Hi there, remember me? It has been quite some time since my last blog. It has in fact been that long, that maybe I need to re-introduce myself to you….I sure hope not!

There are many reasons for not having written for so long (several pressing family issues being one of them). But that does not mean that I haven’t been busy cooking, creating new recipes, exploring more (vegan) ingredients, trying new products, posting on Instagram and Facebook (almost everyday 😀) etc. In the meantime I am also still working frantically on my cookbook which I promised to release last fall. Well I must admit I was a bit naive there, I completely underestimated the amount of time it takes to write a cookbook. So I hope you’ll bare with me…

Anyway, so much for apologies, let’s talk burgers!

Plantbased food hasn’t been very popular and/or accepted here in the Netherlands for a long time (compared to other countries). And I have done my fair share of complaining about it. But there is a noticable change of attitude going on here. Even though we still have a long way to go, more and more restaurants have started vegan options on their menus and more and more vegan products are available in supermarkets. Not only vegan mayonaise and ready made salads etc, but also a lot of meat substitues, like vegan cheese, “Nuggets”, “Meatballs” and of course burgers. Now, on one hand having more vegan options is very good news! This way more people, even the very sceptic ones, are able to get acquainted with plantbased food, which is good news for them and for the planet as a whole.

On the other hand all these ready made products are a bit controversial if you ask me. It continues to be processed food. And at the end of the day, processed food is still something one should try to avoid as much as possible, plantbased or not! It is a well known fact that most processed food contains lots of salt, sugar, preservatives and many more bad stuff. Let’s face it, the big food companies want us to believe that they have our best interest at heart, but in fact it is mainly their own benefit they have at heart! Nothing wrong with buying ready made burgers (or nuggets, or whatever) every once in a while (I do it too) but not on a daily basis.

Now I am perfectly aware of people’s most used objections against preparing plantbased food from scratch at home: it is time consuming, you need to have a meal on the table within 30 minutes after arriving home from work, it takes to many ingredients and so on…

With this easy Nut-burger recipe I want to try to take away a few of those prejudices. I dare anyone to try this recipe and prepare a tasty and nutritious burger, ready to eat within 30 minutes.

This recipe has a few options, you can either use (shiitake) mushrooms or cooked lentils (I used leftover lentils, but you can also use lentils from a jar ) or beans (black beans, aduki beans, whatever is available to you). Other than that you need nuts (walnuts or pecan or cashew, any nut or mix of them that you like or have available). Besides those two “main” ingredients you need tahini (if you do not have that any nut paste will do) broken linseeds (or rolled oats), tamari (salty soysauce), vegetable oil and spices to your liking.

As you can see a reasonable list of ingredients, not too complicated, most of them you’ll probably already find in your pantry or kitchen cupboards.

Mix all the ingredients in a kitchenmachine or blender until it actually looks like “minced meat”

Next you make patties, either by hand or use a serving ring, depending how fancy you want your burger to look.

There are two options, either you bake them in the oven at 200℃ for 10 minutes on each side. (that means obviously you have to preheat the oven and then maybe you will not make it within 30 minutes😉)

I prefer to bake them in a frying pan in a bit of vegetable oil until both sides are crispy and golden brown.

I have had these burgers both ways, once with the lentils, once with mushrooms, which I liked equally. The first time I prepared them in the oven which I thought made them a bit too dry. I prefered the panfried ones I made the second time.

I combined them with a cauliflower steak (see picture above) and once with Mughrabie and roasted beetroot with some caramelised onions on top. Both proved to be delicious combinations!

There are endless variaties I can think of and I am pretty sure you have your own personal preference as to how to eat your burger. I am curious to find out how you got along with this recipe and what your favorite burger looks like. Please feel free to share in the comments below it would be much appreciated!

Good luck and enjoy!

Click here for recipe

---