I like to try different veggie burger recipes, though I don’t often find one that I would make again.

One type of veggie burger that I haven’t had much luck with in the past is the bean burger. The texture never seems quite right… they’re usually really mushy (remember: mush-burgers aren’t us). I’ve tried making bean burgers with wheat gluten to firm them up, and although it did improve the texture, the burgers just didn’t really excite me much.

I thought I would try making burgers from chickpeas, because unlike most other legumes, chickpeas don’t have a mealy/pasty texture; it’s more crumbly and nutty. And anyhoo, I had some chickpeas in the fridge that Stanley had cooked for me the day before.

Since I also had some ’shrooms in the fridge, I settled on this recipe from BBC food.

I decided to do half the recipe, making three burgers (the recipe below is the full recipe, making six burgers). I followed it pretty closely, except that I omitted the lemongrass. I also added a tablespoon of flour for extra firmness, but didn’t use any flour for dusting.

They turned out most delicious and held up well in the frying pan. I will definitely be making these again!

Next time I might dust them with flour before frying, to give them a bit of a crunchy crust.

If you cook chickpeas from scratch, start with 110g dry. This makes 250g cooked, which is equal to a 400g/14 oz can.

Spicy mushroom & chickpea burgers

1. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, and saute onion for three minutes. Add garlic, saute two minutes.

2. Add chilli, cumin, coriander, turmeric and cayenne and cook for another three minutes. Add mushrooms and lime juice and cook for another five minutes, until softened. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and remove to a large mixing bowl.

3. Crush chickpeas with a fork. Add to the mushroom mixture along with breadcrumbs and fresh coriander (cilantro). Mix well with a fork. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add flour, mix thoroughly.

4. Form mixture into six patties, pressing firmly.

5. Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy frying pan and fry burgers for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and heated through.

Serve on buns with your choice of fixings.

Makes 6 burgers.

I don’t usually post videos, but I had to share this one for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.

Susan Boyle appeared on the TV programme Britain’s Got Talent back in April. Have a watch and let me know what you think.

Clickety-click!

It’s barbecue season (yay!) and a few nights ago we decided to fire up our Woki-Wok.

(The Woki-Wok is our super-cool barbecue that can also be used as a wok, grill, steamer, smoker, griddle, etc etc. It came with an ENORMOUS cast iron wok which is now an indispensible part of the Thrifty kitchen. Though the Woki-Wok retails for around £150, we got ours last summer for a bargain £50 from eBay. Check it out if you are in the market for a new barbecue.)

I had a hankering for a big slab o’ tofu on the barbie. When I’ve baked or barbecued tofu in the past, I’ve always been a bit disappointed at how it’s turned out. The marinade/sauce never seemed to be committed to becoming one with the tofu, if you know what I mean.

Then I discovered the secrets to happy conjugal tofu-marinade relations.

You have to first press, and then gently pan-fry the tofu before you marinate it. The marinade should also have a bit of body to it, so that when you barbecue the tofu, it forms a delicious crust. The idea for the technique came from Out of the Frying Pan.

I adapted the marinade recipe from here.

Be warned, it is a VERY salty marinade. You wouldn’t want to use it as a sauce. But because tofu is completely bland, it doesn’t taste too salty with this marinade.

Teriyaki tofu burgers

1. Cut the tofu into burger-sized slabs. The tofu I buy comes in a block that is about 10cm (4″) square, by 2.5cm (1″) thick. I slice it through the thickness so that I end up with two pieces that are 10cm square by 1.2cm thick (4″ square by 1/2″ thick).

2. Next, press some of the moisture out of the tofu to make it firmer. (If you are using tofu that is already very firm, you can probably omit this step.) Lay a kitchen towel, folded in half, onto a baking tray. Lay the tofu, in a single layer,  on top of the towel, then fold the other half of the towel over the tofu. You will now have a double layer of towel both underneath and on top of the tofu. Lay another tray on top of the tofu, then put something heavy on the tray (I use a couple of 5 litre (160 oz) tins of olive oil). Leave for 1/2 hour to one hour.

3. When tofu has finished being pressed, heat a bit of oil (I used groundnut/peanut) in a heavy skillet. Gently saute the tofu until it is a light golden colour, then flip and saute the other side. Remove from skillet and place in a single layer in a shallow dish or plate.

4. Spread a thin layer of marinade over the tofu, then flip it over in the dish and spread more on top. Let it sit for 1/2 hour.

5. Cook on a barbecue until the coating has caramelised onto the tofu, about 20 minutes (this will depend on how hot the barbecue is). Watch it closely to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Makes two servings.



