Sweet Potato & Chickpea Burgers

Preparation Time: 60 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 mins

Serves: 9

Calories per serving: 150 (each burger)

Ingredients

Porridge Oats, Rolled – 90g

Sweet Potato, Baked, Flesh Only – 635g

Chick Peas, one tin drained – 240g

Coriander, Ground – 1 Tsp/5g

Cumin, Ground – ½ Tsp/2.5g

Olive Oil – 1 Tsp/5ml

Onions, Red – 80g

Coriander, Fresh – 35g

Dried Chilli Pepper Flakes – 1 Pinch/0.1g

Olive Oil – 1 calorie spray (20 sprays)

Method

Spike the sweet potato all over and bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven (190 degrees) for about an hour until soft. Leave to cool.

Drain the chickpeas.

Peel and finely chop the red onion and garlic clove. Separate the stalks from the leaves of the coriander (but do not discard).

Pour the olive oil into a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat. Add the diced onion and fry for about 3 – 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the chopped garlic and continue to cook for a further minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Cut the sweet potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Add half to a large mixing bowl and the remainder to a food processor. Add the oats, chickpeas, chilli flakes, cumin and dried coriander. Roughly cut the coriander stalks and add to the food processor. Pulse several times. You may need to open the lid and scrape the edges into the middle of the processor so that you have a uniform consistency.

The aim is to retain several chunky pieces of chickpea, as these will give a lovely crunchy texture to the finished burger.

Combine everything into the mixing bowl, including the fried onion. Roughly chop the coriander leaves and add to the mixture. Stir again to combined.

Line two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment and spray over the top with the spray oil.

Using two tablespoons and your hands, make around 9 or 10 large balls with the mixture. Press into a pattie shape (leaving about 2cm thick) and place gently onto the greased and lined baking sheet. Ensure that the edges don’t touch.

Place the baking trays into a fridge for 30 minutes to allow the burgers to firm up.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Remove the burgers from the fridge, spray the tops of the burgers with the spray oil and place the baking tray in the oven for 25 minutes, turning the burgers once during cooking time.

These burgers are perfect for freezing – to cook from frozen, increase the cooking time by 5 minutes.

Serve the burgers in a bun or they are perfect with a salad. Tzatziki goes really well alongside the slight spice of the burger.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 149.6

Carbohydrate (g) 29.4

Fat (g) 2.2

Fibre (g) 4.3

Fruit & Veg 1.5

Protein (g) 3.7