Sweet Potato Bean Burgers

This week brings another veggie posting, apologies to my more carnivorous readers but these burgers might just convince you to try going meat free one night...not only are they so cheap to make but they are easy, delicious and leave you satisfied. We actually went out yesterday to a new burger chain, which come from my boyfriends home town of South Africa, and I found myself wanting one of these veggie bad boys as it just was so good. They were pretty tasty cold for lunch the next day too smeared with chilli pepper jam!

We have been eating a lot of veggie food lately, both vegetarian and vegan and its been not only purse friendly but a great way to discover that vegetables are not just a side dish but can be the main event, my recent post of stuffed aubergines proved that! Most of the dishes are healthier too which is never a bad thing either! My boyfriend B has been really happy with all the dishes too, which always helps! Clean plates everytime are always a good sign!

I had actually secretly been wanting to make my own veggie burgers for a long time, but when I lived alone seemed a bit much to make a batch of 8 or more, especially with a microscopic freezer but with B being a willing guinea pig, the planning began!

In the fridge I still had an assortment of vegetables from dad's recent visit, and a variety of tinned beans in the cupboard and so I tried to find something that would combine them and whilst working a night shift, around 3am on my break I was browsing the net and stumbled across several hundred recipes but one that stood out was this one involving black beans and sweet potatoes. I didn't have all the ingredients but near enough could make some good substitutions and following a nice long sleep me and B set about making them together...

...And they were near perfect! A little spicy, nicely textured, held together well and we thoroughly enjoyed them! Depending on how big you make them, you will probably get between 5 and 8 burgers, we used a chef's ring to mould five of them and then the last was a giant burger that B had! Alongside the burgers, we had for the first time 'red rice' which I bought recently yellow stickered, and a spicy vegetable kinda stew, which was delicious but I only have a vague recollection of its ingredients! Certainly got most of our 5 a day I think anyway!

Ingredients:
Makes 6-8

350g grated sweet potato
1 tbsp (a glug) of vegetable oil
1 tin kidney beans
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
5 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
1 beaten egg
s&p

Prepare a grill pan by lining with foil and greasing - spray oil makes this easy!

1) Start by getting your assistant to grate the potatoes. Meanwhile heat the oil and gently soften the spring onions, garlic and chilli.

2) Drain and mash the beans, stir into the sweet potato mix, along with the cooked onion garlic mix and seasoning.

3) Shape into patties, about 1.5cm deep and place on the prepared tray. Grill on a medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are going nice and golden brown, gently turn over and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve immediately with your desired accompaniments. We also had a tub of ready made allioli, which we are completely addicted to!