Chickpea Burgers with Yoghurt Sauce
serves 2
Inspired by Susan Austin’s chickpea & roasted capsicum patties from ‘Frost Bite: Easy Cooking for Your Freezer’. Susan recommends cooking the chickpea patties and then freezing to reheat direct from frozen either in the oven or a fry pan.
While I LOVE the flavours in these burgers, they are quite fragile, even with the egg to bind them. I’ve found it’s important not to over-process the chickpeas to help avoid your burgers falling apart in the pan. Just pulse until chopped.
The good news is they still taste delicious if they do happen to fall apart.
1 can chickpeas (400g / 14oz), drained 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 egg 1/2 cup roasted red capsicum (bell pepper), diced 6 – 8 tablespoons natural yoghurt
Pulse chickpeas and cumin in a food processor for a few seconds or until roughly chopped. You don’t want a smooth puree here.
Crack egg into a small bowl and whisk lightly. Add egg and pulse again for a few seconds.
Fold capsicum into the chickpeas by hand so it keeps its shape. Season and using your hands, form into 2 burgers. Pop in the fridge for a few minutes.
Heat a small fry pan on a medium high heat. Add a little oil and cook burgers for around 3 minutes on each side or until golden. Being careful when turning so they don’t fall apart.
Meanwhile, stir yoghurt in a small bowl until smooth and season generously.
Serve burgers with yoghurt on top and cucumber salad (recipe below) on the side.
cucumber salad serves 2 as a side
My Irishman is allergic to cucumber, so I rarely use it. But I was looking for something different to a shaved zucchini salad to serve with the chickpea burgers and the cucumbers just jumped out at me.
This salad will stay crunchy in the fridge for a few days but won’t go so well in the freezer. Feel free to add in some fresh coriander (cilantro) or parsley leaves for a bit more greenness.
2 lebanese cucumbers 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Peel ribbons from the outside of the cucumbers, stopping when you get to the seeds. Discard seeds and place ribbons in a small bowl.
Season with salt and pepper then toss in lemon juice.