Big Kahuna Veggie Burger

A couple of weekends ago we were hosting Film Club with the theme of Quentin Tarantino. The menu was an obvious choice - Big Kahuna Burgers and Five Dollar Shakes.

Bailey is dead good at making meaty burgers so he was sorted but I really wanted to make sure the four non meat eaters who would be attending, including myself, got a good deal. Therefore I decided to do black bean burgers.

I'd been playing around with veggie bean burgers for some time and had finally found out that black beans are by far the best bean for making burgers with as they just stick together brilliantly. Much better than kidney beans which slop around all over the place - not cool.

To make the burgers Hawaiian to and "Big Kahuna-ey", Bailey came up with the idea of doing some nice chilli pineapple rings to top our burgers with which tasted great.

I was really pleased with how the burgers turned out and I have those clever little black beans to thank - never again will another bean grace my veggie burgers. I think my guests enjoyed the burgers, in fact Claire brought them up one whole week later so they must have at least been memorable!

Recipe:
2 small sweet potatoes
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 green pepper
1 tin black beans
6 tbsp cous cous
Salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste
1 pineapple
1 tbsp chilli flakes
Burger buns, lettuce, tomato and onion rings to serve

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Then start by roasting or microwaving the sweet potatoes until the flesh is tender and soft enough so it can be then mashed up easily with a fork. Discard the sweet potato skins.

Meanwhile, take a large bowl to make the burger mix. Chop the onions and garlic finely and add to the bowl.

Finely chop the peppers and add to the bowl.

Add the tin of black beans and then mash the mixture thoroughly with a potato masher.

Add the mashed sweet potatoes to the burger mix.

Make up the cous cous according to the packet instructions (I usually just cover mine in boiling water, put a lid on and leave for a bit and it turns out OK) before adding that to the burger mix too.

Give the burger mix a good stir and then have a taste. Add salt, pepper and chilli flakes until it tastes cracking.

Separate out large spoonfuls of the burger mixture in balls before forming into patty shapes and placing on a baking tray. Don't worry if they're a bit sloppy, they do firm up.

Place the burgers in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Take them out and flip them over then cook for another 20 minutes or until cooked through and a bit crispy on the outside.

Meanwhile, prepare the pineapple rings. Cut the skin off the pineapple, slice into rings then cut the middles out. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with the chilli flakes. Put in the oven for 30 minutes.

When the burgers and pineapple rings are cooked, put the burgers in a bun and top with a chilli pineapple ring and serve with lettuce, tomato, onions and some home made chips, maybe a bit of cheese (I used slices of Leerdammer). Great veggie friendly movie food!