I’ve finally discovered the secret to great bean burgers.

A lot of beans burgers are too soft and mushy, and squish out of the bun when you’re eating them. (Remember: mush burgers aren’t us.)

You can make a bean burger firmer by adding wheat gluten, but I must admit I’m not a fan of bean burgers with added gluten. They tend to be dry and the texture somehow just doesn’t seem right.

The solution to mushy bean burgers is an easy one. Don’t make them too thick, coat them with cornmeal and make sure you cook them long enough to form a nice crunchy crust. I’ve found the best way to achieve this is to first pan fry them in a small cast iron griddle, then place them, griddle and all, in the oven to finish them off.

These butterbean burgers are delicious and have just a bit of heat from the jalapenos. Thanks to happy vegan face, whose recipe I adapted.

The original recipe called for saltine crackers, which aren’t available here in the UK. However, I’ve found that Doriano crackers — available in supermarkets — are very similar to saltines, and work beautifully in this recipe. I also added ground raw cashews for a protein boost, as well as a bit of arrowroot to help bind the burgers.

You can either use a 400g (14oz) tin of butter beans, or cook your own from scratch. If cooking from scratch, 110g of dried beans will make about the equivalent amount of a tin.

Spicy butterbean burgers

1. Saute red pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft.

2. Meanwhile, mash butterbeans. Crush crackers into crumbs (I use a blender). Mix together butterbeans, cracker crumbs, ground cashews, nutritional yeast and jalapenos.

3. Add the cooked vegetables to the bean mixture and combine well. Stir together the arrowroot and water, and add this to the burger mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and combine well.

4. Form into five burgers, pressing mixture firmly.

5. Spread cornmeal on a plate and gently press each burger into cornmeal to lightly coat.

6. In a heavy frypan (I use cast iron), gently pan-fry burgers until golden on each side.

7. For an extra-crunchy outside, place burgers, frypan and all, into 160C (325F) oven for 20 minutes.

Makes five burgers.

Although I usually use veggie mince to make taco filling, last night I wanted to make a less processed meal, and decided to use lentils as a base for making a taco filling.

The original idea was to make tacos and not taco salad. I found half a box of taco shells in the cupboard, and although their age was unknown (and with no “best before” date to guide me), I figured they’d be fine once they were heated in the oven.

Except they weren’t. Even after heating, they had a strange chemical taste and a stale, chewy texture. Bleurgh.

Fortunately, there was a fresh package of tortilla chips in the cupboard, and lentil tacos became lentil taco salad.

The lentil filling was really scrummy, and I wouldn’t hesitate to make it again. It’s a variation of this recipe from epicurious. This will become my standard taco filling, as I like it as much as the one made from veggie mince, and it’s cheaper and healthier to boot. I think I’m even going to try it next time I make my Mexican tortilla bake.

I used Puy (French) lentils, because I like the texture better than regular brown or green lentils. Puy lentils don’t have that mealy texture that other lentils have, and they don’t fall apart when cooked (provided they’re not overcooked).

I topped the salad with lettuce (in retrospect, that probably should have gone on the bottom, underneath the tortilla chips), tomato, vegan sour cream and vegan Cheddar cheese. I didn’t have any avocado in the house, but that would be a great addition, as would tomato or tomatillo salsa, spring onions, olives, fresh coriander (cilantro) or any other Mexican-type toppings.

Lentil taco salad

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and red pepper until vegetables begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute another minute.

2. Add lentils and taco seasoning. Cook until spices are fragrant and lentils are dry, about 1 minute. Add broth or bouillon and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, 30 minutes to 40 minutes. Stir occasionally, and add a bit of boiling water if liquid has evaporated before lentils are cooked through.

3. When lentils are tender or almost tender, uncover and simmer until extra liquid has evaporated. (If you have a lot of extra liquid, uncover before lentils are completely tender, so you don’t overcook them.) The lentils should be tender but not falling apart.

4. Arrange half the lettuce on each of two plates. Top with tortilla chips, then with lentil mixture. Add toppings of choice.

Makes 2 servings.

Happy New Year!

On Sunday, Mr Thrifty and I went for a 10.5-mile (17km) hike. When we got back, we were in the mood for something belly-warming and tasty.

I decided to make a red lentil soup which turned out to be most delicious. I slightly modified this recipe from the New York Times.

I doubled the amount of tomato puree (tomato paste). I didn’t add lemon juice because I didn’t have a lemon in the house, and the soup was really tasty without it. But in case you want to add it, I’ve left it in as an optional ingredient.

We ate the soup with toasted sourdough French bread. Then we each had a big plate of roasted veg: brussels sprouts, oca and potatoes. Yummtastic!

Red lentil soup with carrots

1. In a medium pot, heat olive oil over low heat and saute onion for two minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook for two more minutes.

