I thought I might take a leaf out of Frugal Queen's book and concoct some tasty morsels for my lunch. So here we are with a tin of borlotti beans, all the gunge rinsed off under the tap, cost 44p. Add a splash of toasted linseed oil, teaspoon of turmeric, lemon juice, black pepper, sprinkling of herbs and spices. Take a fork and mash it all up.
Finely chop an onion and a handfull of spinach, and add these to the mix. Take a desertspoonfull and mould it into a flattened ball. Four of these will use half the mix. Put them on a piece of foil on a grill pan, and grill them till they are golden brown, flipping once.
Serve them on a bed of spinach. Don't they look delicious, yummy.
Now for the truth. Difficult to get the mix to stick together, they fell apart under the grill, and broke up when flipped. They went all dry and had no taste, like eating cardboard, ha ha. But I still ate them because I don't throw food away. The other half of the mix is in the fridge, I will use it as a sandwich filler as it tastes quite nice raw ;o)
Finely chop an onion and a handfull of spinach, and add these to the mix. Take a desertspoonfull and mould it into a flattened ball. Four of these will use half the mix. Put them on a piece of foil on a grill pan, and grill them till they are golden brown, flipping once. 
Serve them on a bed of spinach. Don't they look delicious, yummy.
Now for the truth. Difficult to get the mix to stick together, they fell apart under the grill, and broke up when flipped. They went all dry and had no taste, like eating cardboard, ha ha. But I still ate them because I don't throw food away. The other half of the mix is in the fridge, I will use it as a sandwich filler as it tastes quite nice raw ;o)
What a shame these weren't very nice as they look really good. A frugal tip I saw recently - dried beans are lots cheaper than tinned. Boil them up in batches then freeze in portion sized amounts. Details here: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/forum/frugal-living-and-budgeting/beans
ReplyDeleteMaybe the addition of an egg would help the mixture stick together unless you're a vegan? As for the taste more spices/salt etc? I find beans tend to soak the seasonings up.
They do look really yummy - how disappointing that they didn't taste so good! I'm a bit in awe of Frugal Queen and how she makes such amazing meals out of so little!
ReplyDeleteOh well, you've got a tasty sandwich filler, so at least something yummy came from it!
The magic ingredient for veggie burgers is tahini or some spare hummus, it glues it altogether and I always add garlic powder and a good twist of pepper to almost everything, along with adding some fried onion before you add them together - but I am a flavour fiend! still a very healthy option and full of protein
ReplyDeleteSmash 'em up and add a tin of chopped tomatoes, warm it all up and keep adding garlic and chilie powder till it makes your nose bleed....
ReplyDeleteThats what I'd do anyway...
I like beans that have been mashed slightly and then warmed through with a little sliced onion and some chilli powder and some cheese... mmmmm... they don't hold together like burgers either but very tasty.
ReplyDeleteHello Ilona,
ReplyDeleteLike the others, I admit that they do look really good, especially the colour. Shame about the taste.
I ate the rest today for lunch. On two slices of toasted seeded bread, with scrambled egg on top. Very filling. Yes, I think an egg was the missing ingredient, to bind it all together, and a little more spice would have helped.
ReplyDeleteOh dear what a shame but it was your first attempt so next time will be better! I became veggie when very poor and before ready-made veggie anything was extremely rare and specific veggie shops even rarer other than in large cities so necessity made me learn. I put lots of seasoning, onion and garlic in virtually everything and soy sauce is great for flavour as are veggie stock cubes (watch the overall salt though). As Frugal Queen says sticky moisture is easy to add and hummus so easy and cheap to make. Veggie burgers are a great way of using up veg which is going a bit floppy or cheap veg you pick up and full of nutrition so don't be disheartened! I agree with you about the travelling too and will go without a lot of things to satisfy my wanderlust! Have a wonderful time and I wish you sunshine!
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