Tuesday Night Fake-Away

All this week on social media, I’m talking about how to read nutritional labels. To go with this discussion, I’m putting up one family-friendly recipe each night that reduces use of processed foods and increasing use whole foods and plant-based foods to reduce salt, reduce sugar, and reduce saturated fat.

This burger and chips recipe will make 4-6 servings, depending on appetites.  This is the basic. You can get as fancy as you want with the toppings or extra sides.  I tend to make these burgers early in the morning and leave them in the fridge to be quickly cooked later in the evening.

• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and chopped (or frozen chopped chili)

• 4 green onions, trimmed and finely chopped

• 2 x 400 g tin black beans, (drain and pat dry)

• 200 g breadcrumbs

• olive or other cooking oil

• 400-600 grams potatoes or sweet potatoes (scrubbed clean and cut into chips)

• Paprika

• salt

• Whole wheat burger buns

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Add chili, green onions, breadcrumbs, and beans into a large mixing bowl. (Add seasoning to taste, if desired.)

3. With clean hands, mix ingredients together, squeezing beans and crushing them into the mixture until it forms a paste. Divide the mixture into 6 equal-sized balls.  Flatten them into burger shapes.

4. Put in fridge to set at least 10 minutes.

5. While you are waiting for burgers to set, coat the cut-up potatoes lightly in cooking oil and sprinkle with paprika.

6. Place chips on non-stick cooking sheet or cooking sheet lined with baking paper.

7. Cook for 20 minutes.

8. When you are ready to cook burgers: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan over a medium heat. Fry the burgers for approximately 4 minutes on each side. Serve burgers on whole wheat buns, with burger toppings of your choice. Lightly salt chips, as needed, to taste.