Teriyaki marinade

1. Simmer mirin in a pan for 8-10 minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and pepper, and simmer another 5 minutes.

2. Mix cornflour (cornstarch) with a teaspoon or two of water. Add it to the simmering marinade, whisking constantly, until thickened.

This is more than you will need for two servings of tofu; store extra marinade in a glass jar in the fridge.

I love this simple Japanese dish, Burokkori no goma ae, or Broccoli salad with sesame dressing.

You can use the same dressing on cold cooked spinach to make Horenso no goma ae, which is, yes you guessed it, Spinach salad with sesame dressing.

We served this with a feast of sushi we brought back from a day trip to London. I really must learn how to make my own sushi. But at least I know how to make this salad. The recipe is from a Japanese vegetarian cookbook whose name escapes me at the moment.

1. Cook broccoli florets in simmering salted water for two to three minutes, until al dente. Plunge into cold water, then drain.

2. If you’re starting with raw sesame seeds, toast them in a dry, heavy skillet until they are starting to colour.

3. With a mortar and pestle, crush three tablespoons of the sesame seeds until finely ground. Gradually incorporate soy sauce, then sugar. You’ll have a relatively smooth, thick dressing.

4. Arrange broccoli in individual serving bowls. Top with dressing and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Makes two large or four smaller servings.

The European Parliament made history on Tuesday when it voted overwhelmingly to ban all trade in seal products.

The lives of many thousands of seals will be saved by this ruling. The Canadian government still endorses the seal hunt, so more needs to be done to convince Canada’s politicians that this cruel practice should be outlawed.

You can read more on the Humane Society’s website.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen!

As most of you probably know, Canada participates in a cruel and morally-bankrupt annual slaughter of seals on its Newfoundland ice flows, allegedly because the seals are eating all of the fish. (Never mind that seals and fish have lived in harmony for centuries, suddenly it’s the seals — not humans and their grossly mismanaged fishery — that are behind the precipitous decline in fish populations.)

If you live in Canada, click here to help the seals. If you live in the United States, click here to help the seals.

For my European readers, what follows is especially for you!

On Tuesday, May 5th, the European Parliament will vote on proposal to ban seal product trade in the European Union.

If you live in the EU, there are three things YOU can do to help the seals.

1. Sign the Humane Society International’s petition in support of a total ban: Ban the cruel seal trade. Your signature will be sent to the European Commission.

2. Write to your MEP (Member of the European Parliament) to ask them to support a ban. You can find out who your MEPs are and send them an email from here: Ask your MEP to ban the seal trade.

3. Encourage your Environment Minister to support a total ban. If your country’s Environment Minister currently supports the ban, send an email to encourage them to stick to their decision. If they don’t support the ban, write to ask them to change their minds. See if your Environment Minister supports the ban and write to them about their decision.

Thank you from Felicity and the seals!

“Dandelion wine. The words were summer on the tongue. The wine was summer in a bottle… Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass, take a great sniff of the wine and change the season in your veins by the simple expedient of raising the glass to your lips and tilting summer in.” -Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine.

Now, doesn’t that make you want to brew some dandelion wine? Oh, yeah!

Our first batch of dandelion wine (and our first wine made from flowers) didn’t get off to a great start. One morning, two weekends ago, we picked a whole bunch of dandelion heads, then left them in the kitchen and went off to do some other stuff.

Returning to the dandelions in the evening, we noticed they had started to close their sunny little heads. Which meant it was a bit of a bugger to pick the petals off. (Using any green bits apparently imparts a resinous flavour, and we wanted to avoid this by using just the petals). Undaunted, I picked the petals off, measured them (2 quarts, by volume), and started the brew by putting the petals and citrus rind in a hop bag, then in a fermentation bin, and pouring over boiling water. This was meant to sit for a few days before the other ingredients were added.

Except that shortly thereafter, the mixture started to turn a rather unappetising shade of brown. By the next day, it was really brown, and definitely didn’t look like it would be “summer in a bottle” by the end of the process. More like “mud in a bottle”. Irk. So I decided to start again.

This time, I picked the petals straight from the flowers. I measured them by volume when picking, but then double-checked the amount by weighing them after. (If you’re using a big container to pick the petals in, they will compress as you’re picking them, which will make the amount inaccurate.)

I also altered the technique somewhat, simmering the citrus rind in water to extract more flavour, and adding the citrus flesh to the hop bag with the rind and petals.

