Carrot & Chickpea Burgers

I don’t know about you but when faced with a bag full of carrots and not much else I struggle to think of anything other than ‘soup’. However a quick browse on the BBC Good Food website unearthed these burgers. They’re a little more faffy than standard chickpea burgers but they stuck together better than any I’ve previously made so I thought I’d share the method.

Makes 6-8 burgers

Ingredients

350-400g carrots, grated
400g tin chickpeas, drained/rinsed
1 onion, grated
1 clove of garlic, grated
1 tbsp tahini or hummus or maybe even…smooth peanut butter?
1 egg
80-100g breadcrumbs (1 thick slice of bread, grated)
1 tsp ground cumin1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
salt and pepper to taste
flour

Method

If you have a food processor (which I don’t!) add 1/3 of the carrot, the chickpeas, onions, garlic, spices, hummus/tahini/peanut butter and egg and blitz to a paste. If you don’t have a food processor stick them in a large bowl and use a stick blender to blitz. If you don’t have a stick blender then maybe this recipe is not for you…!

Add a little oil to a frying pan and fry the remaining 2/3 of the carrot for approx. 10 minutes. Add to the paste in the bowl  along with the breadcrumbs and stir together. Get a large plate and cover with a layer of flour. Use your hands to form the carrot mix into patties (eurghk, I hate that word) and place on the flour. Handling gently, flip over and coat the other side in flour.

Using the same frying pan, to save on washing up obviously, fry up the burgers for a few minutes on each side, until golden and crispy. Serve with salad, chutney, flatbreads, mayo, whatever!

No picture ’cause we too greedy. Sozz.

 

J

Curried Aubergine Pie

Up until recently aubergine hadn’t really registered on my radar. I think before this month I’d only ever used one once, as a layer in a vegetarian lasagne. However I am now developing rather a taste for them, they’re excellent flavour carriers (they are the sponge of the vegetable world) and, so long as they’re not cooked to death, have rather an interesting texture. This recipe takes inspiration from one on BBC Good Food, but adds a few ingredients to really liven it up.

A note on my measurements. I use specific measurements in recipes to make it as straightforward as possible, however I for one never actually measure 2 tbsp tomato purée, I just put in what looks “about right”. Please go with whatever seems reasonable to you – if you really like ginger, add more ginger, if you don’t like ‘hot’ food, use less chilli!

Ingredients

1 large aubergine, cut into 3 cm cubes
4 large old potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes
2 large onions, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 cm fresh root ginger, grated
handful curry leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 220^oC/425^oF/gas mark 7. Put the potatoes onto boil – they’ll need about ten minutes, though check every so often to make sure they haven’t gone to mush as potatoes are extremely variable I find. Drain and set aside when soft.

In a large saucepan gently fry the onions in oil until starting to go translucent, add a little water whenever they start to stick. Add the garlic, turmeric, coriander, chilli powder, tomato purée, ginger and curry leaves and fry for a further 5 minutes. The turmeric will give the dish (and your cooking utensil!) a wonderful ochre hue. I think that’s possibly the first time I’ve ever used the word ‘ochre’ in a sentence. Blimey, I’ve just done it again! Continue to add water whenever it starts to burn/stick.

Set aside roughly a quarter of the onion mixture before adding the aubergine and frying off on a medium heat for a further 5-10 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and chickpeas and reduce until ‘gloopy’ rather than runny. Pour the mixture into a large oven proof dish and top with the potatoes. Top with the onion mixture you set aside earlier – I smeared it all over to imbue (imbue! look at me and my fancy vocabulary today) the potatoes with the turmeric colour.

Bake in the oven for half an hour or until the top layer of potatoes is golden and crispy. No picture this time I am afraid!

J

Lovely Jubbly Vegetable Curry

Let’s face facts, vegetable curry sounds boring – I had to change the title in an attempt to stop people just skipping over this recipe. I hope it worked because it is simply not the case. This curry is bloody scrummy and, I can honestly say as a full-on flesh-loving carnivore, would not be improved by the presence of meat. (Which is great if you’re a student, looking to save a few pennies).

