Nut crusted chickpea burger

The other day I was talking about food with a friend ~ a mum who works, and cooks a lot of meat in the slow cooker for tea. She said she would like to cook something vegetarian for her kids, something that's protein packed. So, with the power of the internet I  worked out that 100g of this chickpea burger has about the same amount of protein as 100g of chicken. Weather your kids would actually eat it is a different question?? Mine didn't but he's fussy, but then he wouldn't eat chicken either. Me and Jamie loved them though, and they can be made in advance, then baked for 30 minutes when you get home.

The nut crust is made from Brazil nuts which can only be produced in a healthy rainforest ecosystem, so they are good for the planet! 

I've served it with home made roast tomato ketchup, and a flatbread made with yoghurt.

This recipe makes 4 x 6oz burgers.

For the burger you will need:

1 tin of chickpeas ~ 250g when drained          75p

250g potatoes                                              20p

80g cheddar cheese                                       60p

50g flour                                                       3p

A pinch of salt                                                1p

140g broken Brazil nuts                             £2.20

TOTAL                                                    £3.79

Chop and cook the potatoes, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Mash them together, add the cheese, flour and salt. Then on a floured surface bring the mixture together.

Chop the Brazil nuts then toast them in the oven, gas 4 / 180c for 20 minutes, keep stirring them about every 5 minutes to stop them burning.  When they are cool, whizz or bash (in a bag, with a rolling pin) them into crumbs.

On a floured surface divide the chickpea mix into 4 and shape into burger shapes.  I then decided to add some pesto into the middle just for some excitement! So if you want to do this too just slice them open and spread some pesto on then close and re~shape.

Next whisk an egg, brush it on one side of the burger then lay the eggy side on the crumb mix, then egg and crumb the top side.

Place them on a lightly oiled tray and bake in the oven gas 5 / 190c for  30~35 minutes.

This is I made my own ketchup, although my own 7 year old prefers the boring one from the bottle!

Roast:

700g tomatoes 

2 small sliced onions

2 cloves garlic 

1/2 tsp Smoked paprika

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1 tsp  mixed spice

1 tsp salt 

3 tsp sugar

6 dsp Olive oil

When they were done, put into a pan over a medium heat.  Add 50ml wine vinegar I used red but you can use white. Leave to bubble for 30 minutes and add more sugar if you think it needs it and tomato puree if you have any. Blend it when it's cool.

And to make 8 flat breads:

You need:

200g g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

200 ~ 250g plain yoghurt

1 tsp salt

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix in the yoghurt until if makes a soft dough. Roll them out into a roundish shape on a floured surface, and cook in a lightly oiled frying pan for a few minutes each side.

Put it all together with some salad leaves and................voila!