Hey guys 🙂 I hope you’re all doing well and finding ways to cope with the situation at present.

I’m trying my very best to keep busy and keep my mind occupied. Seeing as I already very much enjoy cooking and recipe development, it’s only natural that one of the ways I’m coping with being stuck at home unable to meet family and friends is spending far more time in the kitchen.

While we tend to crave comfort foods during difficult periods in our lives, I thought I’d share recipes here that are both comforting yet sneakily healthy. One of my ‘guilty’ pleasures has always been a really good burger and chips! Nothing beats it when I want to indulge. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with using food for comfort when we need it, at present, we don’t know how long this period of isolation is going to last, so, it would certainly be a good ideas to swap some of your typical comfort foods for healthier options here and there.

I was craving a burger really badly last week – I don’t even remember the day to be honest because I’m finding myself losing track at this point. I was determined to make something delicious, nutritious but most importantly as close as possible to your typical burger and chips.

In truth, you won’t mistake this vegan burger for beef BUT the flavour is meety (I know that’t not an actual word but you get what I mean).

Here’s how to make it…

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa (measured uncooked)

100g brown lentils (measured uncooked)

60g walnuts

2 tablespoons chia seeds of falxseeds + 6 tablespoons water

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

3 medium carrots

10 button mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste (kunserva)

2 tablespoons tamari soy sause

3/4 cup gram (chickpea) flour

Method:

Start by cooking lentils and quinoa according to package instructions.

While your quinoa and lentils cook (keeping in mind that lentils need more time to cook so keep an eye on your quinoa), chop your veggies finely. I used a food processor for this to speed up the process. Also, grind walnuts into very small pieces (but not into flour).

Use a food chopper, food processor or spice grinder to grind your chia seeds of flaxseeds. Both will work here. These, with the addition of water, will work as a binder in this recipe (instead of eggs). Grind two tablespoons of whichever seed you’ll be using and add it to a small bowl together with six tablespoons of water. Set aside.

In a large pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add your onion, cook for two minutes until soft then add garlic, tomato paste and tamari soy sauce.

Mix well to combine and add your carrot and walnuts. Cook together for 15 minutes stirring regularly.

Add this cooked veggie mixture to a large bowl and to it add your cooked lentils and cooked quinoa.

Mash everything together using a potato masher and add your prepared chia or flaxseed mixture. Mix well and add 3/4 cup gram flour. Mix again until all flour is incorporated and mixture becomes stiff.

Now, form into 8 patties and fry up in non stick pan with a tablespoon of oil (any you prefer) for 3-4 minutes of either side.

Serve with oven baked potato wedges and thank me later – SO GOOD! I added sliced pickles, ketchup and harisa paste on top of a bit of added heat! Craving SATISFIED 🙂

These burgers are loaded with protein, are gluten free (gram flour does not contain gluten), contain a lot of fibre, phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals! Plus, my very non-vegan boyfriend LOVED these – he’s normally not the biggest fan of vegan foods but this one was definitely a big hit. Hope you try them and love them as much as we do!

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Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this ❤

Until my next post, be well xXx