Vegan Summer Lovin' Spicy Bean Burger

So on my journey to finding the perfect vegan burger I've so far come across falafel, chickpea burgers and red lentil and rice burgers. But no mission would be complete without a pit stop at the SPICY BEAN BURGER aka the best food on the planet.

--- Cue Scooby-Doo time warp frame---

Way back when service stations didn't have Prets and M&S Food in them, all they used to have was a Burger King and a coffee kiosk. As my whole family were vegetarian back then, the only thing we could eat out of the entire menu was the Spicy Bean Burger, and I used to dream about that burger the whole four hour car journey to our stop-off point. See, spicy bean burgers mean fun is on the horizon and that summer has just begun. At least to an eight year old me, that is.

Now I won't be eating chez Burger King anymore, but this burger recipe is based on what I can remember them tasting like. Minus the bad stuff, obvs.

This recipe will make around 10 burgers, cost about £1.50 for the ingredients you use, and fill you up so much second portions become out of the question.

Ingredients
4 tbsp vegetable/sunflower oil
1 carrot grated
1 onion diced small
1 tin (drained) cooked kidney beans
1 tin (drained) chickpeas
2 garlic cloves
1 chili
1 small tin (drained) sweetcorn
1 handful peas (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1tsp ground coriander
Around 300g flour

Take a big mixing bowl or wok and add everything to it apart from the flour. Once thoroughly mixed in, give the burger mix a try to see if you want to add any salt or pepper, or maybe some lemon juice or extra chili. Using a hand blender or potato masher, roughly blend the mix so it can be shaped into patties, although I like to keep it so you can see some peas, sweetcorn and kidney beans in the burger.

Add around 200g of the flour, until you are able to make burger shapes in your hand, and then use the remaining 100g of flour to roll the burgers into to keep their shape together (as above).

Then heat 1 tbsp of oil and once this is hot, carefully add two burgers to the pan to fry, turning after around 3 minutes on each side. Make sure the pan doesn't get too hot- you want to cook the mixture the whole way through without burning the tops. Once your first batch is done, repeat with two more burgers, adding more oil when the pan begins to dry out.

While you're waiting for the burgers to fry (and keeping an eye on the pan at all times) you can make a quick cous cous salad like the one below, or slice up gherkins, or toast your burger buns. Whatever tickles your summer lovin' fancy!

The tomato stall haul

Now don't get me wrong, I love tomatoes as much as the next gazpatcho obsessive. But until heading home with a brown paper bag full of tomatoes from the Tomato Stall, I didn't know they could taste quite so good.


Tomatoes are often used as a base, a general flavour-filler, or simply to add colour to a dish. But good tomatoes, like mushrooms, stand up to just a little seasoning all by themselves. After spending a few hours hearing how great tomatoes could be, I wanted to see exactly what the fuss was about. So I grilled some vine and plum tomatoes for breakfast, keeping it simple with just some balsamic vinegar and rosemary.


The vine tomatoes were fleshy and great with toast, but the plum tomatoes were something else. Grilled with the rosemary they went very sweet, and sort of like how I imagine sundried tomatoes should really taste. This is a great example of how stripping back flavours and ingredients can leave you with something totally new to try- no oil, onions, eggs, cheese, or anything else needed- just one amazing key ingredient.

Ingredients
Handful of tomatoes, some chopped in half or left whole
Few sprigs of rosemary
Balsamic vinegar
Seasoning
Toast
Salad leaves

Turn the grill up high, and get the kettle on. Place the tomatoes on an oven tray with some rosemary to sit along side, then season with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Place in the grill for around 3-5 minutes- I like my tomatoes to just be beginning to cook through but if you like yours a little more cremated, leave longer.

In this time, sort out your toast and tea. Once the tomatoes are grilled, top the toast with washed salad leaves. Then scrape everything that's on the oven tray on- all the bits of rosemary and seasoning, and of course, as many tomatoes as you can fit.

