A spiced chickpea and cauliflower patty served on a wholemeal bun, loaded with your favourite salads and a green curry mayo, make this the new best burger in town.
I love a good classic beef burger, but only on certain occasions when I really feel a craving for one (like after I watch the burger episode of How I Met Your Mother). While I’ve often fallen back on the classic grilled chicken burger, in a search for more variety recently, I started trying the plant based burger options. And while some have not been good, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed a really good veggie burger.
These particular burgers came to be after I ate one of the best burgers ever that also happened to not contain meat. The burger patty packed so much flavour that I instantly knew I was onto a winner and of course, I wanted to try and create an at home version so I didn’t have to seek out this tiny cafe whenever I wanted a decent veggie burger.
At the time, the best way I knew how to describe the taste of the burger was like the filling of a vegetarian samosa. It was packed full of spices and while the patty was soft like all veggie burgers, it held together well between the bun – an important factor as too often veggie patties can turn quickly to mush.
Knowing what I wanted it to taste like and that it would be a combination of cauliflower and chickpeas as the base, I began raiding my spice shelf in search of the perfect combination of flavours.
These burgers are really simple to make. You cook everything in a pan until the cauliflower is soft (also the spices smell ah-mazing), then transfer to a food processor and blitz. Instead of your traditional burger binding ingredients of egg and breadcrumbs, we use a little flaxseed and flour. I have used both a gluten free variety and regular flour and both work just fine.
The biggest key to these burger patties is to make sure you chill the mixture before cooking. In the recipe I say a minimum of 30 minutes, but you want to make sure the mixture no longer contains any heat. This will help them hold their shape, both when forming the patties themselves and when cooking them.
Cook on a medium high heat in a frying pan with a little oil on one side until golden before turning to cook the other side. Don’t flip to early as you want to make sure they have formed a firm golden crust to be able to flip them easily. Continue to turn the patties as needed to ensure they don’t over brown but they cook through and firm up.
Serve your burger on your favourite bun, I like wholemeal, and salads of your choice.
Something I haven’t really talked about on this blog before is my dislike of tomato. Sure cooked in things like pasta it’s great, but raw on a sandwich or salad…yuck. As a hugely fussy eater when I was a child, tomato is pretty much the only thing I haven’t warmed up to. So, where am I going with this? I don’t put tomatoes on my burger, I eat everything I make and photograph, therefore this burger does not have tomato. Add it if you want, but I’m just fine with topping my burger with lettuce, carrot and cucumber!
Oh and green curry mayo because this stuff is YUM and really easy. Just use your favourite green curry paste and stir through mayo to taste. It just makes this burger even better, because what’s a burger without the sauce? If you’re looking for a good homemade vegan mayo recipe, check the notes section in the recipe as I’ve linked to one by Not Quite Nigella that uses the leftover chickpea liquid and despite how that sounds it tastes really good!
While maybe veggie burgers aren’t for everyone, if you are wanting to give them a try but are just not sure where to start, this is a good place. This is a fuss-free recipe which I cannot say for every meatless burger recipe I’ve tried (yes lentils that refused to blend, I’m looking at you).
These spiced chickpea and cauliflower burgers might be just what you’ve been looking for, whether needing an option for vegan/vegetarian friends at a BBQ or just for those times when you need a little break from meat but definitely don’t want to break up with flavour.
If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with #eightforestlane as I would love to see.
Spiced Chickpea and Cauliflower Burgers
Ingredients
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 can chickpeas, drained (liquid saved if making vegan mayo - see notes)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- ½ teaspoon crushed ginger
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- salt, to taste
- ¼ cup gluten free plain flour
To Serve
- 4 wholemeal burger buns
- 4 slices vegan cheddar cheese
- salad (lettuce, grated carrot, cucumber, tomato etc)
- green curry mayo (see notes)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan on high heat. Add onions and sauté for a couple of minutes until translucent. Add in garlic, ginger and spices. Mix through for another minute until fragrant and then add cauliflower and chickpeas to the pan. Mix everything together until coated in the spices.
- Turning down the heat to medium-low, add ¼ cup water to the pan and then cover for 15 minutes allowing the cauliflower to steam, stirring every 5 to scrape the bottom to ensure it doesn’t stick. Once the cauliflower is soft, take off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Add cauliflower and chickpea mixture to a food processor with the ground flaxseed and a pinch of salt. Process for a minute until mixture comes together into a relatively smooth paste. It’s ok if there are still a few small lumps. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix through flour. At this stage the mixture will still be pretty soft and sticky. Place in the fridge for a minimum 30 minutes to chill.
- Once the mixture has chilled it will be easier to work with. With floured hands, shape 4 patties from the mixture using about ½ cup of mixture in each.
- Heat oil in a frying pan until hot and add patties. Cook for a about 5 minutes on each side or until golden and cooked through. You may need to turn your pan down to prevent burning while the patties cook all the way through.
- Assemble your burger! Lightly toast your bun and assemble the burger with the salad, patty and a generous dollop of mayo.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
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mimi rippee says
These are fabulous! Especially with the Thai mayo. My husband was a vegetarian for about 10 years, and during that time I would whip together a burger with legumes, grains and vegetables about once a week. It was really fun, and I kind of miss doing that! By the way, if you use domestic lentils instead of Le Puy or Beluga, they will blend.
Sally says
Thanks for the tip! Maybe I’ll have to give lentils a second chance 🙂