Rajma Burger patty- a meatless burger patty made from red kidney beans that is a hearty vegetarian alternative to regular meat burgers.

Rajma Burger patty- a meatless burger patty made from red kidney beans

When I was in the US we used to get these frozen meatless burger patties- specifically black bean burger patties. It was a quick breakfast option and we loved it as a meatless burger option. While the frozen patties were convenient, of course homemade is better and you know the ingredients that go in the burger. I learnt how to make the black bean burgers at home, and did a recipe post also about it too.

While you get canned black beans in India, they are not so easily available everywhere. Rajma or red kidney beans, on the other hand, are almost in every Indian’s pantry. So I thought to adapt the black bean burger recipe from the blog to make rajma burgers or red kidney bean burger patties.

I had tried making rajma burgers when I was working on a video for Better Butter. The video had a meatless burger made from leftover rajma. While the rajma patty from that recipe was really good, it was dependent on the fact that you had leftover rajma. And I wanted a recipe that made a hearty yet delicious Rajma burger from scratch.

Rajma Burger patty- a meatless burger patty made from red kidney beans

Cooking Rajma/ Red Kidney Beans

Make sure you buy freshly packed beans. The older the beans the tougher they get to cook, and you may not achieve the right texture with them no matter how long you cook.

Rajma should be cooked properly. Undercooking or not cooking them at the right temperature can lead to food poisoning. Read this article for more information.

The following are the steps to ensure while cooking rajma:

  1. Rinse and soak the rajma or kidney beans in enough water overnight or for 8-9 hours.
  2. Next day, discard the water and rinse the beans again in fresh water.
  3. In a pressure cooker, take rajma, salt and 4 cups water, or enough to cover beans by up to 2 inches.
  4. Pressure cook on high flame until 5 whistles.
  5. Then lower the flame to minimum, let it cook for another 15 minutes and shut the flame off after that. Check for doneness once the pressure drops. If not done, pressure cook for another whistle or two.
  6. If cooking in a sauce pan or pot, you will need to cook the kidney beans covered for 45minutes to 1 hour. It might take longer.

How to Shape & Cook the Rajma Burgers

While you can go as big or as small as you want with these burgers, the ideal size I have learnt comes by using 1/3 cup of mixture per patty. This size makes them perfect to evenly cook, and since these rajma burgers are quite wholesome any bigger makes the burgers quite a massive meal.

A great tip for before shaping any burgers, tikkis, or filling is to cook a small test portion first to check whether the seasoning and flavors are right.  You can then adjust the spices before shaping the rest of the mixture and get perfectly seasoned burger patties every time.
While shaping put a little oil on your hands to help with the shaping.

You can bake, grill or cook the burgers in a pan with a little oil.

To bake: After shaping the patties, place the rajma burgers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Preheat oven at 375°F (190°C). Brush the top with a little oil, if you want. Bake for 10 minutes on each side, 20 minutes in total.

To grill: Place the patties on a greased aluminum foil and grill 8 minutes on each side on medium-high heat.

To make ahead: You can make the burgers ahead of time and freeze. Stack them between parchment paper in a freezer container or zip lock bag. When ready to cook, thaw the patties in the refrigerator and cook according to instructions. You can skip thawing and cook from frozen for an extra couple minutes too. You could also freeze the patties cooked in a similar fashion and reheat them after thawing, or straight from the freezer.

Eggless, Vegan and Gluten Free option

The recipe for these rajma burgers is adapted from the black bean burgers recipe on the blog. I made them eggless this time, and also made the rajma/red kidney beans from scratch instead of using canned ones.

  • Use gluten free bread for a gluten free patty option.
  • Omit the cheese for a vegan burger option

Variations

You can get as creative as you want with these patties. Anything you could think of with meat burgers, you can do with bean burgers too. These meatless burgers would work well with a mexican variation. Add some corn, and some chipotle peppers. Use cheddar cheese or pepper jack instead of the parmesan or goat cheese. This meatless burger recipe is a base for other creative variations, and I would love for you to explore other options too.

Instead of the bread crumbs, you can use cheese crackers as well.

You could make these rajma burger patties as is, and the flavor variations can come from the toppings and the sauces you use too.

Building your Meatless Burger

For the bun, while you can use store bought buns (brioche buns would be lovely for making your burger), if you plan a few hours ahead, you can make your own burger buns at home. It will take about 2-3 hours for the dough to knead and rise, and about 15-20 minutes for them to bake in the oven. I use this whole wheat bun recipe. These pav buns too make soft burger buns. I like to have slightly toasted buns. Butter the cut buns slightly and grill or cook them for a minute or so.

Sauce both top and bottom bun for more flavor and juiciness. For the base, blend ketchup mayo and mustard so that you get a bit in every bite but feel free to experiment with the sauces. BBQ sauce will go well, so will a chipotle mayo made from mayo, ranch dressing and chipotle peppers.

For the veggies, get creative: avocado, caramelized onions, gherkins, roasted peppers, sautéed mushrooms, jalapenos or just plain onion and tomatoes with lettuce. While not a veggie, you could also add bacon for non vegetarians.

For the cheese slice you could use pepper jack, mozzarella, cheddar cheese or even herbed goat cheese. To get a nice melted cheese on your burger, as soon as you cook your burgers and get them off the pan, place your cheese on top of your rajma burger patty. The residual heat should melt the cheese.

