Recipe: bean burgers

These were absolutely delicious so I thought I'd share.  I'm sorry but there are no quantities: it was a 'throw it in and see' thing so it's more an idea than a recipe really.
The inspiration was a hybrid of Jack Monroe's famous burger and a simple bean burger recipe I found on the BBC Good Food site, adapted to work with what was in fridge, freezer and cupboard.

Ingredients
a mixture of cooked pulses (a tin would be fine, mine were from the freezer)
one smallish onion
one carrot
some sundried tomatoes plus a bit of the oil they were in
a spoonful of tikka masala paste
a squidge of garlic
some lemon juice - a good dash
a spoonful of plain flour
salt

Spray oil for frying or baking

Method.
I used my thermomix but any processor would work, or you can do it by hand.  It's easier if you use the machinery though.

Peel the onion, chop it roughly and pop it in the processor.  Pulse until is is almost a puree
Add the pulses, the sundried tomatoes, the curry paste, the lemon juice and the garlic.  Zizz on a fairly low setting and stop while the pulses still have a bit of texture to them.
Add the grated carrot, the flour and some salt and mix them in.  Don't zizz unless you want the grated carrot to lose its 'grated-ness' - if you do, you may as well add it at the beginning, roughly chopped, with the onion to zizz down.  I think having it grated imparts a great texture.
(I checked the seasoning by spooning a little into a mini-pan, cooking it and then tasting.)

Keep the mixture in a bowl, covered, in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Shape into patties (I used my burger press - such a useful occasional gadget that takes up very little cupboard space), spray a pan with spray oil, pop the burgers in and spray their tops with oil, then fry on a medium heat until they are browned on both sides.  They will be cooked by then.

I served it with SW chips and a side salad with some home made green tomato chutney on the side.  A lemon wedge might go well, if you have a spare lemon to use as a garnish.  Also, as the mixture is quite soft, it would be nice coated with breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, or you could add the breadcrumbs to the mix which would firm it up a bit.

It made five so three have gone into the freezer for another time.

I meant to take a photo or two but we were hungry and scoffed it all down before I remembered.  It was very, very good!


I remember when burger presses first came out - in the 1970s, I think.  I've always had one and it's really useful for regular, even sized burgers while the waxed discs mean that when frozen, they don't stick together.  Lakeland have them.