Aint nothing going on but the rent brownies

On Monday night I walked in my front door at half six with a packet of plain, dark chocolate drops and a bag of flour. By seven these were in the oven, by half seven their days already numbered.

Although I chose to simplify the original recipe and take away the glazing and walnuts, by all means gild that lily if the mood takes you!

One thing I am really fond of with American baking is the use of cups instead of grams or ounces. If, like me, you are living without kitchen scales, just chose a smaller sized coffee mug that doesn't change shape at the sides. As most baking is all about the ratio between each ingredient, you can easily double or halve the cup measurements to suit.

Makes 16 brownies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup organic brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
3/4 cup fresh brewed coffee
3/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain dark chocolate chips (about one small packet's worth)/ broken chunks of plain dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 160 °C, and grease and line one or two baking trays. These will cook and rise better if they are poured out thinner, so if in doubt, favour two trays over one.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Then in a separate bowl, pour and mix in the coffee, soy milk and oil. Add the liquid to the dry mix, stirring in the chocolate drops. 

Pour the brownie mix into your trays. It will be quite runny at this point, but they do stodge up.

Leave in the oven for at least 25 minutes, checking back after that point to see if a tooth pick will come clean when inserted in the middle of the brownies. Once cooked, leave to stand for five minutes if you can bare it, before digging in.

These will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for five days- and they only get better!

Vegan hangover: The fry-up

While friends may ooh and ahh at how healthy your meals look six days of the week- sometimes a Sunday morning just needs a frying pan and a few McCain Smiles, which happen to be vegan. I make this breakfast for all friends and stragglers left in my flat come midday on Sunday. It's a great way to cook vegan, to show people how easy it is to make a few changes and have an entire vegan meal that is still hangover-quenching and pretty damn greedy. This is most certainly one for the skeptics ("Look it's not even that health-giving okay?"). Fire up the toaster.

Makes enough for four hungry people

Ingredients

Slices of thick brown bread

1 tin of beans

4 tomatoes cut in half

400g mushrooms, cut into chucky pieces

Basil

6 Linda McCartney sausages

1 bag of McCain Smiles

Vitalite/ Pure Soya spread if needed

Orange Juice

TEA

Everyone's kitchens are different and everyone makes fry-ups differently so instead I will just say: Smiles take the longest, so get them in the oven first, then after five minutes add the sausages. When frying the mushrooms, do in batches, with plenty of space in the pan. This will make them fry and not go soggy if they are on top of each other. Add basil and lots of black pepper for flavour. Douse all in a lot of tea, and let the Saturday night debrief begin!

Get the coffee on...

In case you didn't see it, here's a really interesting Guardian article by Michael Hanlon that my friends are sharing across Facebook this weekend.

Fake meat: is science fiction on the verge of becoming fact?

I don't agree with a lot of what is discussed, but it's great that it's coming to a place of discussion. Even if it is found in the 'Science' section of the Guardian and not in the 'Food'. Hmmm.

The Vegan Brunch Holy Trinity

Three is the magic number...

If you're not feeling a fry-up or the fruit bowl is looking a little scarce, these little Antipasti-style dishes wrapped in tortillas are the perfect way to see in a Saturday morning. Each of these dishes also happens to be chock-a-block full of goodness to send you on your way if you're feeling the effects of the nigh before. Your plate will be full of protein from the chickpeas and mushrooms and iron from the spinach. Not to mention the potassium in the avocado will help fight fatigue, depression, and work as an all-round nutrient booster. Basically it's a no-brainer.

For this time around I just fried mushrooms and garlic and added spinach at the end. Chopped tomato, and avocado, added salt, pepper and olive oil. After a delve through the fridge I found a pack of M&S chickpea and sweet potato salad, which I added a whole tin of chickpeas to, so it would go a little further when shared.

You could add salad or cucumber slices- or anything else you have vying for attention in the fridge. But most importantly, grab the hummus and maybe some limes, and find that sun!

