Spicy yin & yang bean burgers

My apologies again for the quiet spell on the blog. It has been incredibly busy again with visitors, work and Danish classes, and I just haven't found enough time for blogging. I've done a lot of vegan and vegetarian cooking though, and some of these recipes are ready to be shared with you soon. I've also eaten in some nice veggie places, and plan to write a post about them soon. It has been an absolutely lovely weather over here for a few weeks, and I've been enjoying a lot of outdoors. But now swiftly on to today's recipe.

Spicy bean burgers are a classic in the vegetarian kitchen, and I just can't get tired of them. These days I rarely order them, if they are on the menu in a restaurant, but I love making them myself. I often also make them vegan, but I added egg to this recipe, and also cheese as a topping. However they would be easy to veganise. When I'm making them at home, my favourite method is to make a potato based patty with beans and spices. My choice of bean was a bit more special in these patties, as I used black and white yin and yang beans. They were very nice actually, but unfortunately hiding under the breadcrumbs on the photos.

This time I also got to use my new “burger sleeves” for the presentation, yay! I already had the french fry pockets before and had used them once or twice, but they made a cool combination. Have a look below how I made these burgers.

Spicy yin & yang bean burgers

Ingredients

200 g potatoes

½ cup dried yin and yang beans

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

1 tsp ground chilli powder

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 egg

2 cups breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Burger toppings: Cheese, beetroot sprouts, lettuce, vegan chipotle mayo

Twice-cooked fries on the side

Method

Boil the potatoes and mash them.

Also cook the beans or use tinned beans.

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely and fry them in oil so that they get soft.

Add the seasoning and the beans to the onion mix.

Let the mix cool down and mix it with the mashed potatoes. Also add some breadcrumbs into the mix, if it doesn't seem firm enough.

Let the mix rest for about 30 minutes in the fridge.

Shape patties from the mix, and roll them in the eggwash and then in the breadcrumbs.

Fry the burger patties on both sides until crispy and golden brown.

Serve with nice buns, toppings and sides. I put on there cheese, beetroot sprouts, lettuce and vegan chipotle mayo.

I'm sharing the recipe with My Legume Love Affair #119 edition, which is hosted by PJ from Seduce Your Taste Buds blog. The event was created by Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook and then continued by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen. Go and visit their blogs, there are very nice recipes there.

Your VegHog

In My Kitchen in May

It's the beautiful month of May, and I have some new items and foods in my kitchen that I want to share with you, so let's have a look.

I went on a quick business trip to Zürich in Switzerland. It's a beautiful city, but of course I didn't have time to explore it too much due to work. It was my first visit to Switzerland as well. I had the most wonderful dinner of asparagus ravioli with brown sage butter, and all the other veggie dishes there were also very nice and tasty. The only shopping I made was at the airport, where I purchased these legendary Ricola herbal drops in a tin and some Swiss chocolate. I really hope that I could go there on holiday one day, as it really is a very beautiful country. At least I saw some mountains from the plane.

I bought two savory plants to put on the window sill, and they are both tasty and pretty. They taste a lot like thyme and the flowers make perfect little decorations on food. I also bought some organic butterfly meadow flower seeds to spread somewhere. 

Fresh flowers always cheer me up, and as all the flowers in the market have been so tempting again, I've occasionally bought a bouquet. This time it was white Ranunkel, a sort of buttercup, that got my attention. I think that they look really nice and they also come in all possible colours.

As it's getting warmer, refreshing beers are always nice. I got this low alcohol (0,3%) beer by Mikkeller, Henry and his science. It's a microbiologically flavoured ale with a cute label.

On a recent trip to Sweden, I bought these burger sleeves and swan napkins. Swans are everywhere in Copenhagen, so they might as well be on napkins too. I'm sure that the burger sleeves will appear in some food presentations soon. They can also come in handy in the approaching picnic season.

