Amazing Veggie Burgers and Homemade Buns

Veggie burger in a home-made bun with tomato and spicy mayo,

served with mushy peas and potato wedges 

Another recommendation from the Jamie Oliver network, the full vegan burger recipe can be found here.

The recipe recommends leaving the frozen veggies out for 15 minutes, don't try to do this any quicker like I did, it's waste of time! They need to be on their way to softening to allow your food processor to chop them and when you shape the burgers they are painfully cold, so the longer you leave them initially the easier this will be. I altered the recipe a little by adding a spare egg white I had from something else I'd cooked that day to help them bind and if you are not vegan then I would advise it, I also added more than the specified amount of cumin as we love it so much. I struggled to shape them mostly because they were so cold but also because the mix is crumbly (this would also improve by leaving the veggies to defrost a bit longer) and my husband had to come an apply his iron grip to them to get them to stay in shape.

I was concerned then that they would not keep their shape whilst cooking, but after their allotted time in the  freezer, I shallow fried them in olive oil to get some colour without incident and then as the recipe suggests I put them in the oven at 160C for a good 15 minutes.

 To make the potato wedges I just cut up some baking potatoes, in half then into wedges, put them in a food bag, poured in some olive oil, added some crushed garlic, seasoning and some thyme (you can use any herbs or spices of your liking) and roasted them in the oven at 180C for about half an hour.

Prior to making the burgers I had whipped up a batch of "Ultimate Burger Buns" from the Fabulous Baking Brothers book.

Weigh 500g strong white flour, 1tbp caster sugar, 25g butter (recipe says lard if that's what you like) and 10g salt into a big mixing bowl and add 100ml luke warm milk. Mix 5g dried yeast with 200ml tepid water and mix everything together well until a dough is formed. You could then knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic or you could let your machine and your dough hook do all the work as I did.

Cover the bowl in cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

Once risen, tip the dough onto a floured surface and divide it into 10 pieces, roll each piece into a ball with your hands. Then with a rolling pin flatten into 10 cm baps (I didn't do this bit) and place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Brush on some beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, cover loosely with cling film and leave them in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 180C until golden, they will sound hollow when tapped underneath (be careful they're hot!).

Then all you need to do is assemble.

Our burgers were served on top of some mature cheddar with tomato and topped with a spicy mayo (just mayo mixed with paprika and sweet chili sauce) and with sides of herby wedges and mushy peas, but you can serve them how you like best. Next time I will ditch the bun and serve with my favourite sweet potato fries and a crisp salad.

The burgers are delicious, a hint of spice, lovely and wholesome, really filling with a pleasing texture and the burger buns are the best rolls I've made since we did scotch morning rolls in Home Economics too many years ago to mention.