I went to Canterbury Christmas Market with the U3A last December. One of the things I did there was to browse in the Oxfam book shop. Lots I wanted, of course, and I bought 3, couldn’t carry any more! One of the books I bought was a very sweary one called Thug Kitchen. I didn’t realise at the time that it is vegan, I just noticed lots of recipes I wanted to try.
One of those recipes was a white bean and red lentil burger. Very tasty, has lentils and beans so a complete protein, very adaptable as these kind of burgers tend to be. I made some with my cookery group, and we changed the recipe somewhat as we went along, and I’ve tweaked it again, as you do. So, this is my version of a Thug Burger. I really like this recipe for a bean burger. I’ve tried a few burger recipes and this one is the nicest I think
Pop the lemon carcass into the freezer. There are lots of things that can be done with it
Variations of the Thug Burger
Add some smoked paprika for a smoky hot hit, some sweet paprika for less heat, or cayenne for even more!
Change the curry powder, I used a lovely mellow korma powder that I had in the cupboard. Use a tblsp of any paste to vary the flavour
Leave out the curry powder and use individual spices. Add a bit of chilli if you like that
Flavour with a tsp Marmite or Bovril (not vegan). Use miso paste, or 2 tblsps tomato puree
A combination of any of the above too
Serve your burgers with home made chips baked in the oven, or make chips from a mixture of root veg (swede, carrot, potato, celeriac)
Ingredients
- 30 g red lentils
- 158 ml water
- 355 g cooked beans use baked beans, rinsed
- 50 g onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 40 g breadcrumbs
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt a scant measure
- ¼ lemon zest and juice
Flavourings
- 2 tblsp curry powder
Instructions
- Put the lentils in a saucepan with the water
- Simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the lentils are soft and the water mainly gone. Keep an eye on them, we don't want them to stick
- Click here to start a 10 minute timer
- Open the tins of beans and tip into a sieve. Now run under the tap to rinse away all the sauce. If you want to keep the sauce for use in your next soup or casserole, drain them into a bowl first before rinsing under the tap.
- Tip the rinsed beans into a bowl and mash them with a fork
- Chop the onion quite finely
- If you don't have any breadcrumbs stashed in the freezer, make them now from slices of bread. Grate the slices, or chop, chop, chop them until very fine. Or use a stick blender etc
- Add everything to the bean bowl and give it all a good mix. If the mixture is a little wet to hold it's shape, add a few more breadcrumbs. If it seems to dry, add a tblsp of water
- Now divide your mix into 8 equal sized amounts and shape into burgers. I use a cheap burger press I got from Lakeland decades ago. It's a useful tool for this kind of thing. Similar to this one
- Rest the burgers in a cool place until ready. Or wrap them and freeze. Be gentle, they're very soft
- When you're ready to eat, put a little oil in a frying pan, place your burgers in and fry gently for a few minutes until golden. Flip over, add a little more oil, just a tsp, and cook the other side. Serve immediately
Serving Suggestions
- We had ours with some home made oven chips and a bit of salad - a bit of broccoli, grated carrot and a little fine chopped yellow pepper, dressed with the rest of the juice from the lemon and some rapeseed oil
- You could go the whole burger hog. Toast some burger buns, spread with mayo, lettuce, tomato slice and sliced gherkin and sandwich your burger in the halved bun
- Or have with a jkt potato, and some cooked veg or salad
Notes
I like it because it is vegan. There’s some really good, frugal cooking here. Just what so many of us need.
No, it’s not 1/4 tsp, it’s a 1/4 of a lemon. So that would be about 1/2 tsp zest and a tblsp or 2 of juice
Sorry to bother you w/ this, but am I correct in assuming that it’s only 1/4 tsp. of lemon zest, & just a splash of lemon juice? (You can tell I don’t often use lemon in savory recipes, right?)