Healthy veggie bean burgers

S is a big big fan of veggie burgers and hence it was inevitable that my experimentation in the kitchen would pave way to this one sooner than later. The idea struck me because it was the weekend. And customarily we go out as a gang and end up having dinner outside… and invariably, S seeks out a veggie burger for his meal. And so I thought it would be a fair idea to give it a try. If it failed, I always had the dinner outside to fall back on. I was pleasantly surprised that not only did I not fail, but it was the best veggie burger I’d ever had (almost as good as Chilis in the US, which is saying something) and definitely way better than what we normally get outside. (Note: Evidently I had a lot of time on my hands for I sat and fashioned the little flag on the toothpick… lol)

Mouthwatering? Enough to try at least? So, here’s how -
Ingredients
1. Burger buns (buy outside – hehe)
2. Veggies – use your imagination! I’ve used lettuce, onions – 1 small, finely chopped and 1 large, cut and broken in rings, garden mushrooms –use Portobello if you get it. I couldn’t find any and so settled for the garden variety – 2 nos, Green chillis – 2 nos, finely chopped
3. Oil – 2 tsp and salt-to-taste
4. Kidney beans – 1 can, washed very well
5. Almonds – 6, finely chopped
6. Corn flour/All-purpose flour – 2 tsp
How?
For the patty
1. Cut fine slices of the 2 mushrooms to be roasted separately. You will be left with the last bits which don’t make big-enough slices and the stalk of sorts. Chop these fine and add to the chopped onion and green chillis. Lightly fry the 3 in a spoon of oil till the onions turn translucent and lightly brown. Set aside. Roast the sliced mushrooms on the gas or bake them in the oven. (You can also fry them in negligible amount of oil and set them aside).
2. Meanwhile, put the chopped almonds in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes.
3. Drain the excess water from the washed kidney beans and add them to a large bowl. Mash them using a masher or the back of a ladle to make them semi-crushed yet not-too-pasty.
4. Once the onion-mushroom-green chillis cool down, add to the bowl along with the roasted almonds and knead well with your fingers.
5. Add salt and the corn flour to it and mix well.
6. Spread a plastic wrap on a plate. Take some of the patty mixture and shape it into a round patty of decent thickness using your hands and place on the plastic sheet. This makes it easy to remove without sticking for the frying later on. You should have something that looks like this -

7. Heat an iron skillet on medium-high for 3-4 min and cook the patty on it for 2-3 minutes on each side. Take care not to break the patty while flipping it. Alternately, if you have an oven, you can just bake it in it (be sure to brush your patty with oil on both sides).
8. Meanwhile, toast the burger buns on a toaster.
Decorate!

1. Add whatever veggies you think would be appropriate. I put a slice of lettuce, 2 rings of onion, 2 slices of mushroom on the bottom bread and then the patty and then another slice of onion.
2. Serve with chips/fries/ or good old ketchup if you wanna be all healthy.

Why is this burger healthy?
1. It’s a bean-based burger and it’s rich in protein.
2. You know how much oil you used and that’s way lesser than the deep-fryers at the stores!
3. No fries/chips… you save a tonne of calories right there!
And finally, Bon Appétit!
PS: The feather on my chef’s cap is that S absolutely loved them!
And what’s more, you can easily make a batch of patties and freeze them for later. Go burgers!

Burgers at Bruges

A conversation last night reminded me about this incident when we'd been to Bruges recently... and I thought I had to share it with you guys... So, S had this incredible craving for a veggie burger the day after we reached Bruges. And all through our sightseeing, he checked out no less than 5 restaurants (read roadside joints) to verify if they stocked a veggie burger with a veggie patty... There is a serious dearth of this 'delicacy' in Paris where meat rules.. And though Indiana Café, one of his favorite joints here in Paris stocks them and he has that every time we go there, he just had to have it. So, back from the beaches of Oostende and after a day in Brussels, we reached Bruges well after 10:00PM. Having safely stashed the car away in one of the parking spaces, we went on foot (not a big achievement considering that it takes about 30 minutes to walk the longer part of Bruges) hunting for at least one of the places he'd checked out to be open. And we all remembered a different one and each of us led the way to a different part of the city centre. Finally we zeroed in on one that was tiny, seemingly shabby, but open nonetheless. With none of us having any other motivation after a long day of sightseeing and driving, we all settled in for burgers.

The guy at the counter was apparently the owner and he boasted pictures with celebrities who visited Bruges and his latest conquest was one with Colin Farrel who unsurprisingly starred 'In Bruges'. This substantially cheered me for the part that the decor did not. I assumed that if stars visited this place, the burgers had to pretty darned good. Even as S stood at the counter waiting to order, we witnessed the eccentric owner piss off a few potential customers into leaving the store. I, for one assumed that we'd probably not witnessed the part that they'd played in ticking him off. Soon it became apparent that they probably hadn't done anything. We saw a party of 8 enter and they all ordered 'Menus', which is a whole meal with fries and drinks and all. While 7 of them crowded merrily around the counter, one tired soul rested his eyes at the corner table, only to be awakened by the owner in a loud tone and to be informed that this was no 'hotel' where he could sleep. I thanked my stars for not having been discovered at the same compromising position barely a few minutes earlier before I got my Iced Tea. The friends of the offended guy explained that he was 'with them' and they were ordering for him too. But that didn't soothe our owner, who repeated that he had no 'hotel' and that he had to leave. One of the guys cheerily mentioned that if his friend was sent out, the rest of them would walk out too. And they were shown the door. Out walked 100€ of business. I watched in shock... hopefully assuming that the mask of disbelief was not obvious on my face. Presumably the guy wasn't up for making 8 menu meals at close to 11 in the night on a Sunday... but wouldn't it have been kinder to just say so rather than have them leave for what seemed very petty? And soon we were to witness another 4 parties of varying strengths being shown the door for offenses ranging from staring hard at the drinks refirgerator to choose a drink, to screaming out an order before it was their turn.

Amazingly though, he seemed pro-Asian and treated us and a Chinese couple with atmost respect. He even offered to play mild music in order to create a soothing ambience for us to eat in, even though we ate in silence and gulped down the food, lest we be kicked out as well. Maybe it was just that he knew how good his burgers were and that he was in no danger of losing any regulars, but just the tourists in that part of Bruges or maybe he was just trying to show everyone who the boss was or maybe he was just plain tired. But the burgers were absolutely phenomenal.