Alternative Plant-Based Burgers OK?

So what to do as a vegetarian or vegan? I have tried a couple of alternatives from the supermarket but can’t say their taste blew my sock off. On top of that: I looked at the ingredients’ labels… That too did not please me. Those “fake meat burgers” contain a rather long list of vague ingredients like flours and E numbers.

Why stop eating meat and choose an alternative that is unhealthy and has a unnecessary high carbon footprint?

Let’s take advantage of the protein transition to create a “eat healthier” transition!

Should you know of a healthy, carbon-neutral and tasty alternative, please let me know!

Home-Made Mushroom-Lentils Burgers

In the meantime, here is a good solution in case you crave a good burger: make one yourself.

Inspired by a delicious lentils meal earlier this week I looked for a recipe that combined those with mushrooms, one of my preferred Umami ingredients. Below is my version of De Hippe Vegetariër’s mushrooms-lentils burger.

Ingredients:

• Dry lentils, about 100 gram
• Mushrooms, 250 gram
• Shallot, one
• Garlic cloves, two
• Soja sauce, a couple of teaspoons
• Miso, a teaspoon
• Oats, a tablespoon
• Chia seeds, a tablespoon

Cook the lentils in water in about 30 minutes (follow the instructions on the package).

In the meantime: chop the garlic cloves and heat them up gently in a pan. Blitz the mushrooms together with the shallot and the soja sauce.

Add the mushroom mix to the hot pan with garlic and cook that up. Turn the oven on, around 180 degrees Celsius.

Using the same mixer, chop the oats fine and after about fives minutes add the oats, lentils and chia seeds to the mushrooms in the pan. Season it with salt and pepper. Let this simmer at low heat until the water is absorbed and the mixture feels consistent.

Turn the mix into six or eight paddies, lay them on a baking sheet and set this in the oven.

Turn the paddies after 5 minutes; they’re ready after another five minutes or longer if you prefer them slightly toasted.

Serve your plant-based as you like. Unfortunately I did not have fine bread buns today so I served them together with corn and romanesco with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Hope you enjoy those! Please let me know what you think.