I have a few vegetarian friends and usually I just make their children some pasta with my Tomato and Vegetable Sauce or a jacket potato with beans. However I realised that vegetarian food doesn’t have to mean such plain and simple meals so here are 3 vegetarian burger / meatball dishes that are yummy, nutritious and easy to make. They are so delicious they would even tempt the biggest carnivore!
Veggie “meatballs”
1 large potato
2 carrots
Turnip or swede
1 large onion
2 large courgettes
Butter Beans (optional)
A pinch of ground cumin and corainder
Some black pepper
50g breadcrumbs
1 egg
Grate and peel all the vegetables and mix with the herbs, egg and breadcrumbs until it all binds together. Roll into small balls or patties and fry on both sides until they crunchy and golden brown. You can bake these if you like too in an oven on 180degrees for aboit 30 minutes (turning halfway). However they do hold together better if you fry them.
These freeze well wrapped individually in cling film. You can serve these with some pasta sauce and pasta / rice / couscous or just without a sauce and with some potatoes.
These “burgers” are a great vegetarian alternative to meat or poultry based burgers and as they contain lentils and sweet potato they are extremely filling and full of protein. I make mini ones for the children (though of course The Boy won’t touch them) and bigger ones for me and Mr MyMiniMeals.
Bean burgers
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
2tbsp fresh or dried parsley
1 250g tin of cannellini beans
1tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp lemon juice
100g breadcrumbs
50g cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
Heat up the oil in a pan then add the finely chopped onion, crushed garlic and parsley and fry until it’s all soft. Mash the beans until they are a thick paste then add to the onion mixture and add the tomato puree, lemon juice, breadcrumbs and grated cheese. Add the egg (but you can leave this out if you want as these stick together quite well without it and just add more tomato puree instead). Pick up small handfuls and mould into burger patties. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up a bit then fry them in some olive oil for 4-5 minutes on each side.