Beetroot Burger | Vegan recipe

It’s evening and the sun is setting behind the skyscrapers as I am walking in the Centre of London, thinking about what to cook for dinner. I suddenly find myself in front of a large window, where smiling people are biting something apparently tasty. The customers are mostly children, putting their chubby little fingers in paper containing fries and licking their lips dirty of ketchup. I look up to the sky noticing the large yellow sign: is the entrance of a McDonald’s fast food.

I grew up in a town in the heart of the Murgia (southern Italy), where a small bakery, with its authentic traditional tastes and smells was able to compete with the only one McDonald’s fast food of the city, which later went bust. (the story is told in a documentary film with the title of Focaccia Blues, the true story of thefocaccia that ate the hamburger).

This fact happened in 2002 and I’m still surprised how, even today, a large number of people are still “enjoying” their meals at fast food restaurants. Moreover, even the vegetarian version of such restaurants should be avoided if you want to follow a healthy diet.

That is a junk food affair. Main of its ingredients are passed off the quality products, with low nutritional value and high in calories. Disgusting food, chemical in its composition, fried and refried in palm oil used for days. Do we really want all this for our health?

It only takes ten minutes to prepare a valid alternative to the traditional and often unhealthy hamburgers. Vegetable burgers are healthy, tasty and dietary. You can often eat them, since there are lots of ingredients you can use: chickpeas, lentils, quinoa, potatoes, spinach, beans and many others.

Today, I decided to prepare the beet burger. This recipe is very quick and easy: it will surprise you, almost as much as its yummy flavor!

Ingredients for 4-5 people:

• 400 cooked lentils;
• 5 beetroots;
• 3 tablespoons bread crumbs;
• 2 garlic cloves;
• 4-5 cashews;
• A lemon;
• Some parsley;
• Organic oil;
• A pinch of salt and pepper.

Method:

1. Boil the beetroots, peel and cut them. (to avoid this step, you can buy precooked beetroots);
2. Puree the lentils and beetroots in a blender and add bread crumbs, cashews and garlic. (If the mixture is not compact enough, add more bread crumbs);
3. Add salt, pepper, olive oil, a sprinkling of chopped parsley and lemon juice;
4. Leave the mixture in the fridge for about 30 minutes, cover it with a cloth or a layer of plastic wrap;
5. Try to make at least 5 hamburgers, help yourself with hands or with a mold for hamburgers;

6. Put over the heat a non-stick pan with a little oil and cook for a few minutes for each side;

1. Preferably serve them hot.

My advices:

• I love to have my hamburger in a fresh sandwich with vegan mayonnaise, salad and baked potatoes as side dish.
• They are excellent if served with a mustard sauce and toasted pine nuts.

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