# looking for a veggie burger recipe...



## miseinplace (Jan 18, 2007)

never really made one before, but thinking of adding one to the menu. can anyone offer any good advice?


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

If possible, use fresh, local vegetarians instead of previously frozen ones shipped in from who knows where.

On a more serious note, I have eaten them and found I prefer mushroom, bean and carrot based patties to those built around soy TVP [ textured vegetable protein ] or seitan. For those not aware of it, seitan is sort of like a wheat gluten glace d'viande, or maybe tofu would be more descriptive.

If you use dairy and eggs the recipe horizons broaden a bit, I would imagine. But I've never made a veggie burger, just eaten them. Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about will jump in here with some information that may actually be useful.

mjb.


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## tessa (Sep 9, 2007)

brown lentils with garlic and herbs , a little tomato sauce/ketchup some black pepper and salt mixed with either ground rice or panko breadcrumbs, some mustard, and worchesterchire sauce. 
cook the lentils till soft and just mash it slightly and add the other ingrediants and mix till hamburger texture , then place in patties and refridgerate for at least 40 mins before cooking 
make the mix fairly firm so it holds together well, you can add an egg if you wish , just increase the panko if you do


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I do something similar to tessa - i make a sort of thick lentil soup with a base of sauteed finely chopped onion and garlic, add chopped carrot, celery, the lentils, (i prefer the small ones) and one or two cut up potatoes, salt, plenty of black pepper. When they've cooked a little i add rice or other grain (orzo works too). Sometimes chopped spinach which goes really well. When lentils are cooked soft, you let them cool and add an egg, a couple of handfuls of parmigiano, some breadcrumbs and a little flour to bind, and then cook in a frying pan with a little oil. 
Home made ketchup is great with them 
cook some tomatoes (canned are fine) with some brown sugar (2 or 3 tbsp per can) vinegar (2 tbsp), garlic, thyme, basil, ground clove (a good pinch), other herbs you may like, and after about ten or fifteen minutes, i blend with an immersion blender, or let it cool and put in the regular blender. Once you taste it this way, it's hard to eat teh commercial stuff. I used to make this when i would start the lentils. 

The trick is to sort of squash the vegetables and lentils and add enough dry stuff to make them hold their shape. One egg is enough, or you'll get it too liquid to shape. 

I used to make them as a side product of lentil soup. Make the lentils cook without the rice until they're firm but not hard (soft enough to eat but hold their shape) and a little liquidy. Toast good artisanal type bread and rub garlic on it. Put in the dish, a little olive oil on it, then the soup. You have a complete protein because the bread and the lentils produce complete protein strands if eaten together. 

While you;re eating add the rice or orzo and cook till thick and the grain is soft. Then refrigerate for the next day. 
my daughter stopped eating meat at 16 and i did lots of these. It was also cheap and at the time there was mad cow.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Jeff Smith had a recipe for pasta e fagioli and a second recipe for making fritter/patties from the leftovers. Very similar to some of the concepts expressed above.

Phil


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## madbakerwoman (Jul 14, 2008)

i LOVE tofu, and always have it on hand, so whenever we have veggie burgers we use tofu. but we've also used lentils very similar to the methods given above, and both are great. for tofu burgers, basically use the same method as the lentil burgers. rolling the tofu around a small amount of swiss cheese or another cheese just before cooking gives it a great flavor.


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## peterhry (Jul 30, 2007)

There's a pretty good video tutorial here:
Veggie Burgers

I made these a few months ago and they turned out great!


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## ninja_59 (May 2, 2004)

@ peterhry

Thank you, great video


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I love Gardenburgers, but I can't seem to find them in any of the places I shop. The flavor of theirs I like most has mushrooms and barley as prominent ingredients- but no lentils. 

I'd love to have a recipe that features mushrooms and barley, onions and other veggies, but no legumes.


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## m.d.hughes (Apr 28, 2007)

You may want to look at an Indian style patty, something along the line of using an Aloo Tiki as a base, this is made with chenna flour, potato and spices but can be adapted to your tastes using lentils or chic peas in stead of the potato, though I personally like them with potato.

Remember you are cutting out all that yummy animal fat so you need to be aggresive with the flavouring so that is why the aloo tiki is so good as a base.

We used to sell a veggie burger with bacon, we called it "the paridox" ...sold quite well


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## bakeaholic (Aug 17, 2007)

i think u can buy turkey flavored tofu patty's at the market. I eat some at a friends house but I didn't get the location were she got them


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## irish foodie (Sep 16, 2008)

for veggie burgers i dice red peppers, onion, and courgette and sautee. you can add garlic if desired. you could offer a spiced up version by sauteeing some fresh chilles to the mix.

i mash up cooked chickpeas and then add the sauteed veg. add salt and pepper and then shape into burgers and leave to chill.

then just fry up veggie burgers when ordered.


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