Quest for the Perfect Veggie Burger: Aduki Bean Burger served with Chunky Chips

Last Sunday, quite reluctantly I made a roast because, as my blog implies, I'm supposed to be coming up with some inspiring veggie roasts. I made a filo parcel stuffed with rocket, leeks and peas with cottage cheese served with roast potatoes, carrots and Yorkshires and a red onion and mushroom gravy. It was nice so perhaps when I'm less uninspired by the idea of having a roast dinner I'll post up the recipe. But for now I am on a mission to make a mean veggie burger. Why?

1. Generally when you eat out they're not much to write home about. They're either a bit soggy or way too bland.

2. After having done a bit of research, it seems like I'm not alone here with my thinking so I thought I'd join the debate.

3. I'm currently not working and I have been watching way too many episodes of 'Jamie's 15 minute meals', on which he cooked a burger. It's made me crave a burger and chips.

What I'm aiming for in my veggie burger is a good texture and lots of flavour. Ideally it will be a bit chewy like a beef burger. I'll serve it with chips, a slaw salad and a quick tomato salsa. Here goes...

I've decided to use aduki beans as I like their dark red colour. I'm also using olives and onions to add flavour and texture as well as a lot of basil.

Ingredients- will make 4 burgers
Cooking and prep time is 1h30 in total

Half a can of aduki beans
1 small basil plant- all leaves
10 olives. de-stoned and chopped.
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
Half a chilli, finely chopped
Half a cup of porridge oats 
Half a cup of dried breadcrumbs
Zest of half a lime and a squeeze of juice
2 large eggs
Seasoning: dried mixed herbs, smoked paprika, celery salt, salt and pepper 
a little plain flour to be able to shape the burgers before frying.

Get together your ingredients. Chop up your onion and garlic and start to saute in a frying pan with a good glug of olive oil and your herbs to season.

 Then add in a handful of chopped basil and your chopped olives. Keep frying gently for about 5 minutes until the onions are cooked through. Let this mixture cool completely. 

 Meanwhile blend the Aduki beans, leaving some of the beans whole for a bit of texture.

Add them to your beaten eggs and then add all the other ingredients including the cold onion and olive mixture. Leave this mixture for at least half an hour for the flavours to develop and for the oats to absorb some of the moisture. 

Once your mixture has rested, test it to see if it needs any more seasoning. It will still be quite wet but you should, with the help of some flour, be able to form them into patties. For the sake of this photo, I put the patties on a board but they should go immediately into a frying pan of hot oil otherwise they'll fall apart. 

There should be about half a centimetre of olive oil in the pan so as to shallow fry the burgers. They'll need 4 minutes or so on each side so that they are golden brown.

 I'm serving my Burger with thickly cut chips which I cooked on a baking tray with olive oil in an oven at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes.

 And a Slaw salad, which I've decided to display in a frying pan. Why not?! For this salad I grated one courgette with a potato peeler, chopped up some white cabbage and added some spinach, watercress and rocket salad. I then dressed it with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lime and some red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. 

 While my bean mix was resting I also made a quick tomato salsa. In a glass I layered up olive oil, half a garlic clove, crushed and chopped, half a chilli chopped, lime juice, salt and pepper. Then I added six baby tomatoes which were finely chopped and a small handful of my basil.

Warm your bread rolls in the oven before compiling your burger with a good dollop of mayo/ mustard/ ketchup etc. I know this picture is not necessary but I'm indulging myself.

And there you have it: Attempt one at the perfect veggie burger. It was actually really tasty and had a great texture. They were more beany than meaty, but the chopped olives gave it some chew.  A very good bean burger for sure which I will be cooking again and I recommend you try.

I'd like to experiment more with the veggie burger to see if I also make one that has a more meaty texture. Whereas this burger had a great texture and taste, I'd also like to create a burger which can be fried, baked or put on the BBQ. This burger is held together with eggs which are obviously soft when raw so I want something that will hold its shape a bit more before being cooked, so that you don't necessarily have to fry it. I am a little loathed to use quorn as it sort of feels like cheating. Perhaps tofu? We shall see.