2. Add cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne, and saute an additional two minutes.

3. Add stock or bouillion, water, lentils, carrots and tomato puree (tomato paste). Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook over gentle heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

4. Using an immersion blender, puree about half of the soup.

5. Stir in lemon juice (if using). Ladle into bowls and top with freshly chopped coriander (cilantro).

Makes 2 servings.

Last night my father-in-law came over for an evening meal, and I decided to make curry.

Feeling bored with my usual repertoire of Indian food, I made some different things, all of which were extremely tasty and went over a treat.

On the menu was matar mushroom (mushroom & peas curry), rajma chawal (kidney bean curry), aloo dum (potato curry) and simla mirch bharata (bell peppers with garlic curry). Also rice, papadums, and store-bought samosas and pakoras.

The mushroom/pea, kidney bean and potato curries were all from a fab site I just discovered, Manjula’s kitchen. Not only does the website have full detailed recipes, but also video tutorials of “Auntie” Manjula demonstrating exactly how to make each dish. I know I will be visiting this site regularly.

The bell pepper curry was from one of my Indian vegetarian cookery books whose name escapes me at the moment.

A very successful meal and one which we be having again tomorrow as there were lots of leftovers. Thank you, Auntie Manjula!

I made these burgers a few days ago, and they were delicious. Crumbly and mushy are the two biggest problems with veggie burgers, and these were neither.

These burgers held together fine in the pan. The texture wasn’t mushy (as bean burgers often are), but they were a bit soft, so I will be tweaking the recipe next time to add some firmness, perhaps with masa harina, or possibly substituting oatmeal for the stale bread crumbs.

The recipe is based on one from The New Vegetarian Grill and can be viewed here.

I served them with fresh salsa, whose Spanish name, pico de gallo, means rooster’s beak. The salsa is also excellent with corn tortilla chips. Be sure to use very tasty, ripe tomatoes.

Pico de gallo (fresh salsa)

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Mmmm, I love Indian food… such an explosion of flavours. Tonight, my culinary journey took me away from Europe and over to the Indian subcontinent.

I’m pretty particular about Indian food, and I find it a challenge to create curries at home which rival our local takeaway’s.

This is one curry that is better… oh so much better… than the takeaway’s.

It started out as Aloo chole from the blog Mahanandi, with a few adjustments and the addition of cauliflower. So I guess that would make it Aloo gobi chole.

We decided to do the fusion thing, and made Indian burritos: tortilla wraps stuffed with curry and chopped fresh tomato, chives, vegan raita and lettuce.

It really is one of those meals you just can’t wait to make again.

And… well, you just know what I’m going to say… I’ll be providing the recipe soon.

Traditionally, moussaka is made with tomatoes, sauteed aubergine (eggplant) and minced meat. Although I think of moussaka as a Greek dish, it’s also native to the Balkans and Middle East (thank you, Wiki!).

I made this dish with neither aubergine nor meat (nor faux meat!), but yes, I still dare to call it moussaka.

Many thanks go to Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking for her great vegetarian moussaka recipe, upon which mine is based. Wendy set out to duplicate Marks & Spencer’s veggie moussaka, and spent months toiling in the kitchen perfecting her creation.

I’ve actually never sampled the M&S moussaka, as it’s vegetarian and not vegan. Wendy’s version is also vegetarian, and the topping is made with milk, cheese and eggs. But the filling is vegan, and I must say it is simply delicious. Although it’s made with lentils and vegetables, with nary a bit of faux meat in sight, it tastes surprisingly meaty.

I had a few courgettes (zucchini) on hand, so decided to use those instead of aubergine. But next time I make it, I’ll definitely try it with aubergine.

To make the topping vegan, I used soy milk, vegan cheese and omitted the eggs. It didn’t have the same consistency as traditional moussaka topping, and to be honest, needs a bit of work. It tasted really good, but was a bit too thin. Next time I’ll play around with the topping.

For the vegan cheese, I used a combination of mozzarella-style cheese (Cheezly brand) and vegan blue cheese (Sheese brand).

Vegan Greek moussaka

1. In a heavy skillet, gently saute courgette (zucchini) in a little olive oil until golden and tender. Set aside.

2. Make the bechamel sauce (I used the same one as Wendy, here, substituting soya milk for milk and margarine for butter. Stir in the cheese until it melts. Set aside.

3. Put lentils in two separate pots. Cut the onion in half, then cut one of the halves in half again. Add one of the smaller onion chunks and half a bay leaf to each pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are cooked. Drain, reserving a bit of the cooking water. Discard onion & bay leaf.

4. Gently fry the remaining half onion in a bit of olive oil for 10 minutes, until translucent. Add red pepper and celery and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. The onion should be golden and the pepper & celery almost cooked through. Add garlic and thyme and cook for a couple more minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

6. Add cooked lentils to the vegetables and stir well. Add tomatoes and wine. Mix well, increase heat and bring to a boil. Add some of the lentil cooking water if the mixture looks too dry. Add Worcestershire sauce and salt & pepper to taste.

