Are you are forager? If so, get out and start harvesting the wild garlic that is in season right now! It won't be around for much longer, and gone by June, but you can still find plants that are ripe for picking. I am lucky enough to have abundant access to wild garlic via my parents garden, which is overgrowing with the stuff. And I can't believe it has taken me this long to actually bother using it.
The leaves are edible as long as they are healthy-looking - though they turn more bitter once lots of flowers start appearing, you can still eat them if you don't mind the taste. In some recipes, bitterness of the later season leaves is not likely to come through - it would be more noticable eating in a salad. But if you find a crop of them, you may as well just pick and see what you think.
And wild garlic is amazingly versatile - it can be used in salads, or however you might use spring onions or spinach - try replacing it as an alternative in any spinach recipes. It doesn't have a strong garlic flavour - it's far more subtle than garlic bulbs - and it's also got some of the same health benefits as garlic (with the greenery added, too!).
So I came up with this recipe as an easy way to use this wonderful bounty of nature, in a nutritious, gluten free and healthy low-fat pattie or burger that can be eaten with a variety of other foods. I really like the light and tasty flavour of these burgers, and I also got a chance to use the Brazilian spice tempero baiano in this, that I got sent via my April Vegan Package Swap.
You may not be as lucky to have some tempero baiano at hand, in which case, I would suggest increasing the all-purpose seasoning amount by a quarter of a teaspoon, and also adding a quarter teaspoon of white pepper too. As well, I found a recipe to make your own blend of tempero baiano.
But you can experiment with other spices or seasonings, there are no rules, after all! I wanted to keep this recipe fairly subtle in flavour in though, so it would be kid-friendly too.And as you can see, other than the small amount of oil for frying the onions and the patties themselves, there is no additional oil added.
As always, please let me know what you think if you make it!
Black-Eyed Bean, Celeriac & Wild Garlic Burgers
Makes about 8 patties
1 red onion, finely chopped
2½ cups cooked black-eyed beans
1 cup (about a quarter of a medium bulb) celeriac, finely grated
1 cup (tightly packed) wild garlic leaves, chopped
¼ cup ground almond flour
¼ cup white rice flour
2 teaspoons all-purpose seasoning
1½ teaspoon dried tarragon
½ teaspoon Tempero Baiano (Brazilian Bahian seasoning - see post for substitute suggestion)
Coconut or olive oil for frying
1. Lightly fry the red onion in coconut or olive oil for a few minutes on a low-medium heat until it has nicely softened and cooked, then add the celeriac and lightly fry a few minutes more. Turn off the heat and while they are cooling, mash the cooked black-eyed beans in a bowl with a fork. They mash easily, and it's okay to leave some only slightly mashed.
2. In the food processor, process the onion and celeriac, then pulse in the ground almonds, rice flour, seasonings and also the beans. Pulse in the wild garlic leaves also. The mixture shouldn't need any liquid to hold together, and take care not to process to oblivion – you want to see the leaves in there.
3. Form the bean and wild garlic mixture into 8 patties, flattening them down so they are around half an inch thick. In a frying pan, heat some oil for frying and then cook the burgers for around 4-5 minutes each side, until browned and cooked through.
4. Serve the burgers with salad and crusty bead, maybe with some sweet chilli sauce to accompany them.
I just subscribed and received your vegan baking guide. Thank you very much. I'm sure that I will use your recipes in the future. :)
Posted by: Sergio Arroyo | May 14, 2013 at 08:58 AM
Thanks for your comment Sergio! I would love to hear what you think of my recipes when you try them out! Please do come back and let me know :)
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | May 14, 2013 at 08:59 AM
Your black-eyed pea and garlic burgers look great. Sometimes it is difficult for me to be excited about healthy food choices. But then again, when I run across a recipe like this, I believe I can have the best of both worlds.
Posted by: Rene | May 18, 2013 at 01:13 PM
Thanks Rene, I hope you get to make it then! Please let me know if you do.
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | May 18, 2013 at 01:27 PM