I bought these spices from the Flying Tiger of Copenhagen. I had to buy some of the collection, as the little texts really made me smile, especially the Space Oddity reference. I think I'll have to get some more of these, and I think that they would also make neat small presents. I really like the packaging. It's simple, but easily resealable and can be stored flatly in small space.

I've finally welcomed yeast flakes in my life. I actually can't believe that I've never tried them before, but now they are going into many dishes in my kitchen. They are so nice and convenient for adding some extra savoury into dishes. What are your best yeast flake tips for such a beginner?

Of course I've been getting loads of nice inspiring seasonal vegetables from the market. Here are some on display. I love the variety of courgettes at the moment and am also very happy about the arrival of asparagus.

Maybe I can use these balsamico pearls in some nice seasonal salads soon.

Here is a dish that I made recently: pasta with fresh vegetables and soya nuggets. This sort of plates are so easy and quick for weekdays, and I often end up having this sort of collections on the plate.

This was it for now, and of course I'm sharing this post with Sherry from Sherry's Pickings blog, who is hosting the In My Kitchen event. Go and visit her nice blog and find links to other bloggers' kitchens. It's always good fun!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Stuffed purple sweet potatoes and cherry blossoms

I'm very sorry about the misleading title that possibly got me some curious clicks, but no, the cherry blossoms weren't in the potatoes. However it turns out that at least some cherry blossoms are edible. I didn't know that before! The reason for the title is rather that we are having a wonderful sakura, cherry blossom, season in Copenhagen and have been able to admire those beautiful blooming trees for a couple of weeks now. I just wanted to share a couple of photos of them. 

This vegan dish on the contrary might not look too nice, but I can assure you that it was quite tasty. I only very recently made my first stuffed sweet potatoes, and thought that they were quite nice. And this second attempt was made with the lovely purple sweet potatoes that I can now get from my local market.

I stuffed these purple sweet potatoes with green lentils, green heirloom tomatoes, carrot, onion and garlic, but only the sky is limit what could be put into these.

The benefit is that sweet potato roasts much quicker than a normal one, so this is also more convenient dish to make regarding the waiting time. It's also nice change to have the sweetness as contrast with a savoury filling. But I still have to say that nothing can beat a “real” spud. Anyway, it's nice to have some change every now and again. What do you think of sakuras and spuds?

Your VegHog

Eat Your Greens welcoming May recipes

Isn't it fabulous that it's already May! I like it a lot, even though I do feel that this year is just flying by too quickly. We've had some nice spring days here already and I can't wait to have more warmth and nice plants and flowers around.

What I'm also very excited about is Eat Your Greens in May! I'm hosting the challenge in May, and as usual it's co-hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. I would like to see many dishes cooked with nice green spring vegetables and herbs. So get creative, cook and share the goodness with us! Find out here more details about how to take part, if you are not familiar with the challenge yet.

You should also definitely check out the Eat Your Greens April Round Up in Shaheen's blog, as it's once again a wonderful collection of green recipes. It's nice to see all those creative ideas come together, and remember that it's all vegan or vegetarian made by your fellow food bloggers!

Have a nice month of May!

Your VegHog

Green nuggets

I'm very happy at the moment. We had a sunny public holiday here yesterday, and now the rest of the weekend is still ahead. Saturday has also started with a lot of sun, and we will soon be heading out. We'll need to do some vegetable shopping, and go for a walk in the botanical gardens that are now really coming to life. There are a lot of blooming cherry trees all over Copenhagen so there are a lot of pretty sites to see. I also love the giant magnolia trees in the botanical gardens. Also a new small street food market opened yesterday, and I thought that it would be good to check it out on a sunny day like this.

Now to these green nuggets that I was inspired to make by the juicy round courgettes that appeared to my local vegetable market. I like this sort of nuggets and Schnitzel made from grated vegetables, especially in the spring and summer, but I haven't made any for a while. It's easy to make them when all this lovely vegetables are available, and you can choose basically any combination you like. I decided to go with all things green this time. I made quite a large batch in order to be able to eat the nuggets all week in different combinations, but of course you can also just make a small batch, as these aren't so much work at all.

