The Recipe Post #13: A chickpea burger with potential

Burger time again!

I posted not too long ago about the most incredible Spiced Chickpea Burgers, and realised I haven't yet shared chickpea burger attempt number one, so here we are now.

I had tried these Jamie Oliver burgers first, ambitiously named 'The Best Vegan Burger'... but this recipe didn't go quite to plan.

The idea was good, the ingredients were nice, but I think the quantities were all wrong. Firstly, it called for far too much sweetcorn. A big 340g tin, alongside only one tin of chickpeas. The overall effect was a sweetcorn burger.

Don't get me wrong, I like sweetcorn, but I don't want a sweetcorn FLAVOURED burger, to the point I can taste nothing else. Also, there was far too much moisture, meaning they took a long time to cook and never reached the ideal firmness of a burger.

I'm going to share it here because it has potential to become a firm favourite, but will add commentary throughout of what I will change the second time around...


Ingredients:
  • 400g tin chickpeas
  • 340g tin sweetcorn - I'll definitely decrease this next time, maybe to about 100-200g
  • half bunch fresh coriander
  • half tsp ground coriander
  • 1 lemon
  • oil, for frying - I had to over bake to finish these off because of the extra moisture from excess sweetcorn!
  • half tsp paprika -  I think I'd up this a bit... certainly if you keep the original amount of sweetcorn because you could taste nothing else
  • half tsp ground cumin
  • 3 heaped tbsp flour, plus extra for dusting
  • burger buns and desired sides - we went with salsa instead of ketchup, which was delicious



Drain the chickpeas and sweetcorn then add to a food processor with half the coriander leaves and all the stalks. Add the spices, flour and some salt, grate in lemon zest, then pulse until combined but with some texture.

On a floured surface, divide the mixture into 4 patties, and allow to firm up in the fridge for about half an hour. Pan fry for about 10 mins over medium heat, turning halfway through.

Serve with desired toppings and sides.


Overall, I was pretty disappointed with this recipe, because the amount of sweetcorn meant all other flavours were drowned out and the mixture had far too much moisture. However, I do like the idea of it - the ingredients, the little kick from the paprika and cumin... So this will need to be experimented with further!

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