Winter Burgers

makes 18 burgers, can be frozen

Soak 750gm dried chickpeas in cold water overnight, or 8 hours. Allow enough room to almost double in size. Strain and rinse chickpeas. Remove any loose skins. Cover chickpeas with fresh, clean water and bring to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer for about 2 hours or until chickpeas are tender. Skim surface regularly. Strain and cool.

When chickpeas are cool remove loose skins, lightly process the chickpeas to break them up retaining some texture and uneven sizes. Use the pulse button on the food processor.

Trim the crust from ½ medium sized loaf of French white bread. Process to fine breadcrumbs. In a large bowl use your hands to stir breadcrumbs through the chickpeas until evenly distributed. Using your hands avoids breaking up the chickpeas any further and compressing the breadcrumbs.

Add the following to the chickpea mixture and stir through until evenly distributed: 2 tbsp ground fennel, 1 ¼ tbsp cumin, 1 ¼ tbsp smoked hot paprika, 1 rounded tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tsp black pepper.

Next add ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, use a dark, rich flavoured oil. You may need to add more oil than this. Test the mixture by squeezing in the palm of your hands, it is ready when it holds together but is still a little fragile.

Now form the burgers. Take a handful of chickpea mixture and, using both your hands, mould into a palm sized patty about 2cm thick.

To cook the burgers heat a dry frying pan or griddle to medium hot. Lay the burgers in the pan and brush the tops with olive oil. After about 3 minutes carefully turn the burgers using 2 spatulas (the burgers are fragile) brush with olive oil. Cook for another 3 minutes or until burgers are starting to brown.

Serve in focaccia with a spicy dressing. Alternatively, serve on rice and lentils with a spicy sauce and green salad.

Take the basic composition of these burgers and play with the seasonings to create your own burger.