Make your own Burger!

Veggie Burger patty

Frozen and ready to eat foods have revolutionized the lifestyle of students and working population who do not find time to cook! One can find a wide array of Ready to eat foods, all in a packet - from elaborate curries to rasam rice. The parallel market here, is of frozen foods! 

The most popular and convenient form of frozen food, I feel, is the burger patty. Its good to have a heavy snack/lunch waiting in your freezer. I thought of making my own burger patty and freezing it for future use. Advantages include : customize to your taste, add a lot of healthy veggies and minimize the use of oil! :)

During the year end break, when all I did was sleep- read-eat, I thought I should do something useful that will help me once the office drill starts. I accomplished a couple of useful things like making chutneys for chaat and the frozen patty. I'm hoping it will save me the trouble when I'm too tired/bored to cook and resist the urge to eat out! I made about 8 burger patties and froze them. Added kidney beans and lots of spinach to make it healthy. The best part of course is that you can use your imagination and add in any veggies/spices that suit your palate.

What you need :

Potatoes 2 medium sized

Kidney beans - about 1 cup 

Chopped spinach leaves

Corn kernels - 2 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste

Mint/cilantro finely chopped - for flavor

Salt

Chilly powder

Garam masala powder

Corn starch - 1tbsp or more for binding.

Oil - 1/2 tbsp.

Other optional ingredients : finely chopped mushrooms (sauteed or cooked in the microwave oven)/ other varieties of beans/ grated carrots/ cooked green peas/ cooked soya chunks....... 

Method :

1. Pressure cook the potatoes and kidney beans with minimal amount of water. Once cooked, get rid of the water - u can reuse this in some curry. Mash the potatoes and beans to make a lumpy mixture. 

Useful tip here is to let the potatoes stay for a while after cooking them this rids the potatoes of extra moisture and enhances binding property of potatoes. The patty will be easier to shape. This applies even while making Alu parathas. My sister told me this trick where you boil the potatoes and put it in the fridge and use it later. The mess of stuffing leaking out while rolling out parathas is avoided :)

2. Microwave the chopped spinach sprinkled with water for about a minute till it wilts.

3. Microwave frozen corn kernels till soft.

4. Mix all the veggies with spices, salt and chopped cilantro/mint. Add cornstarch to bind the mixture.

5. Make patties of this mixture. Shallow fry the patties in minimal oil on a non stick griddle.

6. Once cooked, use it in a burger right away or freeze for future use.

I packed the patties in plastic cling wrap and stored in the freezer. Today evening, got back from office super hungry and we enjoyed masalewale burgers! Yum! :)