Meat-free Monday

It's Meat-free Monday, which means another vegetarian meal in the eat quaff laugh household.
This time (shock horror!) I'm not cooking with haloumi, even though I really did want to!

Tonight I thought we'd go for vegie burgers with a bit of an Asian twist. I originally came across this recipe in a supermarket magazine and have made a few changes to it. The burgers are nice and dense, but not dry, due to the moist zucchini added to them. The chickpeas and cashews give a lovely texture and a bit of crunch. For extra crunch, roast the cashews first. I didn't have time today, but if you do, it's well worth the effort.

I used Jimmy's Sate sauce for the flavouring, but any sort of Asian curry paste would work well - Korma, red curry, Penang. Use whatever you happen to have a half used jar of in the fridge. The Jimmy's is quite strong, so I only needed one tablespoon. Depending on the strength of your paste, you might need a bit more. Add a little bit and then taste. It's easier to add extra than to try and take it away!

The zucchini adds some vegetable matter, but you could always use carrot, eggplant or sweet potato, if that's what you have. Harder vegetables will need to be grated first, otherwise they will be too chunky. The spring onions add a more Asiany flavour, but you could always use regular onion if you didn't want to go out and buy a whole bunch.

These burgers are really easy to make and because you need to set them aside in the fridge to firm up before you cook them, they are great made the day before. That leaves an easy fry up in the pan when you are ready to eat. For a slightly healthier version, spray with oil spray and bake in the oven until golden.

Serve the burgers in pita bread or your favourite wraps with the minted yoghurt, mango chutney and extra mint and salad leaves. They are also great on their own the next day, either cold or warmed slightly in the microwave.

Asian Vegie Burgers

2x400g tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup cashews, raw or roasted
1 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 egg
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 spring onions, trimmed and coarsely chopped white and green part
1 Tbs Jimmy's Sate or curry paste, or to your taste
A few large handfuls of mint
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
Salt and pepper to taste
Mango chutney, pita bread or wraps, mixed lettuce and extra mint to serve

In a food processor, combine chickpeas, cashews, zucchini, spring onion, sate sauce and mint. Whiz until coarsely chopped and combined. You still want a bit of texture, so don't over process.
Add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and egg and blitz briefly to combine. Season to taste.
Shape handfuls into burgers and then press into remaining breadcrumbs to give a half coating.
Place on a linter tray and set aside in the fridge for at least 30 mins to firm up.
Heat a good drizzle of oil in a frypan over medium heat and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
To make mint yoghurt, combine yoghurt and chopped mint in a small bowl. Season to taste.

To serve, place pita bread on a plate, spread with mango chutney and top with a couple of burgers, a dollop of yoghurt, extra mint and mixed lettuce. Wrap up and enjoy.