Mysteriously meaty veggie chickpea burgers

Not mysterious in a ‘Surprise! We contain liver!’ way, as I really don’t suppose vegetarians would be very impressed by that! These are mysterious as, despite containing zero meat, they fill you up so much you can’t help feeling you’ve eaten a lot of protein; which of course you have, only in pulse format.

The men in my life (save my eldest son) search their plates for meat products. However, these burgers satisfy their Neanderthal palates and keep my almost vegetarian son happy. They’re a thrifty dish too, so they are perfect for larger gatherings.

INGREDIENTS

2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon groundnut or sunflower oil, plus a little extra for frying

800g tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 large egg

80g breadcrumbs

100g carrots, peeled and finely grated

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a pan over a low heat, fry the onions, cumin and coriander in the oil until soft and starting to brown at the edges. Remove from the heat and let cool a little. Blend all the other ingredients except the carrot to a paste using a food processor or stick blender. Stir in the onions and carrot. Shape the mixture into 10 burgers using wet hands and chill for 10 minutes.

In batches, fry the burgers in the onion pan with a little extra oil for 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn over carefully with a fish slice and repeat until the other side is browned. Keep warm in the oven until all the burgers are cooked and serve with toasted buns, chips and lots of salad.

If you have any left over, keep them in the fridge and take to work in lunchboxes the next day with lots of salad and a pitta bread. These are also delicious made into tiny fried patties and served with drinks when you are having friends over.

#normalmum #onion #cumin #coriander #chickpea #garlic #egg #carrot