Bank holiday veggie BBQ must: The Happy Pear’s Ultimate Fifteen-Minute “Burger”

Quick, easy to make, super-tasty, moreish – we are aware that’s quite a promise, but these burgers will deliver! It’s hard to get good-quality breadcrumbs, so we usually make our own by putting a few slices of decent bread into the food processor for a few minutes until they turn to crumbs. It is really worth seeking out the nutritional yeast, as it gives a nice distinct flavour, and a couple of slices of vegan cheese, while not essential, takes these burgers to the next level.

Makes 3 burgers

15 minutes

Ingredients
1 x 400g tin of kidney/black beans
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
150g oyster mushrooms (or any other mushrooms)
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp tamari/soy sauce
100g breadcrumbs
2 tbsp nutritional yeast

To serve
hummus/vegan mayo
sweet chilli ketchup/pesto
a couple of slices of vegan cheese (optional)
lettuce leaves
tomato slices
red onion slices
ripe avocado slices

Method
Drain and rinse the beans. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Chop the mushrooms very finely.

Put 2 tbsp of oil into a frying pan on a high heat. Once hot, add the onion and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further minute. Now add the tamari, and fry for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Put the breadcrumbs, beans and nutritional yeast into a bowl and mix well. Add the mushroom mixture to the same bowl and mix. Leave to cool for a minute, then use your hands or a wooden spoon to mash and mix everything together. Shape this mixture into 3 burger-shaped patties, making sure to really compress them so as to remove as much moisture as possible.

The patties are now ready to cook. We usually fry them in the pan in the remaining tbsp of oil for 2 minutes on each side, until they go golden. You can also bake them in the oven at 180°C/gas mark 4 for 10 minutes, or throw them on the barbecue.

Serve in toasted burger buns with hummus/mayo on the bottom of the bun, sweet chilli ketchup/pesto on the top and any of the other topping options you fancy.

Extracted from The Happy Pear: Recipes for Happiness by David and Stephen Flynn (Penguin Ireland, €22). Photograph by Alistair Richardson.