Beetroot Burgers with Goat Cheese, Spinach and Tomato-Apple Chutney

My usual approach towards veggie burgers isone of  scepticism. Often they’re not very good, it’s just a wobbly patty thrown onto a bun and called a veggie-burger. Last week I tried to make some myself. I discovered that I had some beetroots left in my fridge and I didn’t feel like the usual ‘roast them in the oven’ solution. And I don’t know why, but somehow my mind jumped to burgers and then veggie burgers and then veggie burgers made from beetroot. I mean, why not, just give it one try and if I don’t like it I’ll never do it again.
Believe me, I WILL make these again. Don’t know if it’s the apple tomato chutney or the homemade buns, the truffle mayo or the shiitake mushrooms, or maybe just the spices in the beetroot patty that made this veggie burger so incredibly tasty.

Ingredients for 6 Burgers:

For the Beetroot patties:

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped in fine cubes
• 2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• 1 small chili, very finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fennelseeds
• 500g beetroot, peeled
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 50g oats
• 2 tbsp panko or normal breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs (L)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Others:

• some olive oil
• 6 tbsp apple tomato Chutney (recipe here)
• 6 burger buns
• 100g firm goat cheese, cut in thin slices
• 100g Shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and halved
• some butter
• approx. 75g fresh spinach, washed
• pickled big radishes, onions (recipe here), or simply pickles
• 12 tsp truffle or normal Mayonnaise

 Below the preparation

Preparation:

1. Heat a pan on medium heat. Add olive oil and onions, garlic, chili as well as fennel seeds. Fry until soft and translucent.

2. Grate beetroot into medium big stripes into a bowl. Add salt, smoked paprika powder, oats, breadcrumbs, eggs, olive oil, as well as the fried onion mix from the pan and stir everything well in, cover bowl with clingfilm and let sit in fridge for about an hour, so the oats can soak up the juice from the beetroot.

3. Take beet mix from fridge and have shiitake mushrooms ready. Heat two pans (a big and a small one). Pour 3-4 tbsp olive oil into the bigger pan and some butter (around 1 tbsp) into the smaller one. Form 6 equal patties from the beetroot mix, around 2 cm thick, and squeeze a bit to get rid of some of the juices. The patty should be moist, but not too moist, otherwise it’ll fall apart. Then place in the hot oil. Fry on one side for 3 minutes, or until golden brown and place 3-4 stripes of goat cheese on top. Fry for another 3-4 minutes and if needed, shortly cover them with a lid so the cheese melts quicker.

4. At the same time add shiitake mushrooms to the pan with butter and fry until they’re cripsy outside but soft inside. Set aside.

5. Cut the burger buns in half horizontally and toast with the open side. On the bottom part of the bun spead a tbsp of the chutney, place the grilled patty with cheese on it. Add a tsp of mayonnaise, then the shiitake and then some spinach leaves, and some of your pickled vegetables. Add a tsp of mayonnaise on the open side of the upper bun part as well and close the burger with it.

6. Serve warm, with extra Chutney, oven baked potatoes or sweet potato fries (recipe here).