Bean Feast

It’s been a while since I wrote about anything other than Tarot*, and since it is Vegetarian Week, I thought I’d share a veggie recipe with you. 😀

Yes, alright, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Veggie Week and everything to do with having a temperamental fridge freezer that needs to be emptied and defrosted, and no food in the house. There, I admit it! Happy? Anyway, the fact remains, I have a recipe of sorts for you. That it is born of the dregs of my freezer contents is neither here nor there.

*Well, Ok, I do tend to ramble far and wide in my Tarot musings, but TECHNICALLY, I am writing about Tarot.

Some time ago, I thought it would be nice to cook up a load of different types of beans and freeze them, so that I could throw the odd handful into soups and stews. I cooked them up and let them dry a little, then bagged them up and put them in the freezer. Needless to say, (apart from the chickpeas) they all froze into solid lumps that required an ice axe to break them up, so they’ve languished, largely ignored, in the bottom of the freezer.

The other thing I have an abundance of in my freezer is wild mushrooms. Last autumn was a bumper year for mushrooms and I ended up with several bagfuls in the freezer. I’m in no hurry to use those up, but it seemed sensible to use some.

The obvious solution was to make some bean burgers, so I did 😀

Spicy (Mushroom) Bean Burgers
I made half with mushroom, half without, adding the chopped mushrooms I much preferred those with mushroom. If you aren’t keen on mushrooms, though, they’re nice without too 😀

Mixed beans (I used defrosted Flageolet, Haricot and Black Beans, but you can use tinned*)
Wild or Chestnut Mushrooms, chopped (optional)
3-4 slices of fresh bread or breadcrumbs
1 Large Onion
1 Large Egg
2-4 Spring Onions
3-4 Cloves Garlic
Hot chilli powder
Herbs (Parsley, Fenugreek leaf)
Worcester Sauce
Smoked Paprika
Salt and Pepper
Gram (chickpea) flour
Oil for frying

*I probably used about the equivalent of 2 large tins of mixed beans, maybe more.

These are the ingredients that I used, but you can mess about with the mixture to include your favourite herbs and spices. If you are using cultivated mushrooms, go for ones with some flavour, rather than just white button mushrooms, which IMO don’t really taste of anything. Alternatively, add some mushroom ketchup to zhoosh up the mushroomy flavour a bit more.

Method
Mince or finely chop the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Slice up the spring onions, including greens. Process the bread into breadcrumbs. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and combine, mashing the beans coarsely. You want the mixture to have some texture, so don’t over do the mashing. I find that the best method is to get your hands dirty and just squeeze the mixture until it is at the consistency you desire. If your mixture is too sloppy, add some gram flour to help it bind. It doesn’t matter if the mixture is a bit sticky, as long as it isn’t runny.
Heat enough oil in a frying pan that it will reach half way up the side of your burgers. Fry up a teaspoon or so of the mixture, taste and adjust your seasoning, if needed. Beans can be quite bland, so you may find you need to add more chilli and/or salt.
Form patties with your hands and fry them gently until firm and browned on both sides. Drain excess oil on kitchen paper and serve the burgers in a brioche bun with lettuce and your favourite relish, along with some sweet potato chips. Enjoy!

Apologies for the lack of pics, but we were hungry 😀 I’ll take some tomorrow and append them.