Stolen almost ingredient-atim from The Hairy Bikers Ride Again cookbook. There are a lot of ingredients here, but you could easily cut out half/add other vegetables in and please don’t let it put you off. For example, bulking up with potatoes would make it go further on a lower budget and, despite the ingredient list length, this is very easy to do; it’s literally: add ingredients, cook, stir, add ingredients, cook, stir etc. Simple!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 large onions, red or white
½ large butternut squash, chopped (2×2 cm)
1 large sweet potato, chopped (2x2cm)
3 medium carrots, chopped, (1x1cm)
½ cauliflower, in small florets
2 courgettes, chopped into rounds
1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 bowl peas
100ml coconut milk
300ml vegetable stock
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Spices

2-3 chillis (leave whole)
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, finely chopped
handful curry leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds, slightly crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp hot curry powder
1 tsp sugar
fresh coriander to finish

Method

Heat some oil in a deep pan/casserole dish, add the onions and sweat until translucent (approx. 5 minutes). Add the turmeric, curry leaves, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and curry powder, cook for a couple more minutes then add the sweet potato, butternut squash, chickpeas, garlic, ginger and whole chillis. Stir continuously, ensuring an even coating of spices throughout.

After 5 minutes add the carrot, stock, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk and sugar, give a right old stir, stick the lid on and cook for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cauliflower, lid back on and cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring every now and again, before throwing in the courgettes, then a couple of minutes later the peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper and any other spices you may fancy.

Make sure everything is heated through, your sweet potato, squash and carrot are all tender and your sauce is well-reduced.

Serve, sprinkled with fresh coriander, with naan-breads – shop bought, or preferably homemade (they’re easy!)

Lamb & Sweet Potato Tagine

Otherwise known as THE BEST DAMN RECIPE IN THE WORLD, EVER. (Especially after you’ve received a right royal soaking.)

We cannot claim to be the inventors of this recipe – it’s been stolen and borrowed and edited from many sources, from Rachel Allen to Antony Worrall Thompson. However it has quickly become a firm favourite and is one of the most regular dinners we rustle up. As a bonus it gives us an opportunity to break out the Le Creuset casserole dish, wahey!

This is an extremely versatile recipe and prone to tinkering every time we make it depending on what spices we have and what’s in the cupboard. The only question is how did it take so long to reach our blog? Well who cares, it’s here now!

Serves 4

Ingredients

300-400g diced lamb
2 red onions, chopped (quarter rings)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large sweet potato, chopped (2cm cubes)
1 tin chick peas, drained
1 tin chopped tomatoes
handful flaked almonds
handful chopped dates and/or apricots
1-2 tsp honey

Spice Mix

1/2 tsb hot chilli powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander

Method

Chop everything that needs to be chopped, open all your tins, make up the spice mix in a small bowl. Put your chopped lamb in a large bowl and add half the spice mix, using your hands to coat the outside. Heat a little oil in a casserole dish (that has a lid), add the onion and, after a couple of minutes, the remaining spice mix, then after a couple more minutes the garlic. Sweat for a further 3-5 minutes, adding splashes of water when the spices start to stick to the pan. Remove from the pan and set aside for a few minutes

Brown the lamb in the same pan by adding a little more oil and then the spice-covered lamb, stirring to ensure sides are sealed. This keeps all the meaty juicy goodness in the lamb so once it’s cooked it will be incredibly tender and melt in your mouth. Omnomnomnomnom.

Add the onions to the browned lamb, along with everything else apart from the sweet potato. Put the lid on the dish and leave to simmer on a low heat for…well, an hour, ish…as long as you want really, so long as you check it every so often, adding water if it looks like it’s drying out. A lower heat for longer will lead to juicier, softer, melty meat.

About half an hour before you plan to eat, add the chopped sweet potato and top up with water so everything is covered. Replace the lid and simmer away for 20 minutes, taking the lid off for the last 10. Keep checking your potato, it might not need that long, it might need longer. Basically take the lid off when they are soft and then cook for a further ten minutes just to reduce the sauce down a bit.

Serve with couscous or our personal favourite; Hugh’s flatbreads.

J&W