DIY Vegetarian Bean Burgers

I have to admit this recipe came about because I was wondering what the heck to do with half a can of baked beans! This is my take on a vegetarian staple – the bean burger. It was so tasty I felt I had to share it with the rest of you!

Ingredients

Beans (obviously) – I don’t think it matters too much what sort, but I used a tin of black beans, and half a tin of Heinz baked beans (which are effectively haricot beans in tomato sauce – you could substitute with any white bean and add a spoonful of tomato puree for the sugar free version)

Two medium handfuls of broad beans (I used frozen)

Onion (1 small)

Handful of fresh coriander

Ground cumin

Tandoori spice

Stock cube (I used chicken but vegetable or beef would work as well)

1-2 garlic cloves (I love garlic but trust me, this is enough as you don’t cook it that much!)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Flour/couscous (optional)

Method

Boil the broad beans for about 4 minutes, drain and place back in the pan, and cover with cold water. When they are cool enough to handle, squeeze the beans out of their casing (you can skip this step and lord knows I wouldn’t blame you, but the skin does tend to be a bit bitter and stringy). Place your pile of green bean mush along with the rest of the ingredients (except the flour/couscous) into a blender or food processor.

Blend everything into a stiff paste. Add more herbs/spices to taste (it looks horrible but it tastes amazing, and there is nothing in there that will kill you if you eat it raw). At this point I found the mixture was too soft to be made into patties so I added flour to thicken them up, but you can use couscous as a healthier alternative, or you may not need to add anything depending on how wet your ingredients were to start with.

When the mixture is the right consistency (coming away from the sides and like very thick cake batter), shape into patties. I found the easiest way to do this was to ‘quenelle’ the mixture (it helped that my buns were oval shaped). To do this take two large plastic kitchen spoons and scoop out some beany goodness with one, then using the other scoop under the mixture, along the inside of the spoon, forming a neat oval on the second spoon. Make sure your pan is nice and hot before you place the patties (or quenelles) in there, leave for 2-3 minutes and then flip over.

Remember, your burgers will not have the same consistency as a regular burger, they will most likely be quite soft in the middle with a hard, crispy shell. There are no ingredients in there that will harm you if eaten raw, so you’re really just aiming for the food to be hot!