Sunday 10 November 2013

Moroccan Vegetable & Chickpea Burger GF

Moroccan Vegetable & Chickpea Burger

I've never used harissa before in cooking but that is definitely going to change from now on, what an awesome ingredient!!  Harissa is a fiery, aromatic paste used widely in many North African and Middle Eastern cuisines as a condiment, in stews or even mixed with olive oil as a dipping sauce and the exact ingredients vary depending on the country, region or family tradition.

open jar of harissa paste

Sainsbury's harissa paste has been created from a rich blend of rose petals, red peppers, smoked paprika, cumin, coriander and caraway and is part of their Speciality Ingredients range of foods. 

open jar of harissa paste

I decided to use it to spice up a burger and I'm extremely happy with the results. Add more or less paste depending on how hot you want your burgers to be but one tablespoon adds enough flavour without the burgers being too hot! This recipe make 4 generous burgers.

Moroccan Vegetable & Chickpea Burger GF

1 380g packet/tin of cooked organic chickpeas in water or 230g cooked chickpeas
2 tblsps tahini
1 rounded tblsp harissa
2 small carrots
1 large red onion
½ large red bell pepper
½ medium courgette
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 small handful fresh basil leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ lime juiced
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
gram flour

Thinly slice the onion and dice the carrots, courgette and bell pepper. Heat about 2 tablepoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for half a minute then tip in the chopped onion, crushed garlic, red bell pepper, courgette and carrot. Cook over a low to medium heat stirring regularly for about ten minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Drain the chickpeas and add to the pan then season well with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper.

Fry the vegetables in a pan

Add the harissa paste, cook for a few more minutes then remove the pan from the heat. Add the fresh basil leaves and squeeze the juice from half a lime over the vegetables.

Add the basil leaves

Mash gently with a potato masher but don't break the structure of the vegetables, just squash lightly.

Cooked vegetables in the pan

Stir in the tahini. Process a quarter to a third of the mixture in a food processor until almost smooth then stir it back into the vegetables. This helps to bind the ingredients. Sprinkle a little gram flour on a board or a plate and shape the burgers. We use rings to equally divide the mixture but you can divide the mixture into four and shape with your hands instead.

pile the burger mix into a ring using a spoon

Spray a frying pan with a little more extra virgin olive oil, heat the pan gently and add the burgers. Cook on a gentle heat for about 7 to 10 minutes each side.

Cooked Morrocan Vegetable and Chickpea Burgers

Eat them with a bread bun or with your choice of salad or vegetables. I decided to eat mine in a gluten free seeded bread bun.

Add salad on top of the burger

Pile the salad in.

Moroccan Vegetable & Chickpea Burger in a gluten free bread bun

Delicious!