As someone who is a meat eater, and few dietary requirements, I've never had to worry about whether or not I can have a burger... Sounds strange, but looking at what's available in the supermarkets, I'm spoilt for choice, let alone what I can make myself. Yet, I took a trip down the 'Free From' fresh and frozen sections in my supermarket, and to be honest, there isn't much in the way of choice for vegans, vegetarians or those with dietary requirements. What was available, was horrendously high in fat, one item I looked at, had 12g of saturated fat! The other alternatives were 'meat substitutes' and after talking to some vegan friends, I found that these can often be bland or dry. The other thing I noticed, is how expensive a lot of the products were - two burgers in the frozen section for £1.99 or four fresh beef burgers for £2.00!
I have tasked myself with making the ultimate 'Free From' burger. I have had to source one ingredient online, but it really is worth it. My mushroom burger is suitable for vegans, vegetarians, it's gluten and dairy free and also low in saturated fat. I wanted it to pack a flavour, have a great texture, be moist and could be eaten with, or without a bun... I think I have succeeded in my task!
Ingredients
Method
Tips, tricks and hints
I have tasked myself with making the ultimate 'Free From' burger. I have had to source one ingredient online, but it really is worth it. My mushroom burger is suitable for vegans, vegetarians, it's gluten and dairy free and also low in saturated fat. I wanted it to pack a flavour, have a great texture, be moist and could be eaten with, or without a bun... I think I have succeeded in my task!
Ingredients
- 300g closed cup mushrooms, diced
- 20g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked for half an hour in 50ml hot water for half an hour
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1/2 tsp smoked, sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 100g panko breadcrumbs (see below for a link for gluten free)
- 2 tsp vegetable oil (I used rapeseed)
- 30ml water
Method
- Heat one teaspoon of the oil, on a low heat.
- Add the garlic and onion and sweat for 5 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and 30ml of water and sweat for a further 10 minutes, until the mushrooms have cooked and the liquid has disappeared.
- Add the tomato puree, paprika, salt and pepper and stir.
- Remove the porcini mushrooms from the water, and finely chop. Add them to the mixture and stir.
- Sieve the porcini liquid into the mixture and stir. Leave to cook on a low heat for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the liquid has disappeared.
- Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Blend the entire mixture, leaving some texture, and refrigerate for half an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 200c fan/Gas 7.
- Put the panko breadcrumbs on a plate.
- Shape the mushroom mixture into patties and then coat in the breadcrumbs.
- Heat the remaining oil in a non stick frying pan, and fry the patties on a high heat, for 2-3 minutes, on each side.
- Place the patties on a non-stick tray and put in the oven for 15 minutes (turning half way through).
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| My yummy Mushroom Burger |
Tips, tricks and hints
- You can purchase gluten free breadcrumbs in supermarkets, but to get gluten free panko breadcrumbs, I had to go online. I found some on Amazon, just type in this code into their search bar: B004W9SL8I
- If your mixture feels to soft to make into patties, just add some breadcrumbs to the mixture and this should make it easy to shape.
- If you don't have a non-stick oven tray, use grease-proof paper on a normal tray instead
- You can buy porcini mushroom paste, this is just as good as the dried mushrooms. I have seen it available in Tesco (you will need to check the ingredients for dietary requirements).
- If you're having a BBQ, you will still need to fry to patties to hold their shape, but instead of finishing them in the oven, you can do it on the BBQ.