Black Bean and Shitake Burger

 

Black Bean and Shitake Burgers

 

By Namit Kathoria

 

Soaking time: 9 hours/overnight

Preparation time: 20-25 min

Cooking time: 20-25 min

 

Serves 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

^2/₃  cup oats flour/blended oats

80-90g walnuts crushed into small pieces

2 fresh chillies finely diced

½ inch fresh turmeric grated/ ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

3-4 garlic cloves grated

1 large/2 small red onions finely diced

100g shitake mushrooms finely diced

½ large/1 small red pepper finely diced

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons wholegrain tahini

2 tablespoons ground flax seed

1 small handful chopped fresh coriander

2 teaspoons brown miso paste

2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard

½ teaspoon Himalayan rock salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon hot paprika

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 ½ teaspoons cumin powder

1 ½ teaspoons coriander powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup dried black beans (left to soak overnight)/ 1 jar (400g) black beans drained and rinsed

 

Serve with: wholegrain bread, sliced onion, tomato sliced, sliced cucumber, sliced avocado, lettuce and vegan mayonnaise together with fresh coriander

 

Preparation:

1. Drain and rinse the dried black beans if using. Then cook them in an Instant Pot for 35-40 minutes with 3 cups of water or a traditional pressure cooker according to the instructions. Alternatively use a jar of black beans drained and rinsed.
2. Finely dice the onions, the shitake mushrooms, the chilli and grate the turmeric and the garlic.
3. Put a little bit of the olive into a pan on a medium to high heat with one piece of the onion. Wait for it to sizzle, as soon as it does add in the rest of the onion. Cook for about 4-5 minutes until the onion starts to go translucent.
4. Add in the chilli, the turmeric, the garlic and a little bit more of the oil. Cook for about 30 seconds more.
5. Then add in the shitake mushrooms, the red pepper and a little bit more of the oil. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, constantly stirring.
6. Whilst the shitake and the red pepper are cooking, mix all the rest of the ingredients (apart from the olive oil) together – including the drained beans – in a large container and start mashing everything up with a potato masher but leave a little bit of texture in the black beans (i.e.don’t mash them up completely). Now add in the mixture from the pan and combine with the ingredients in the container mixing well.
7. Moisten your hands either with water or with olive oil. Form small golf ball sized spheres of the mixture with your hands, flatten them out and shallow fry them for about 3 minutes on each side in the same pan again on a medium to high heat. Put a little bit more of the oil into the pan with each batch. You can normally fit in about 4 of these burgers per batch. Once each batch has been cooked, wipe down the pan with a kitchen towel, put in some more oil and then do the next round. There should be enough mixture for about 4-5 batches in total.
8. Serve with the wholegrain bread and other toppings mentioned above.
   
   

Where does your protein come from?

It comes from a combination of the black beans and the oats flour. When you combine the two, you get all of the essential amino acids that the body needs. Nutritional yeast adds an extra complement of amino acids as do the walnuts and the flax seeds. The wholegrain tahini adds in extra protein as well as does the wholegrain bread that you serve the burgers with!

 

To get more inspiration for healthy plant-based recipes please see our new nutrition and recipe book “Life” which is due to come out in 2022.