Footy Finals Food!

The end of September is once again upon us and (if your in Australia) you know what that means!

Football  Finals! Woo!

Typically this involves a sacred ritual of hanging out with friends, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and soft drinks and downing truckloads of various 'dude foods'. You know the stuff; sausage rolls, chips, pies etc. - pretty much anything highly processed and generally containing some part of a pig you don't really want to think about...

This year I decided to break the trend.

I wanted something to munch on while yelling at the TV which wouldn't leave me rolling on the floor feeling sick afterwards. Seriously, feeling that way after watching pro athletes running around in all their fitness glory is just a recipe for a self-loathing!


So, if you too want to enjoy the finals season without the grease, check out this gluten and dairy free, vegan burger! Delicious, nutritious and will give you the energy kick needed to go and kick a footy at half time.

Om nom nom!

  

These veggie burgers are so quick and easy to make and totally scream FRESH and HEALTHY. I mean seriously, I went to my backyard to raid my herb pots and couldn't help but admire how gorgeous a thing fresh produce is.   

 

  




In addition to these gorgeous herbs, these burgers are also jam-packed with chickpeas which will keep you feeling full, are full of fibre and protein and can also help the lower cholesterol. What's not to love! 

 

The thing with recipes like this is also that they give you the ability to throw in whatever flavours you fancy and can easily mix them up to suit your dietary needs. I served my burgers in between two grilled field mushrooms instead of a bun but you could use a bread roll if you prefer or simply eat the patties by themselves as a quick snack. It's totally up to you!

Vegan Chickpea Burgers

2 1/2 cups chickpeas, cooked 
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 red onion, roughly sliced
3 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup firmly packed herbs (I used a mix of parsley, mint and coriander)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin 
Salt and Pepper, to taste 
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 

Using the pulse setting on a food processor (or just blitzing in short bursts) process the chickpeas until well chopped but not so much that it becomes a smooth paste! Scrape the chickpeas into a medium sized mixing bowl. Alternatively you can use the back of a fork to mash the chickpeas.


Put the garlic,onion, lemon, herbs and cumin in the food processor and again blitz until well chopped

Add the herb mix to the chickpeas along with the quinoa flakes and season with salt and pepper and use you hands to combine

Grab tennis ball-sized hand fulls of the mixture and shape into individual patties 

Heat a small amount of oil in a fry pan over high heat and fry the patties for about 3-5 minutes each side or until they are nicely browned 



And that's it! 

You can eat them as they are or serve them as a burger. For mine I used two grilled mushrooms as my bun and added some fresh baby spinach, sliced radish and a big dollop of natural yogurt with a squeeze of lemon over the top!  


 

Enjoy! xo