7. Lightly grease a small casserole dish with olive oil. Assemble the moussaka: half the courgette (zucchini); all of the lentil mixture, the other half courgette; and bechamel sauce.

8. Bake for 35 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Makes two generous servings.

Whilst flipping through a cookbook in the bath t’other day (yes, I read cookbooks like other people read fiction), I came across what sounded like a simple yet interesting soup recipe. Plus, I had all the ingredients on hand.

Chickpeas. Potatoes. Spinach. Cumin, coriander, cayenne. Also tahini and [vegan] cream. I wasn’t sure how the flavours were going to come together in the end, but I’m happy to report that the soup was very, very delicious. The original recipe calls for cornflour (cornstarch) to thicken the soup, but instead I used a couple of tablespoons of red lentils for extra nutrition.

I used Stanley to cook the chickpeas, but a half a 400g/14oz tin (drained & rinsed) could be substituted. (Use the other half to make houmous, mmm.)

Be sure to wash the spinach well, as it is often quite muddy.

Sesame breadsticks are nice with this soup.

1. Heat olive oil over low heat and saute onion until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Add garlic and saute an additional minute or two.

3. Add cumin, coriander and cayenne, and cook another minute.

4. Add vegetable stock and lentils. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft.

5. Add potatoes and chickpeas and continue to simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, until potatoes are cooked.

6. Add vegan cream and tahini, stirring until combined. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne.

7. Add spinach and simmer for two minutes, until spinach is wilted.

Makes 2 servings.

In a bid to eat a tad more sensibly in the new year after the excesses of the holiday season, I have decided that soup should play a starring role in our evening meals, a couple of times a week.

I wanted to start off with black bean soup, but most such recipes call for pureeing the soup, and pureed black bean soup does not look particularly appetising, at least to me. I also find the texture of pureed bean soups kinda… meh.

I love Mexican mixed bean and lentil soup, so I used that recipe as a base for creating another Mexican-inspired soup, this time with black beans and sweetcorn.

It was excellent, and I would make it exactly the same way next time. The small amount of red lentils add body to the soup without having to thicken the broth with cornflour (cornstarch) or arrowroot, which doesn’t seem right with bean soups.

I started with 110g of dried black beans, and let Stanley cook them, though a 400g/14oz tin of black beans, drained and rinsed, could be substituted.

We served this with bread and a green salad.

1. First toast the cumin seeds in a heavy, dry skillet (I use cast iron) over medium-low heat until fragrant, a minute or two. Remove to a mortar and pestle and grind to a powder. Set aside.

2. Heat olive oil over low heat, and saute onion and chilli until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add garlic and saute an additional minute or two.

4. Add toasted cumin powder, oregano and paprika, and cook another minute.

5. Add tomatoes and their liquid, vegetable stock and lentils. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft.

6. Add black beans and sweetcorn continue to simmer for 15 minutes to blend flavours. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with coriander (cilantro).

Makes 2 servings.

I know that every vegan probably has chili in their kitchen repertoire, so yeah, yawn, another chili recipe.

But this is one darn fine chili, very nicely flavoured with just the tiniest bit of heat (though feel free to crank it up a few Scoville units and set your tongue on fire.)

It’s based on this recipe, though of course it’s much much better in its vegan incarnation. (I say this with confidence although I have never tried the meaty version.) You could serve this up to die-hard carnivores and they’d be none the wiser. And of course, there’s no risk of contracting the human version of that nasty mad-cow disease.

It looks like a long list of ingredients, but it’s mostly spices and flavourings. For more heat, add red pepper flakes, fresh hot chilies and/or hot pepper sauce. For the veggie mince, I usually use Realeat VegeMince.

1. Heat oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and saute for five minutes, until softened. Add red pepper, cook another five minutes, then add garlic and continue to cook for another couple of minutes, or until vegetables are softened and fragrant.

2. Add veggie mince (veggie crumbles) and 125ml (1/2 cup) water. Saute until water is absorbed.

3. Next add Worcestershire sauce, paprika, cumin, cocoa powder, sugar, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

4. Now add the sundried tomatoes, tinned tomatoes, passata (tomato sauce) and another 125ml (1/2 cup) or more of water and mix thoroughly. (How much water you add will depend on the brand of veggie mince you use, as some seem to suck up the water more than others. You want a nice bit of sauce, but not too runny.)

5. Add beans, mix again, then cover and bring to a simmer. Cook on low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if it seems dry.

6. Stir in sweetcorn (corn niblets) and cook for 10 minutes more.

Nice served with rice and a green salad.

Makes six servings.