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From time to time I see all these vegan burger photos, but I confess that they don’t excite me in particular. Firstly, I think that when you go vegetarian, you have so many other nice choices (for example, falafels) and it makes no sense trying to reproduce all Western sub-derivatives in vegetarian versions. Furthermore, I can’t help but unconsciously think of fast food burgers whenever I see a burger between bread. When I saw this Mediterranean burger recipe in “Olive” website, something changed in me and I decided to save the recipe and give it a try at some point. Today is the day! In general, I tried to cook vegetarian burgers more than once, but always fail shaping them properly: they either stick while baking so they come out crushed, or they’re too soft while kneading, making it impossible to shape them… This recipe is the first recipe that had a nice, normal burger as a result! The taste is delicious, and Olive’s suggestion for garnish with romano peppers and basil is exquisites; tastes, colours and aromas magically blending together. Michalis served them with tomatoes and feta cheese, making the ultimate Greek cheeseburger, and he said it was also delicious.
Ingredients (for about 6 burgers)
– 400gr boiled chickpeas
– 1 eggplant in thin slices
– 1 onion
– 2 spoons of parsley
– 2 spoons of lemon juice
– 150gr of rusks or old bread
– 1 spoon of harissa (or any other spicy sauce you have)
– 1 tsp of cumin
– Roman peppers and basil for garnish.
– Wholewheat pitas
Preparation
Cut the peppers into thin slices and spread some oil in a baking tray. Bake for about 10 minutes in the oven until they get some colour.
At the same time, place the rusks or old bread in the food processor and beat until they are crushed.
Once the eggplant is ready, remove it from the oven and let it cool down.
Put the chickpeas, onion, eggplant, parsley, harissa sauce, some salt and pepper and lemon juice into a large food processor and blend until they become a homogeneous mass.
Mix the burger dough with the crushed croutons in a bowl and mould 6 burgers using your hands.
Let them in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Bake on the grill for about 10-15 minutes, turn over and bake the other side for another 10-15 minutes.