Success! The mixture stayed a lovely yellow colour instead of turning brown. After five days, I squeezed out all the goodness from the hop bag, and added a litre of white grape juice, a kilo of sugar, half a packet of yeast (Gervin GV3) and a quarter cup of strong tea (for tannin). It was then transferred to a demijohn for fermenting. As I write this, it is happily bubbling away, turning the sugar into alcohol, and making us a batch of “summer in a bottle”!

So what caused the first batch to turn brown? I don’t know for sure, but have a couple of ideas:

1. I used too many petals (this was suggested to me by someone at a homebrew shop). The weight of the petals the first time around was 340g (12 ounces). The weight the second time was 180g (6-1/2 ounces). Big difference.

2. I didn’t have enough water in the fermentation bin to start, and with part of the hop bag exposed to the air, the petals oxidised and turned brown. I don’t remember much high school chemistry, but this sounds plausible.

3. The little people, who love messing with my mind, also messed with my homebrew and did something nasty to it without me noticing. (The paranoid answer.)

Any other ideas?

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the process, but we’re going to try and pick some more petals to make another batch (a lot of them have gone to seed already), in which case I’ll take pictures of the whole process.

Is anyone else making any wine right now?

It’s a bit cheeky calling these cherry almond muffins, since they contain neither cherries nor almonds.

This is yet another variation on my vegan bran muffin recipe. Like the apricot muffins, I used oat bran instead of wheat bran.

For the cherry taste without the cherries, I used cherry-flavoured dried cranberries (Craisins), which were in the stash of vegan goodies I brought back with me from Canada. These little morsels are bursting with awesome cherry flavour. I SO wish they were available here, but noooo, we can only get ordinary dried cranberries here. I actually ended up using only half cherry-flavoured cranberries, and half ordinary dried cranberries, to stretch the supply.

I also added some almond extract to the batter, since cherry and almond flavours mingle so well together. I thought of adding a few sliced almonds on top of the muffins, but all I had were whole almonds, and I didn’t really want to try and slice them myself. But I bet they’d be a nice addition.

Last week, I bought some organic golden syrup at a health shop in Salisbury, so I used this as a sweetener. Agave syrup or maple syrup could be used instead.

1. Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Grease a muffin tin, or use muffin liners.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add water to the powdered egg replacer according to the package directions for the equivalent of two eggs. Whisk mixture together until foamy. Then whisk in soya milk, oil, golden syrup, sugar and almond extract until well blended.

3. Stir in bran and let stand for 5 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add to the liquid mixture, and fold gently until just combined. Fold in cherries or cranberries.

5. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin tin, filling just to the top.

6. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating tin halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

As promised, here are piccies of the vegan goodies I brought back with me from Canada.

There really was quite a good selection of vegan food in the grocery stores, though I still think that in most cases, British vegan “meat” and “cheese” beats the Canadian stuff hands down.

Fake meaty things: “Prawns” from T&T Supermarket, and Yves “bacon” and “bologna”. We haven’t tried the prawns yet, though I’ve had this brand before (they’re from West Best, based in Vancouver). I remember them being really yummy. (The fantastic Mong Lee Shang vegan prawns that we were buying here in England are not currently available, due to factory refurbishment or some such silliness. Hence the ones from T&T.)

The Yves vegan bacon is really good… both Mr Thrifty and I like it better than the Redwood version. The bologna is good too, though Fry’s polony is a similar, but better product. I need to work on a homemade version of bologna.

Craisins: I like ordinary dried cranberries, but these flavoured ones are so, so, SO good. At least the cherry ones are… I haven’t tried the orange ones yet. Dear Ocean Spray, why can’t I buy these in England?

Nativa Organics maple leaf creme cookies & chocolate vanilla creme cookies: O.M.G. These are the best cookies EVER, especially the maple ones. The amount of filling is practically obscene. They are vegan and organic. If you live in Canada, you must go to Shoppers Drug Mart and buy these now.

Old Dutch Ketchup chips, Popcorn twists & Dill pickle chips: Of course, I had to buy Mr Thrifty some uniquely Canadian foodstuffs. Like these crisps! He hasn’t tried the Popcorn twists yet, but loved the Ketchup and Dill pickle crisps.

Cereal: EnviroKidz Panda Puffs and Barbara’s Cinnamon Puffins. Mr Thrifty has only tried the Panda Puffs so far (verdict: yumm), but I know he’ll love Puffins too! Neither of these is available on this side of the pond.

I also bought a bottle of Colman’s liquid smoke, which is strangely absent from the shelves over there.

BTW, am I the only geek who loves grocery shopping when travelling?