One of the things I’m very conscious of as a vegan is being able to feed my omnivore friends tasty vegan meals. When I tell people I’m vegan the first question out of their mouth is normally a rather shocked: ‘What do you eat!?!’ So I’m always quite eager to prove that you can make nutritious, filling vegan alternatives to omnivore favourites. And omnivores tend to love their burgers!
These delicious smoky sweet potato burgers don’t taste or look at all like a beef burger but I’ve never been too keen on meat imitations. Instead, they are delicious in their own right! The flavour of the smoke paprika with the sweetness of the sweet potato goes really well with the sweet roasted garlic sauce. The burgers are delicious served on wholemeal buns with the sauce, sliced avocado and some fresh lettuce. I served it with a side salad with green or spring onions in it that complimented the dish well and made sure we were getting enough greens.
I’ve given instructions for both frying and baking the burgers. I fried ours but, if you want to avoid the oil, I’ve had just as much success baking burgers in the past. Also, frying the burgers will mean they are crunchy on the outside and rather moist and smooshy on the inside. If you prefer a more solid burger then I would suggest baking them (although they will still be quite moist). I would also suggest starting on the sauce first since you need to roast the garlic bulbs. But once they are in the oven you can start on the burgers and come back to the sauce later.
Smoky Sweet Potato Burgers
makes 6-8
2 tsp ground flaxseed (or other egg replacer)
4 tbsp water
2 large gold sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
400g can of cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
2-3 tablespoons olive oil (optional, for frying)
- Whisk the flaxseed (or other egg replacer) with the water in a small bowl or mug until thick and creamy. Set aside.
- In a medium sized saucepan, put the sweet potatoes in enough water to just cover them and bring to the boil then simmer until soft. Drain, rinse with cold water to cool them and drain again. (You could also cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave to speed things up.)
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, roughly mash the beans with a fork or potato ricer. You don’t need to finely grind the beans, some chunks are OK.
- Add the cooled sweet potatoes to the beans and mix. Add the flaxseed mixture and then the rest of the ingredients (except the olive oil). The mix should form a rough dough. If not, throw some more breadcrumbs or flour in. Put the mix in the fridge for 15 minutes (optional, although it helps with the stickiness).
- Take out of the fridge and form into patties on an oven tray and some baking, greaseproof or parchment paper. This is easiest if you form balls in your hand (somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball) by rolling a handful gently in your palm and then gently pushing the patty onto the tray. You should have 6-8 patties. If you are frying your patties, refrigerate for another 15 minutes (optional, but helps keeps the patties together).
Frying:
Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Scoop patties from baking tray with a flat spatula and place in pan. Fry on each side for 3-5 minutes.
Oven:
Preheat oven to 180C (this should already be happening because you should have roasted your garlic!). Bake the patties for 15-20 minutes or until burgers start to brown. If you want a tougher burger, leave in the oven for longer (but don’t let it burn!).
Roasted Garlic Sauce
2 hands/bulbs of garlic
2 tsp olive oil
2/3 cup plain Greek soya yoghurt*
1 tsp maple syrup**
extra salt & pepper for seasoning
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Slice the tops off the garlic bulbs so that the very tops of the garlic cloves are just exposed. This makes getting the garlic out easier later.
- Gently rub the hands bulbs so that most of the loose paper comes away (so it’s not so messy to deal with later) but leave at least one layer (to help keep the moisture in).
- Wrap each bulb in foil and place on a baking tray and drizzle 1 tsp of olive oil onto each bulb. Place in oven for 45 minutes. Then remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, remove foil and then allow to cool completely.
- Once the garlic is cooled, squeeze each clove into a food processor or blender along with yoghurt and maple syrup. Blend until smooth. Add seasoning and then blend again for a few seconds.
* To make Greek soya yoghurt from your ordinary soya yoghurt, just strain through cheesecloth into a medium sized bowl (I use some leftover muslin from a top I made and hold it on to the bowl with some clean clothes pegs) for at least 8 hours (the longer you leave it, the thicker the yoghurt will be. If you put some on a teaspoon it should be thick enough to hold on for a few seconds when you slip it upside down). You can keep the whey (water that drips through) to make porridge or for baking as long as you keep in a clean, sealed container and use within a few days. Scrape the yoghurt from the cheesecloth and put into a sealable container (I normally wash the container the yoghurt originally came in and then just use that again) and use within a few days.
You could just use the soya yoghurt as it comes instead of making it into Greek soya yoghurt but your sauce will be a bit thinner.
** If your yoghurt is sweetened you might want to leave this out.
Enjoy!
By Elise Croft
This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared on How Not To Be A Skinny Vegan. You can find the original version here.
September 3, 2013