Summertime means barbecues and normally lots of meat. I’m reducing my meat intake for health, environmental, and animal welfare reasons, and I find it really hard to find a good vegan alternative to a cheeseburger that doesn’t crumble or quite frankly tastes like cardboard, or is really dry and needs a load of mayonnaise to make it palatable, and then you’ve added lots of calories. I’ve found a really good vegan cheeseburger recipe that resolves these issues, it’s really delicious. For something different and a bit of a healthy alternative to potato or sweet potato fries, I’ve teamed it with polenta fries.
Beany Vegan Burger
Ingredients
50g pine nuts
Oil for frying
1 large onion
425g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
198g can sweetcorn, drained
140g Primula Perfectly Plant
85g fresh breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Black pepper
Vegan burger buns
Salad leaves, to serve
1 large tomato, sliced, to serve
Method:
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat and lightly toast the pine nuts for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Remove from the pan onto a plate and set aside to cool.
- Finely chop half of the onion, then slice the remaining half and put to one side for later. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the frying pan and add the finely chopped onion. Fry gently until soft and just starting to brown.
- Meanwhile, empty the kidney beans into a large bowl and mash well with a potato masher or fork. Add the pine nuts, drained sweetcorn, and fried onion. Then stir in 4 tablespoons of Primula Perfectly Plant, half of the breadcrumbs, and the parsley. Season to taste with black pepper and mix well.
- Shape the mixture into 4 burgers and coat the outside of each burger with the remaining breadcrumbs. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and gently fry the remaining sliced onion until it is caramelized and golden. Remove from the pan and keep on one side to serve with the cooked burgers.
- Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in the same frying pan and fry the beany burgers for 3-4 minutes on each side until crisp and golden.
- Serve the beany burgers in buns with salad leaves and a slice of tomato. Top with a generous squeeze of Primula Perfectly Plant and crispy fried onion slices.
Serves: 4
Variations:
Divide the mixture into 8 smaller burgers and serve in pitta bread with salad leaves and a generous squeeze of Primula Perfectly Plant.
Herby Polenta Fries
Ingredients:
500g pack of ready-made polenta
Olive oil
1-2 teaspoons Za’atar seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika, if liked
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh thyme, to garnish
140g Primula Perfectly Plant
1 pot tomato salsa, to serve
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, Gas 6.
- Slice the polenta into 1cm slices and cut in half again lengthways to make chip shapes.
- Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush each polenta chip with olive oil. Sprinkle with Za’atar and paprika if using, and season with salt and black pepper.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until heated through and starting to brown at the edges. Sprinkle over thyme leaves as a garnish.
- Squeeze Primula Perfectly Plant into a bowl and serve alongside the salsa as dipping sauces for the polenta fries. Enjoy!
Serves: 2
Pin Me Please
