SUPER FESTIVE BURGERS

We are big fans of home made burgers and have loads of fun making up different recipes with whatever ingredients we have to use up! I have to say ours are a far cry from the shop bought veggie burgers and meat lovers, veggies and vegans alike scoff ours with relish!
Haha I just made a wee joke!  However relish goes really well with any burger in my opinion.! I'll have to post a relish recipe now!!
So with Christmas looming I thought I'd make a burger with a festive touch, in this case nuts and cranberries!
Now our family is divided when it comes to using fruit in savoury dishes, personally I really enjoy a wee sweet flavour to liven up a savoury dish and I also enjoy fresh fruit in a salad, al;so apple with red cabbage comes to mind as a winning combination but wishing to keep everyone happy I made half of the burgers with cranberries and half without and they were equally good.
I've been using a lot of quinoa recently, which quite rightly earns its title as a superfood, its a great source of protein, containing all the essential amino acids, high in magnesium, B vitamins, iron, zinc, vitamin E and fibre. It's also gluten free and thought to be the least allergenic of all the grains so plenty of good reasons to include it in your diet.
Cauliflower is in season just now and I'm a big fan of seasonal eating so I've been using it a lot too. Its a member of the cruciferous vegetable family, which includes broccoli, kale and cabbage and has many of the same health benefits. Its a great source of vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, B vitamins and fibre and like the other members of the cruciferous family, contains anti cancer compounds.
I'm all for cramming as much nutrition as I can into each recipe so another few favourites are tahini, packed with calcium and magnesium;
turmeric, beating drugs for just about everything from pain relief to reducing inflammation;
garlic anti fungal, antiviral and antibacterial and
walnuts, a great source of omega 3, supporting brain health.

           So I think I can justify calling these Superburgers!

They are also packed full of flavour and texture, due to the nuts, with a lovely hint of sweetness from the cranberries and mango chutney!
They can be made in advance and kept in the fridge until needed and they are oven baked so no last minute faffing around with a smoking frying pan!
I used spelt breadcrumbs in mine but you can replace them with polenta for gluten free burgers.
These are also delicious served cold with salad or in a wrap or a pitta bread so any leftovers can be used for lunches or snacks.
They can also be frozen and reheated.
I hope you give these a go, these would work really well as part of a buffet spread over the festive period.
If you don't have quinoa then you could use a tin of drained chickpeas instead or a few cups of cooked sweet potato. The key to making decent burgers is for the mixture to stick together but not be too wet or too dry so that it falls apart. So just add extra tahini if they are not sticking or add more breadcrumbs or polenta if the mixture is too wet.
So here is my recipe.........enjoy!

SUPER QUINOA & CAULIFLOWER BURGERS

Ingredients  Makes 12 decent sized burgers
​
1 small cauliflower, broken into florets and steamed or boiled until soft
1 cup uncooked quinoa (approx 200g), rinsed well
2 cups vegetable stock (500mls), Kallo organic is good
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 courgette or a carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
1 or 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
1 heaped tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon tamari
2 level teaspoons ground turmeric
1 to 2 tablespoons mango chutney
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1 cup of spelt or wholemeal breadcrumbs plus extra for coating.
or
1 cup of polenta for gluten free option plus extra for coating

Method
1. Rinse quinoa well under cold running water to remove the bitter saponin coating. Add to pot with 2 cups of hot vegetable stock. I stock cube makes 500 ml which is about 2 cups. Bring to boil, then put the lid on, simmer gently for 12 to 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa cooked.
2. Break cauliflower into florets and steam or boil for 10 to 15 minutes, until cooked.
3. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the garlic and grated courgette and cook for another few minutes.
4. Add the turmeric, tamari, tahini and mango chutney and stir to combine.
6. Turn the heat off.
5. Drain the cauliflower, add it to the pan and mash it with a potato masher. Mix well.
6. Add the quinoa a cup at a time and mix well.
7. Mix in the chopped walnuts and cranberries.
7. Add the breadcrumbs or polenta.
8. Season with sea salt and black pepper, taste and add more mango chutney or tamari, if you like.
9. The mixture should hold together, if its too wet add more breadcrumbs.
10. When the mixture has cooled a bit, take big spoonfuls, shape into burgers and coat in breadcrumbs or polenta. You should get around 12 to 15, depending on how big you make them! 
11. Put on lightly greased oven trays and bake in the oven at 200C for around 30 minutes, until nicely browned, turning halfway to brown both sides. 

                         ...your health in your hands.........