For years vegetarians ate these sad excuses for meals: nut loaves that disintegrated on the fork, requiring mashing up with the ubiquitous side of peas in order to ‘catch’ it; the burger patties mimicking the shape of their meaty brethren but failing oh so miserably in the taste department – unless you like heavily-salted cardboard. Such nasty meals were penitence for shunning the norm. A hail Mary for the culinary sinner.
As someone who landed in Scotland in the late 1980s, and who quickly became vegetarian {that’s a story for another day}, I can chart the rehabilitation of the vegetarian. I can’t give an accurate time frame for this change, but from the very late 1990s our collective interest and knowledge of food, and its relationship to health, has without doubt filtered in to the kitchens of restaurants, both high and low of brow. It has become as easy to get a decent veggie burger in a small cafe whose clientele is more oldster than hipster, as it is to get a beautiful plate of foraged greens topped with spiced and sauced homemade tofu from the fancier joints. Maybe easier.
All of this is good news because we the home cook can benefit from others’ more public creativity. Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and other social media also have a huge influence. As do our links with other cultures – either from visiting them and barely containing our glee when experiencing new and novel tastes, or from buying new-to-us ingredients that are staple foods elsewhere.
My biggest culinary discovery has been, as regular readers will know, kimchi. Again, I can’t quite remember when I first tasted it but I do know that I would have been holding back a serious puppy-wiggle of excitement on first taste. I might have had a little dance under the table. I do that. My Dad calls it ‘happy feet’. I love it not only for the intriguing almost indescribable taste, but also the health aspects of improved digestion and potentially immune function, too. But I really like it mainly for the taste.
I’ve blogged a few recipes using kimchi. All completely inauthentic uses, I should add. A Korean acquaintance told me that Westerners have really opened her eyes to the potential of kimchi beyond the traditional. I guess we could say that about any food that makes its way across national borders. We mix our new finds with old loves and techniques to create something unique. I think that’s what I have done here. I haven’t seen anything quite like it on the Internet. Maybe because other people think it’s gross, I don’t know!
Anyway, I am adding to the rehabilitation of the much-maligned vegetable burger with a judicious whack of tongue-tantalising kimchi. It is so quick and easy that it can be knocked up in almost the time it takes to bake a frost-coated veggie burger pulled from the freezer.
Edinburgh pubs, please take note.
Kimchi Quinoa Burgers with Avocado-Jalapeno ‘Mayo’ – Vegan/Gluten-free
SO loving this burger! If you make your own kimchi this is incredibly cheap to prepare, but even with bought kimchi this burger is still pretty budget-minded fare – and full of digestion-friendly probiotics and fibre. Use any beans you fancy – not baked though! I used borlotti. The black and white sesame seeds add gorgeous crunch but substitute with panko crumbs, or even leave ‘naked’ – these burgers will still be incredibly tasty.
1 cup cooked, cooled quinoa, {here is how to cook quinoa if you are unsure, but leave out the flavourings of that recipe} – Note: 1 cup uncooked quinoa makes about 3 cups of cooked
1 ½ cup lightly mashed beans
¾ cup chopped cabbage or radish kimchi, drained {save any liquid to make up the chia egg,if using}
2 spring onions, sliced
1 chia egg* or medium hen’s egg
2 tsp Korean pepper flakes – optional
Oil for the sauté pan and tray – about 2 tbsp
Avocado-Jalapeno ‘Mayo’
½ ripe avocado {or one small one}
1 tbsp lime juice, or good squeeze
1 spring onion, roughly chopped – optional
½ jalapeno pepper, deseeded OR use a few dashes of hot sauce {red sauces will ‘muddy’ the mayo}
2-inch piece peeled cucumber
Pinch salt
To serve: soft lettuce, sprouts of choice, wholemeal bread roll, cucumber slices
1. Pop all of the burger ingredients – minus the sesame seeds and spring onions – into a food processor or blender {I use my Froothie and it takes seconds}. Pulse until you get a half smooth and half chunky mix. Stir in the chopped onion. Or, you could blend half and mash in the remaining. Clean out the food processor bowl/blender.
2. Sprinkle the seeds onto a plate and, with damp hands, divide the quinoa mixture into five or six balls; press into burger shapes.
3. Lightly coat the burgers in the seeds and place onto a plate or baking sheet, place in the fridge for 20 minutes – longer if where you are is hot. Lucky you.
4. Now make the yummy green mayo by placing all of the ingredients into your blender/food processor and blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Make double if you like, because it’s delicious and makes a great, quick, guacamole.
5. Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.
6. When the burgers are nice and chilled pop the burgers onto an oiled tray and into the preheated oven; bake for 15 minutes. Carefully flip the burgers and bake for a further 10 minutes.
7. When the burgers are about finished in the oven, heat the oil in a sauté pan – medium flame. Put the burgers into the hot pan and cook for 1 ½ minutes on each side. Any longer and the sesame seeds may burn. If you aren’t coating the burgers then you may wish to fry a little longer to get a nice crust.
Serve on soft lettuce leaves or in a wholemeal roll/bun, topping with the avocado-jalapeno mayo, cucumber slices and sprouts.
Btw, these are GORGEOUS with sweet potato wedges and extra kimchi!
* a chia egg is made by mixing 1 tbsp ground chia seeds and 3 tbsp water, or in this case kimchi liquid topped up with water. This is what I did, although I used whole chia seeds in this instance.
Soft food diets: ditch the seeds and blend all of the ingredients throughly before chilling and baking.
