I’ve been making these delicioso burgers for a few years. It’s the first veggie burger I made that I really liked… in fact, it’s still my favourite burger!
Veggie burgers, especially ones made from vegetables, grains & nuts, usually suffer from a serious case of mushitis. Such burgers not only fall apart in the pan, they squish out of most buns when you try to eat them. Bleurgh. Mush burgers aren’t us.
These, on the other hand, do not fall to pieces in the pan. They have a slightly crunchy texture and a delicious flavour. They don’t taste like a dead cow burger hamburger, but then, they’re not trying to. They’re great in their own right, not as a faux meat burger (not that there’s anything wrong with that… I also love faux meaty things, as you well know, oh readers of my blog).
This recipe is from The complete vegan cookbook, by Susann Geiskopf-Hadler and Mindy Toomay (at least, I think that’s where I got it from).
I always make a full batch of these, which can be frozen for an easy meal later.
British | American | |||
100g | whole almonds | 2/3 cup | ||
150g | uncooked porridge oats (rolled oats) | 1-1/2 cups | ||
220g | mushrooms | 1/2 pound | ||
1 tablespoon | olive oil | 1 tablespoon | ||
1 tablespoon | dry sherry (or substitute water) | 1 tablespoon | ||
34g | shallots, finely chopped (or substitute onion) | 1/4 cup | ||
1 teaspoon | dried oregano (or other herb of choice) | 1 teaspoon | ||
125ml | soya milk (or other non-dairy milk) | 1/2 cup | ||
2 teaspoons | vegan Worcestershire sauce | 2 teaspoons | ||
1 teaspoon | arrowroot powder | 1 teaspoon | ||
1/2 teaspoon | salt | 1/2 teaspoon | ||
40g | dry breadcrumbs | 1/4 cup | ||
olive oil for frying |
1. Pulverise almonds in a blender until reduced to a fine meal. Empty into a large mixing bowl. Put 100g (1 cup) of the oats into the blender and process until ground to a fairly fine consistency. Add to bowl, along with the 50g (1/2 cup) of unblenderised oats. Stir to combine.
2. Finely chop mushrooms. Heat olive oil and sherry (or water) in a skillet over medium-low heat (don’t heat the skillet first, as adding oil and sherry to a hot pan will cause it to splutter everywhere). When skillet is hot, add mushrooms, shallots and oregano and saute for 5-10 minutes, until shallot is softened and mushrooms have released their liquid and most of it has evaporated. Set aside.
3. In a small measuring cup, combine the soya milk, Worcestershire sauce, arrowroot powder and salt.
4. Add mushroom mixture to almonds/oats, along with soya milk mixture. Combine well. Add breadcrumbs and mix again.
5. Divide into eight portions and form into thin patties. As they are formed, place onto a tray lined with baking paper (or wax paper/parchment paper etc).
6. Saute burgers in a bit of olive oil in a heavy pan (I use cast iron) until golden and crisp, then flip and brown the other side.
7. Serve in burger buns with your choice of toppings and condiments.
Can be frozen between layers of parchment paper. Cook from frozen state.
Makes 8 burgers.
no no no no no no no no
Would you PLEASE stop doing this to me???? I already have a backlogged of delicious food of YOURS that I am trying to find the time to make!!!
xoxo still:(
hehehehe
Oh these look yummy too. Better than the store bought veg burgers I have come across. I made some vegan cookies for you Felicity. Check them out on my blog! 🙂
denny — sooorrry… I am only a plane ride away though 🙂
Dia — oh those cookies look so good. Ya, send ’em over 😀
yum! they do look nice and crunchy. I wonder if you can heat them up in the toaster like a garden burger. I’m so lazy 🙂
From what I remember, garden burgers have a nice crust on them out of the package. It might work to reheat these in the toaster, but you’d have to brown them all first in the pan, before freezing them for reheating. I think. 🙂
I’m not a fan of mush burgers either – unless they’re mush-room.
Hahahaha…did you see what I did there!!
They do look really good AND I have all the ingredients, except the sherry but I figure it’s about time I bought a bottle because I’ve seen a few recipes lately that uses sherry.
Haha Jeni, yer so funny 😀
Did you notice I stole your word “bleurgh”?
hehehe
You are most welcome to that excellent word! Sometimes only bleurgh will do!
And it looks like I’ve been pipped at the post
http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-tour-vegan-soups-and-hearty-stews.html
Damn that Nava! Doesn’t she have enough books already!!
Nava – I am of course joking and wish you all the success with your new book and I love you really.
(GRRRR!)
🙂
Well, FWIW, although the title “Vegan Soups & Hearty Stews by Nava Atlas” may cause one to peruse said tome on the shelf, “Heathen Vegan Soups for All Phases of the Moon by Jeni Treehugger” is a FAR cooler title, and would no doubt rocket to the top of the cookbook charts in short order! 🙂
Mmmmm…those burgers look great! I love when some of the oldest recipes are still the favorites.
Hi! I came over from Denny’s blog! These patties look amazing, and so perfectly round! I like burgers that don’t try to taste like dead cow.
Welcome to my blog, River 🙂
I use a modified burger press to make them uniformly shaped. It’ll be our little secret (ssshhhh!)
A modified burger press? And I’ve been punishing myself silly by using bare hands!
Something to google like RIGHT NOW!
hey denny,
I use a burger press like this one:
http://www.thekitchenstore.com/075764000238.html
“Modified” because I didn’t want grooves in my veggie burgers, so I cut a couple pieces of stiff plastic to fit against the grooved surfaces so I could make flat veggie burgers. But you can get ones that don’t have grooves in them, like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Tupperware-67174-Large-Hamburger-Press/dp/B00006WS6J
Looks delicious!
If I come over, will you make some for me?