Vegan Carrot Cake

Vegan Carrot Cake 


The sign that this is a great carrot cake? My Mum has adopted the recipe into her baking repertoire (she's Queen of Puddings in my fam) and no-one can tell it's vegan. I've made this cake a few times now, and it's perfect for wrapping a few slices up and bringing to your friend's house for a cuppa, or even to keep on stand-by at home; it will last in the fridge for about a week. 

This is the first bit of vegan baking I've done that's actually worked out- so it would be ideal for anyone new to Veganism, also because there's no better way to tell your best friends you've decided to try out a new way of eating than by bringing a cake along that exemplifies it; Surprise! I'm a vegan! Now have some cake....


The recipe I used is from the Ethical Chef. However I would also add that I've cooked this twice now and needed much longer in two different ovens- more like 40 minutes to an hour. The only other thing I would mention is that I've tried out a few different vegan margarines for making butter icing with, and Vitalite is by far the best- if you're looking for that American cup-cake style  icing texture, just start with the mixed-in margarine and sieved icing sugar, and carry on adding more icing sugar until it goes stiff.

Funnily enough I've found this cake is perfect fuel for marathon catch-up with best friends. Liz and I managed to devour half of one recently after her trip back from Japan. Hellllooo sugar high!

Picnic time: Al fresco Wraps and Kelly-Marie's Sunnyday Salad

Chickpea burgers with chapati wraps and the most delicious salad ever to see a Sunday


I was lucky enough to spend last Sunday in Kelly-Marie's garden. She made me this gorgeous lunch and we drank about nine cups of Earl Grey each. (I 'm making nine sound like an exaggeration; it isn't). 


I think the best picnics are ones with just a few components, all made to perfection. A salad like this, some leftover chickpea burgers and some Earl Grey in a thermos? Let's go.

Kelly-Marie's Sunnyday Salad
(I haven't put any measurements- just add to your own taste)


Ingredients
Salad leaves
Dressing
Artichoke hearts in oil
Sundried tomatoes
Fresh plum tomatoes
Chopped Spring onions 


We popped a couple of my fix-all chickpea burgers in the oven, added some hummus for good measure and wrapped it all up in a chapati. Sit, sip, steep and enjoy a Sunday! 


Psst- Have a look at Kelly-Marie's blog for even more beautiful creations...

Summer Suppers: Courgette and pea pasta with vegan basil and parsley pesto

Courgette and pea pasta with vegan basil and parsley pesto


Inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's Fried courgette pasta in Plenty, this is a super easy dish to put together before the sun goes down, and of course, if you make enough it just gets better for lunch the next day.


Because the sauce here is a vegan pesto, the pasta is best if it's light and not shaped to absorb much sauce - the main thing is that you use plenty of the best olive oil you can get your hands on, as that's what will bring out the flavour in the courgettes and peas.

Yields four portions, i.e. dinner for two and lunch for two.


Ingredients:
400g pasta
1 courgette, chopped into 5mm width slices on the side
1 onion, chopped and diced
Two good handfuls of peas
1 handful of basil 
1/2 handful of parsley
Olive oil
Salt and pepper


Heat a frying pan with a little oil and start to fry the courgette pieces. It's vital you don't over-crowd the pan as they will go soggy and steam each other instead of crisp up. So take your time and do in three or four batches. Leave to drain away any excess oil in a colander over a plate.


Now you're only a few minutes away from serving, so put the kettle on to boil and pour into a saucepan with the pasta to start cooking, adding salt if you want.


Without washing the frying pan, add the onions and allow to go slightly translucent, then add the peas. They'll take on the oil and juices from the onion and taste even better.


If you have a herb chopper knife, chop the basil and parsley as small as it will go, and mix with around three or four tablespoons of olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper. If you have a hand blender you could also use this to chop the herbs, or just use the sharpest knife you have to really chop it all up tiny. You've now got your vegan pesto.


Drain the pasta and allow to cool in the pan for a few seconds. In this time you can transfer the onions, peas and courgettes into a big serving dish. Pour in the pasta and the pesto to the mix, and then give everything a good stir. Add a little extra olive oil or pepper to taste, and you're good to go.