Bulgur Borlotti Bean Burgers

I saw these Bulgur-Bean burgers on Barbara's blog Dish 'n' that a while ago and have been wanting to make them, so today was the day. A sit down in front of the TV kinda meal. I made a few subtle changes, for two reasons: I did not have pinto beans or parsley in the house. Secondly, I increased the amount of spices in the burgers to suit my taste buds, other than that the recipe is pretty much spot on.

Bulgur Borlotti Bean Burgers

Makes 6 - 8 burgers

Ingredients
1/2 cup bulgur
1x 400ml can borlotti beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, grated
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 medium egg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chilli powder
A sprig or two of fresh coriander, chopped
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh lettuce leaves, tomato slices and red onion rings

Method:
In a medium bowl, mix bulgur with 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt and 1 cup boiling water. Cover bowl, and let sit until bulgur is tender and all the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, saute the onion, carrot and celery in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Cook until lightly browned, about five minutes. Add the coriander during the final minute; set aside.
Place beans in a medium bowl; mash with a potato masher. Add breadcrumbs, sauteed vegetable mixture, egg, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, tahini and bulgur. Season with salt and pepper; mix to combine.

Form mixture into 6 - 8 patties, each about 1 inch thick. At this stage you can leave them in the fridge to firm up. When ready to cook, in a large frying pan, heat oil over medium-low. Cook burgers until browned and firm, 5 to 8 minutes per side.

I served these with roasted Desiree potatoes and roasted green beans. All the fresh vegetables in this dish were my own, except for the celery, which was organic and Scottish.

Maplespice and all things nice

It is not often I go to a vegan food blog site and go 'oh my goodness I’ve stumbled upon some real delectable treasures here. All mouth watering and food I really want to eat'. But this is what happened to me when I came across Debbie's blog Maple Spice by pure chance while surfing the net a little while ago. I so wish I had found it much earlier. The dishes are all photographed beautifully too. It shows that some of the best blogs are yet to be discovered and are not on many peoples blogroll. I know there are a lot of established vegan food blogs about, but for me this is perhaps my favourite vegan food blog by far. I also like the fact that many of the recipes do not rely too heavily on specialist ingredients which some vegan food blogs do, such as vital wheat gluten to make seitan (a vegan mock 'meat' substitute) which is both expensive and difficult to find in the U.K.

So do go and check it out, if nothing else I think you will be impressed with the Veggie Burger cake,vegan fondant fancies and double layer pumpkin cheesecake.

Here are some of the innovative vegan recipes that have excited me, I will definitely be making these in the very near future. The Artichoke heart pasta; apple pie jam; fondant mushrooms; and the vegan rullepølse.

Finding ways to eat my climbing green beans

Last time I forewarned you about a week full of courgette recipes, well this time it is climbing green beans, also known as French beans. We have already had pickled green beans, yesterday green beans were in the Rice Salad and today, they are in this Red Thai Curry.

I sometimes make my own Thai Green and Thai Red Curry paste in advance and leave it in the fridge so that I can use it during the working week for quick after work meals, like this one.
I know this Thai Red Bean curry is not traditional, after all what vegetarian Thai meal is traditional?! but I had to try it. D said he was non fussed, it was just okay. He said if the green beans had been cut smaller it could have easily served as a soup. Well, I am glad at least I have tried it. The original recipe adds holy basil towards the end, but I did not have access to any, so left it out entirely, but if you are blessed to have some around, please do add it, as I am sure it adds more flavour and depth to the Thai curry.

Thai Red Bean Curry
Serves 4
Ingredients
1x 400ml tin of good quality coconut milk
3 tablespoons (or more if you like it hot like me) red curry paste
10 Kaffir lime leaves
100g coconut cream
1x 400ml tin of kidney beans, rinsed well
250g French beans, topped and tailed
400ml vegetable stock
Method
First, cook the French beans in a pan of boiling salted water and cook until tender. Drain.

Now gently heat the coconut milk, but do not allow it to boil. Stir in the red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, coconut cream and kidney beans and vegetable stock and allow it to simmer gently for 30 minutes, then add the drained French beans and heat through for 5 minutes before serving with plain boiled rice.

Adapted from Food For Thought