Vegan burger

Preparation and cooking time

• Prep:10 mins
• Cook:5 mins – 10 mins
• plus drying time
• Easy
• Serves 4

Make this fantastic base recipe for a vegan burger and add whatever you fancy – chilli flakes, grated lemon zest or other herbs all work really well

Ingredients

• 1 shallot or ½ onion, chopped
• 1 stick of celery , or ¼ red pepper, chopped
• handful of parsley leaves
• 400g can chickpeas , drained and left to dry a little
• 1-2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp polenta , couscous, or dried breadcrumbs
• oil , for frying
• burger buns or pitta bread, lettuce, tomato, and sauces to serve

Method

• STEP 1

Whizz the shallot, celery, parsley and most of the chickpeas to a coarse paste. Don’t overdo this, you want a texture slightly rougher than hummus. Mash the remaining chickpeas and stir them into the paste with the garam masala, tomato purée, flour and polenta. Season well.

• STEP 2

Shape the mixture into four patties. Let them rest for at least 30 mins – you can leave them overnight in the fridge if you like. The polenta needs time to absorb any extra liquid.

• STEP 3

Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the patties until they’re brown and crisp on each side. Try not to handle them too much as they’ll be quite soft when warm. Slide into buns or pitta with the accompaniments that you’d like.