Sales and Sunny Days

Hello hello hello,

So, I've been in charge this week while the other two rapscalians I work with are cavorting around on the other side of the globe. Usually I get a bit jealous when Tana and Squat head to India to visit our factories but this time I have to say I REALLY didn't mind being left behind. It's currently around 44 degrees in Delhi and not being designed to spend more than a minute in the sun without burning to a crisp means I'm quite happy sitting in our studio, enjoying the cool breeze flowing through my window. Ha!

Anyway, what (real) news do I have to report from GS Headquarters today I hear you ask. Well, this week we have mainly been getting ready for, and then recovering from, our sale with the lovely Ally Capellino gang on Wednesday. (And when I say 'we' I mean my lovely new intern Sonny, my friend Cathy and me). As usual, people were clawing tooth and nail to get their hands on Ally's wonderous bags. I managed to grab a genius laptop case that Ally designed for the Tate Modern, before fighting my way back to safety. But in between the madness we met lots of old and plenty of new friends who managed to get their hands on a GS bargain or two. Good work ladies.

We're setting up a new mailing list so please feel free to contact us if you'd like to join. We'll send you updates about future sample sales and general bits and pieces about any other up and coming events we're planning.

So that aside, it's a bank holiday weekend, which I only realised on Wednesday (!) so that means there's plenty of time for baking. I'm going to have a look through my cook book and post a nice new recipe for you to try out at home.

Back soon x

Doodle Do, Doodle Don't

Hello friends, congratulations on making it to the end of the week!

As ever, we have been busy little bees this week here at Ghulam Sakina HQ.

Not only have Squat and Tana been getting ready to jet off to India this weekend, (leaving me all on my lonesome for a week), but Squat's been preparing to give a talk at the V&A today!

While those two have been ferreting around packing samples to take away, I've been sorting out goodies for our sample sale with our wonderful friends at Ally Capellino next week. Check out our Facebook page or log on to: http://www.dailycandy.com/london/article/43422/Gone+Saleing for more details!

As for our doodle competition, well that is going just swimmingly! We're thrilled to pieces with all the entries we've received so far but one or two people have forgotten to include their contact details! Que horror! So please PLEASE don't forget to give us YOUR NAME, YOUR ADDRESS, CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER and E-MAIL ADDRESS if you're entering our competition!

I'm going to post some of the entries on our Facebook page so look out for your pictues there.

Well that's all the news I've got for you at the moment. Keep doodling and have yourselves a merry little weekend!

Much love xxxxx

G2 & Grazia

Bonjour mes beautés,

I hope this blog finds you all very well. Sadly I have been a bit ill (not with swine flu) so I'm a bit late letting you all in on this.

Did any of you happen to get your hands on the May 4th edition of Grazia? If you were then you may well have noticed one of our delightful floral print grandad shirts on the front cover! That's right folks, without us even having to lift a finger, the forever wise Laura Craig spied said aforementioned shirt in Matches and just had to mention it on her top picks page (p.61).

As you can imagine we were pretty chuffed.

As exciting though is the advert we ran promoting our new website which ran in the G2 today!

Check it out if you get the chance and for goodness sake don't forget to enter our doodle competition!

Much love to one and all,

Gemma xxx

p.s. Squat and Tana are off to India this weekend which means I'm going to be left in charge next week so expect a few more posts!