We tried making a few variations of Indian-spiced burgers and, let's just say, we weren't too impressed! It was only when Amy thought aloud that she wished we could just have pakoras as a burger that we realised that was a great idea: we love pakoras so why not adapt them to create a mouth-watering burger? There's also an added bonus: they require less oil and the potatoes don't require par-boiling - result!
Ingredients (two large burgers)
2 medium Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and grated.
1 carrot, peeled and grated.
1 small organic onion, thinly sliced
(You may also like spinach and/or courgette - grated)
½ cup gram (chickpea) flour
90ml water
1/6 cup plain flour
½ lemon, hand-squeezed (about 1-2tsp)
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (or more if you’re a spice fiend)
Neutral oil (rapeseed) for frying.
Method
1. In a large bowl, mix together the grated potato, grated carrot, finely sliced onions (and any other vegetables you wish to include).
2. Add in the gram (chickpea) flour, plain flour, water, lemon juice, turmeric, cumin, chilli flakes and salt into a batter – making sure to thoroughly combine them so that the vegetables are evenly coated.
3. Heat some oil in a frying pan to a medium-high heat. Using your hands, shape the mixture into burger patties and place in the pan. Brown on both sides.
4. Transfer the burger patties to either the oven (180 degrees Celsius) or the air fryer until it is cooked through - we put ours in the air fryer for 16 minutes and they came out perfectly!
5. Serve piping hot in a burger bun with salad, vegan mayonnaise and some mango chutney.