Recipes

Spicy Chickpea Burgers

JP

My fascination with veggie burgers shows no sign of abating but I think this will be the last of the hat-trick of veggie burgers recipes on the blog for the moment. After all, there is more to health than just burgers, right? Well, kind of.

This one is a cracker and you can make use of those cans of chickpeas that you probably have in your pantry.

spicy-chickpea-burgers

You will need:

  • 1 cup of porridge oats
  • 1 400g can of chickpeas, drained + rinsed (rinsing them makes them less gasey!)
  • 1/3 cup diced bell pepper (the smaller the better!)
  • 1 jalapeño pepper
  • 1 cup grated courgette
  • 1 small onion, diced finely
  • 1/2 tbsp oil
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg (for vegan use a flax egg)
  • 4 burger buns or large leaf lettuce
  • Side salad of leafy greens

Method:

  1. Combine the oats and chickpeas in a food processor and pulse a few times to roughly chop them. The mixture should look chopped but not be paste-like or mushy.
  2. Remove the stem from the jalapeño. For spicier burgers, leave the veins and seeds intact. For less spicy burgers remove half or all of the veins/seeds.
  3. Grate the courgette and wrap in a paper towel. Squeeze out excess moisture and set aside.
  4. Gently fry the pepper, jalapeño, courgette and the onion in the oil until the peppers are tender.
  5. Season with garlic powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, and salt.
  6. Add the freshly sauteed veggies to your bean mixture, then add your egg.
  7. If you are using a flax egg, simply combine one tbsp of ground flax seed with 3 tbsps of water and whisk until combined. Place in the fridge to set for about 15 minutes, then just add to the mixture like you would a normal egg.
  8. Mix everything well and roll into four balls.
  9. To shape your burgers, flatten out into patties and use a glass or cookie cutter shape to slice out circular burger shapes.
  10. It helps to leave these set in the fridge for a while to firm up before cooking them. Overnight is good too. The burgers are now ready for the bbq and if you are calorie conscious, wrap up the burger in a crunchy lettuce wrap instead of a bread bun and enjoy!

Yours in health and happiness,

JP