Green nuggets

Ingredients

2 round courgettes

1 green bell pepper

1 small kohlrabi

2 fresh onions with the stalks

1 jalapeño

1 cloveless garlic

½ cup dried broadbean crush

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 egg

6 tbsp spelt flour

Oil for frying

Method

Grate the courgettes, bell pepper and kohlrabi, and cut all the other vegetables into very fine pices.

Cook the dried broadbean crush. You can alternatively use pea crush or maybe even soy.

Mix the vegetables with the seasoning, egg and flour until it's an even paste. Add more flour, if needed to get a firmer texture.

Heat oil in a frying pan, and place about 2 tablespoons of the batter for each nugget to the pan.

Fry the nuggets on both sides until golden brown.

Serve with the sides of your choice and enjoy. They are great with mashed potato, pasta, salad and even as burgers.

I am sharing this recipe with this month's Eat Your Greens, and the challenge is hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen and co-hosted by me every other month. Go and check out the challenge and take part, if you're a food blogger yourself. It's always great fun!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your VegHog

Mexican rice tortillas

I haven't been cooking that much in the couple of last weeks, as we've had a weird unusual stretch of business dinners and trips at work, so I've been eating out quite a lot. It can be nice, but I also want to do my own cooking, and all this socialising can be quite draining too. It still feels like you are working, even when eating a meal with colleagues or customers. One meal was really excellent though, cheese ravioli with asparagus and sage butter sauce accompanied by a crispy dry white wine. That I could eat at anytime again! But anyway I hope that it will calm down now a bit after completing a few projects, and I can do more in my own kitchen again.

I managed to make this meal one night, and even though it's nothing spectacular, I enjoyed it very much. Mexican rice is one of my absolute favourites. It's easy, it's cheap and it's very tasty. I made the rice this time with sweetcorn, lentils, red pepper, onion, garlic and chilli, and I served it on a tortilla with lambs lettuce and vegan chipotle mayo. It was a very nice meal, and I will be cooking more this sort of meals towards the summer. Mexican food is also brialliant for a picnic, as the al fresco dining season has now started even in Copenhagen.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Your VegHog

Thai curry with fennel and beetroot tofu

Remember that beetroot tofu I bought in Finland? Well, now dish number one has been made with it. I had two tofu steaks, so I can still cook something else with the other one. It was a really nice firm tofu with a subtle hint of beetroot, and it really added a nice splash of colour on top of that vegan Thai curry. There were some small chunks of beetroot inside of that tofu as well.

I made my pretty basic golden Thai curry with fennel and carrots. I used fresh turmeric for the first time, which was interesting. I think that I'll be buying it much more now. I didn't even manage to colour my whole kitchen yellow with it.

I'm looking forward to more colourful bowls of food towards the spring and summer. Yesterday I saw the first local asparagus appearing on the market. I can't wait to cook with it. 

Thai curry with fennel and beetroot tofu

Ingredients for the curry paste

1 red chilli

1 cloveless garlic

2 cm fresh turmeric

2 cm fresh ginger

1 tomato

1 lemongrass stalk

1 lime's juice

2 tbsp white miso

2 tsp palm sugar

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 vegetable stock cube

Other ingredients

125 g beetroot tofu

1 onion

1 fennel bulb

2 carrots

Vegetable oil for frying

400 ml/1 can coconut milk

1 cup Jasmine rice

Method

Make the curry paste first by puréeing all paste ingredients into a smooth paste.

Chop the fennel, carrots and onion.

Cook the onion in vegetable oil until softened, then add the fennel and carrots to the pan.

After a while of cooking, also add the curry paste.

Cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the coconut milk.

Let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely.

Cook the jasmine rice.

Cut the tofu into generous chunks and fry them in vegetable oil.

Serve the curry with the tofu chunks on top and with the rice. Enjoy!

Your VegHog