Aubergine Burgers (vegetarian)
There is so much to say about these lovely meatless burgers. They made my eyeballs literally roll back many times whilst devouring them. They are quite surprising for what they appear to be and I promise that they taste delicious. I cannot compare their taste to anything else, but they are definitely a must try.
Since I was eating these burgers during my lunch break, I felt the urge to share them with my colleagues as otherwise they couldn’t have imagined why I was making such a fuss on how good they were. This in fact proved right since they all agreed that the burgers taste was delightful.
These burgers would also make an ideal snack. My next variation with these burgers would be to put them in a bun and use them instead of a conventional burger, since they did look like they were meat burgers after all. Although, I am still working on finding the best alternative burger bun to accompany them. I cannot use my recent favourite aubergine burgers buns alternative, as there would be too much aubergines, but I definitely suggest you to try this recipe out if you are using any other type of burgers. Sliced aubergine do make a really good replacement for bread rolls.
Oh by the way, aubergines and egg plants are the same thing. So, here goes the recipe.
- 2 medium sized aubergines
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 1 big garlic clove
- 1 white dry local cheeselet (gbejna bajda) or 1 cup semi-hard cheese
- handful of chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup / 100gr ground almonds (intrita) or flour or breadcrumbs of your choice
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- salt and pepper
- Peel and dice the aubergines into cubes and set aside.
- Chop the onion and cook on medium heat adding the olive oil only when pan gets hot and onions start to sizzle. This method will reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the oil.
- Toss in the spices together with some salt and sauté for about 5 minutes.
- In the meantime mince the garlic, then sauté for a further 1 minute.
- Finally add the eggplant cubes and cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every now and then until golden and soft. This depends on the size of your saucepan.
- Whilst the aubergine is cooking, grate the cheese and set aside.
- Transfer the aubergine mixture into a large bowl and puree using an immersion blender. Alternatively you can do this in a food processor or a blender.
- Add the grated cheese, parsley, black pepper and using a spoon stir until well combined.
- Add the ground almonds or any flour or breadcrumbs of your choice gradually to the mixture stirring constantly.
- Let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes to allow the almond meal to suck up all the lovely juices and moisture.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Divide the mixture into 8 parts. Dampen your hands and form each part into a ball flattening it to a burger shape. The flatter they are the faster they will cook.
- Place the burgers on the prepared baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Flip them over and bake on the other side for a further 15 minutes. Alternatively fry the burgers on a sauce pan for quicker cooking.
- You can replace the cheese with vegan cheese for a vegan alternative.
