Vegetarian January: Day Three - Bean Burgers
We cracked: a mere three days into the Vegetarian Experiment, we have resorted to the bean burger. After succumbing so soon to what A considers to be the ultimate in hippie cuisine, A wanted to write a vitriolic piece slating the things. However, A discovered that making them himself was not only satisfying, but they actually tasted pretty good into the bargain. Every cloud has a silver lining.
As we often do, we took an existing recipe and tinkered with it. The basis of this dinner came from a TV food website. While Channel 4 calls the dish a "hash", we don't. We're in the habit of calling a spade a spade and this is a burger - it's just a massive one, topped out with an egg.
We essentially followed the recipe in terms of method, improvising in places. We swapped out the butter beans for kidney beans because A isn't a huge fan of the former. This may have worked from a taste perspective, but mashing was intense. The skins of kidney beans are pretty tough: a fork barely dented them. Only vigorous pounding with a masher finally broke them up. As the recipe doesn't specify what kind of lentils were required, we tossed in a whole can of green ones along with the spuds and cheese. The patties themselves are pretty much a blank canvas, and you can do whatever you want to them. We considered using Baharat, Ras al Hanout, or Garam/Chat Masala, all of which are available from good supermarkets, but ultimately followed the recipe's recommendation for spices.
As we've already said, these were pretty good. A liked the contrast of the red onion and cumin against the egg . The warmth and crunch from the onion and spices worked really well with the cooling richness of the runny yolk, resulting in a really pleasant flavour sensation. To boot, this meal was super-filling. We hadn't eaten all day and had done a long walk when we made these, but neither of us could finish a double portion. A normally finds he's still hungry after a vegetarian meal, but not this time. That's a big tick for us and we'll be making this again.
As we often do, we took an existing recipe and tinkered with it. The basis of this dinner came from a TV food website. While Channel 4 calls the dish a "hash", we don't. We're in the habit of calling a spade a spade and this is a burger - it's just a massive one, topped out with an egg.
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| How eggciting! |
We essentially followed the recipe in terms of method, improvising in places. We swapped out the butter beans for kidney beans because A isn't a huge fan of the former. This may have worked from a taste perspective, but mashing was intense. The skins of kidney beans are pretty tough: a fork barely dented them. Only vigorous pounding with a masher finally broke them up. As the recipe doesn't specify what kind of lentils were required, we tossed in a whole can of green ones along with the spuds and cheese. The patties themselves are pretty much a blank canvas, and you can do whatever you want to them. We considered using Baharat, Ras al Hanout, or Garam/Chat Masala, all of which are available from good supermarkets, but ultimately followed the recipe's recommendation for spices.
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| Burger, it's bean good knowing you... |
As we've already said, these were pretty good. A liked the contrast of the red onion and cumin against the egg . The warmth and crunch from the onion and spices worked really well with the cooling richness of the runny yolk, resulting in a really pleasant flavour sensation. To boot, this meal was super-filling. We hadn't eaten all day and had done a long walk when we made these, but neither of us could finish a double portion. A normally finds he's still hungry after a vegetarian meal, but not this time. That's a big tick for us and we'll be making this again.
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