Leaving out meat or fish of your daily meals isn’t that difficult. This veggie burger made from eggplant and duqqa will prove it. I promise!
>
The other day I was asked if I am a vegetarian. Well, I’m not. But the question was raised after my companion had seen the recipes I have posted so far here on edie eats. In the overview of all my recipes you easily can see that they’re mostly vegetarian. And the reason for that is simple: I just like cooking vegetarian dishes.
That started when I learned myself cooking. I wasn’t particularly fond of the typical Dutch dishes that contain potatoes, vegetables and meat. So I looked further, explored other kitchens. At that time I was even thinking to become a vegetarian, as I learned how easy it can be to discard meat and fish from your dinners. But I had a stronger desire: to become a good cooking omnivore.
By now, I think I’ve reached my goal, but still there is so much more to learn. About cuisines I don’t know anything of, canning and preserving, making your own cheese, etc etc. That means I can keep up cooking and eating for ages!
So when I came across a Kickstarter called Recipes by people, I knew I had to join. After a few months of waiting, this week the pdf with 866 recipes by 758 people from 51 countries was released. On page 320 you can find the recipe for an eggplant burger that I had send in!
This version I made with lemon potato chips. I was intrigued by it when I found the bag in a store, but the chips turned out to be too tangy to my taste. But you can use any chips you like, but bread crumbs will do too.
RECIPE EGGPLANT BURGER WITH DUQQA
This veggie burger is made of roasted eggplants. You could call it a baba ganoush-burger as it has some of the same ingredients that belong into that great Mediterranean spread. Yesterday I made it again. And without bragging I can tell it’s a great tasting burger. It’s soft, sweet but savory at the same time!You need for 2 big burgers:
1 big eggplant
olive oil
salt
50 gr vegetable chips (store-bought, or use bread crumbs)
2 T tahini (=sesame paste)
1 T duqqa *
1 egg
pepper
Tip: Duqqa is an Egyptian spice mix that has herbs, spices and nuts in it. Think of hazelnuts, sesame, coriander seeds, cumin, salt and pepper. Make a fast version yourself by mixing 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (roasted), 1/2 teaspoon grounded coriander seeds and 1/4 teaspoon grounded cumin.
You do:
Roast the eggplant. Preheat the oven at 400 F | 200 C degrees. Slice the eggplant in 1 centimeter (1/2 inch) slices, coat them with olive oil and some salt. Roast the slices in the oven for approx. 30 minutes.
Make the burgers. Cutter the veggie chips in your food processor until very small. Add tahini, dukkah, the egg and pepper. Some salt maybe, but that depends on the amount of salt that’s already on the chips you’re using.
Remove the eggplant slices from the oven. You can discard the (bug chunks of) skin if you like. Form two big hamburgers (or 3 -4 smaller ones) and let them stiffen in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
Bake the burgers. Heat some olive oil in a skillet until hot, put in the eggplant burgers and flatten them a bit more if needed with your spatula. Bake on thisĀ side untilĀ it’s crispy and easy to flip. Try to leave them alone as much as possible, to get a firm burger.
Tip: As it’s quite impossible to make firm veggie burgers as with meat, you have to be careful when baking them. Try to bake one side first, flip the burger and let it bake on the other side, without touching or moving it too much.
Enjoy with baked onions, fresh tomato, lettuce, a thin slice of soft goat cheese and bread.
Or serve these eggplant burgers with a huge salad with some grains and feta, for instance.
.
I can’t wait to try this! I, too, submitted a recipe for a roasted red pepper sauce. I loved the idea of this Kickstarter. Your recipes sound delicious!
How cool, Stacey, I’ll look it up immediately! Sounds exiting, your roasted pepper sauce. It makes me think.. what if we combine our recipes and serve them together, wouldn’t be great?