Spiced Cauliflower Burgers
Yesterday, I picked up a cauliflower for next to nothing in the reduced food section of our local supermarket. I fancied trying something new with it, so we experimented with some cauliflower burgers. My 9 yr old was quite enthusiastic in helping, and the whole family loved it so it’s being added to our recipe repertoire.
Ingredients
(serves 4)
For the burgers:
- 1 large head of cauliflower
- 2 Tbsp plain flour
- 80g dried breadcrumbs
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- salt & pepper
- 2 eggs
- vegetable oil for frying
For the pickled cucumber (optional):
- Half a cucumber
- 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp caster sugar
To serve:
- brioche buns (or other buns/rolls)
- a couple of lettuce leaves
- 2 tomatoes
- mayonnaise
- chipotle paste
- sweet potato fried (or other fries)
Note: Use gluten free flour, breadcrumbs and burger buns if required. I couldn’t find any gluten free breadcrumbs, so I blitzed up some Mrs Crimbles Gluten Free Cheese Crackers in to crumbs. I have to say, they worked so well, giving the burgers that extra little cheesy kick, that I would recommend using these if you can find them instead of breadcrumbs, even if you don’t need to cook gluten free!
Directions
First, if you are doing pickled cucumber to serve, slice the cucumber thinly, and toss together with the vinegar and sugar in a bowl. Massage it in a little, then set aside while you prepare the rest.
If you are serving the cauliflower burgers with fries, heat up the over and get the fries in before proceeding with the burgers.
Trim any leaves off the cauliflower and trim the hard bit off the stalk end, but don’t cut the stalk out completely! Set the cauliflower stalk end down, then cut it in half through the stalk. Now cut an approx 2cm thick slice off each half, so that you end up with two big sliced held together by the stalk. Cut each slice in half again, through the stalk, so that you end up with four burgers sized slices of cauliflower.
(You can chop up the rest of the cauliflower and stick it in the freezer for vegetable scraps soup!)
Set out three shallow bowls. Put the flour in one bowl, the breadcrumbs in another, and whisked together the eggs in the third bowl. Add 1tsp of paprika and 1 tsp of cumin each to the flour and breadcrumb bowls, and season all three bowls with salt and pepper.
Take each cauliflower slice, and first turn it in the flour bowl to coat from both sides, then dip it in the egg from both sides, and finally turn if in the breadcrumbs from both sides. I find if I use one hand for the dry ingredients (flour and breadcrumbs) and one for the wet (egg) then it doesn’t get quite so messy. This is the part of the cooking that my 9 year old had fun helping with.
Heat 1cm of vegetable oil in a large, wide frying pan and cook the cauliflower burgers on a medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, until tender in the middle and crisp on the outside (if you don’t have a wide enough pan, do them in batches).
To assemble the burgers, mix some mayonnaise with chipotle paste and spread on both sides of your buns. Layer the lower half with lettuce, slices of tomato, a cauliflower burger, and then some of the pickled cucumber – if using. Finish off with the top half of the bun.
Serve with fries of your choice, but we found this went really well with sweet potato fries (which had also been on offer) – and, unlike regular potatoes, sweet potato counts towards your five a day too!
