Here is another recipe from the Vegetarian Society in celebration of National Vegetarian Week. These spicy sweet burgers would make a great lunch or supper and you can adjust the seasoning to suit your family. Ras el Hanout is a a Moroccan spice mix that you can normally buy ready mixed, and Harissa is a hot Tunisian chili sauce. To be honest, this combination is a bit hot for me, and I dialled the spices down quite a lot, leaving out the Harissa completely and only using half the Ras el Hanout recommended. I also used much milder chillis in the relish. But that is the beauty of a recipe like this, you can adjust it to suit your own tastes – and the combination of the sweet potato with the pineapple and relish really is lovely.
600 grams (about 21 ounces or roughly 1 and one third pounds) sweet potatoes
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ras el hanout (Moroccan spice mix)
5 pineapple rings
1 teaspoon rose harissa (or harissa)
100 grams breadcrumbs
50 grams almonds, coarsely chopped
100 grams pumpkin seeds, crushed
Gram flour (chick pea flour) to coat the burgers
For the relish:
3 Bird’s Eye chillies, finely chopped
(will be hot, you may wish to use milder chillis)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon tomato puree
4 wholemeal rolls
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C (about 425F). Cut the sweet potatoes in half and bake in their skins on a lightly oiled baking tray for 30 minutes. When they are soft scoop out the flesh and set aside.
2. Meanwhile gently fry the onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until soft. Add the garlic and ras el hanout. Continue to fry for another 30 seconds, stirring continuously.
3. Chop one of the pineapple rings into small cubes and put in a big bowl, with the cooked sweet potato flesh, fried onions, rose harissa, breadcrumbs, almonds and pumpkin seeds. Season to taste.
4. Form the mixture into burgers. You can make four thick or eight thin burgers as preferred. Coat them in the gram flour and shallow fry until golden on each side.
5. While the burgers are frying, make the relish by mixing all the ingredients together.
6. Griddle the remaining pineapple rings on each side.
7. Assemble by placing one burger in each roll, followed by the griddled pineapple then the relish. Add the second burger on top if using and serve with
Simple Moroccan Salad
Preparation time 10 minutes
1 medium tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 red onion finely sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
100 grams watercress
100 grams finely sliced ready to eat dried apricots
1 teaspoon olive oil
Half teaspoon cumin powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
1.Place the chickpeas, onion, tomatoes, watercress and apricots into a serving bowl.
2. Mix together the oil and cumin and pour over the salad.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
Recipe from the Vegetarian Society is used with permission (converted measurements in brackets are mine, and are approximate). The 21st Century Housewife has not been paid for this post.
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