Lettuce– position of lettuce can be right at the bottom before the patty or just below the top bun where the mayo can help it to stay in place. While lettuce on top is better since veggies like tomato and onion can keep it from wilting from the patty heat I personally prefer in the bottom since it makes it easier to bite into.

If you have vegetarians or vegans you would like to serve burgers to, these rajma burger patties are a pretty good option. These meatless burgers can be made smaller and you could serve these as an appetizer rajma tikkis. Avoid the bread coating after shaping the patties for the tikkis. For the tikkis, do add the boiled potato for better binding, and use less of the bread crumbs.

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This Kale Quinoa Salad is a super healthy yet delicious salad with two super foods – kale and quinoa. Vegan and gluten free .

Kale Quinoa Salad
One of the finds of this quarantine has been our love for Kale. Before the lockdown started I was going to work on a salad series for the blog, and given that covid cases had started in India, Anubhav and I decided to stock up on some food, so that we do not have to go out that often. While researching for vegetables that will last a little longer in the refrigerator Kale came up and so I decided to buy a bunch.

Previously, the only way I had eaten Kale was in smoothie form. The kale taste was masked by the taste of green apples, spinach and other veggies. When I got this big bunch of kale to use during the lockdown, I looked at ways to use it in meals. This kale quinoa salad was one of the main ways kale was used, but I also experimented with kale in my pizzas and that was a very tasty experiment. Will share that recipe soon too.

What is Kale?

Kale is a nutrient dense green leafy cruciferous vegetable and is a part of the cabbage family. It is a crisp vegetable and has a hint of earthiness in it. Since it has thicker leaves, as mentioned above, it lasts longer in the fridge than more delicate greens like spinach.

There are different types of kale, and it comes in a range of colors from deep green and purple with certain varieties even white and pink. The most common variations of kale include curly, purple, and Tuscan kale (the one I use most often and slightly less bitter than the curly variety). source

Health Benefits of Kale

In recent years, Kale has become popular for the number of health benefits associated with it. It is considered a superfood and has high contents of Vitamin A, K and C, while being a powerful source of antioxidants. Since its low in carbs and calories, it makes a great addition to healthy salad and meal options.

Kale contains phytonutrients that are known to fight cancer. Being rich in vitamin A, kale is good for vision. It is a rich source of Vitamin C which makes it good to include in your diet to boost immunity. 

Like spinach, Kale contains calcium and also is a source of Vitamin K, both of which are good for bone density. Kale is also good for people with diabetes, and aids digestion. The high content of vitamins makes it good for skin and hair.

Like any other food, excess of anything is not advisable. And in case you are on any medication or dietary restrictions, please consult with your nutritionist or doctor before including any new food item in your diet.

source

Kale quinoa salad

Cooking with Kale

Kale can be bitter, especially when you try to eat it raw. After using kale in a number of my salads, I have learnt there is a way to reduce the bitterness associated with kale.

  • Remove leaves from the large center stem of kale.
  • Discard the stem- compost them and help the environment.
  • Thoroughly wash the leaves, dry them and if you want, chop them.
  • Put the leaves in a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil on them, along with some salt and pepper. Massage the leaves with your hands for about 2 minutes. This wilts the leaves and tenderizes them making them easier and more palatable to eat.

While boiling decreases some of the benefits of kale, you can safely steam, sauté or bake kale to use in recipes. Kale chips are surprisingly tasty and a great way to have a crunchy snack.

Sourcing Kale in Delhi

INA in Delhi is one place that Kale is easily available and not as expensive as you would think. For 100-150 bucks you get a big bunch of Kale. Krishi cress also has a good stock of Kale, plus they deliver to most places in the NCR, though they are slightly more expensive than INA. INA too does deliver to certain areas in Delhi. I have also seen Kale in Foodhall, but have found Foodhall fairly more expensive than both INA and Krishi Cress for most items. These are the places I know of. Will update when I find more resources.

KALE QUINOA SALAD

With two super foods in this salad- kale and quinoa, you have a super healthy meal. This Kale quinoa salad is so easily adaptable to what you have on hand. I had made this kale quinoa salad when oranges were available in the local market, but you can play around with what you have. I love apple with kale, so it always is an addition to my kale salads. The great thing about kale is that it doesn’t wilt quite easily as lettuce so you can get away with letting it sit for a while for the flavors to meld.

The dressing is a simple vinaigrette with oil, vinegar, mixed with a little bit of dijon mustard and seasoned with salt & pepper . You could use lemon juice instead of vinegar is you want.

Give this healthy kale quinoa salad a try. Feel free to change the salad to your liking by adding or subtracting any vegetable you prefer. For a little crunch, add a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds.

Kale Quinoa Salad

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Creamy sweet corn soup recipe- a vegan, vegetarian gluten free option without adding any corn starch.

Creamy Vegan gluten free corn soup recipe

I love corn in any form. I love it when its in salads, pastas, pizzas or actually anything.

While I grew up on sweet corn soup, this blended corn soup has been a recent discovery. By blending corn, you get this creamy soup with the taste reminiscent of sweet corn soup, without the need to add corn starch.

I have made this soup a couple of times now- the first time for a styling assignment for a brand. This time I wanted to try making the soup by roasting the corn in the husk first and then cooking and pureeing it. Unfortunately we could not find any corn in the husk, but if you do let me know how roasting the corn first and then following the recipe steps works for you.

Blending the corn gives a nice creamy thickness to the soup, and I have not felt the need to add any cream to it, even the original recipe had mentioned to add a cup of cream. You could though top the soup with a drizzle of cream or coconut milk, for a vegan version.

This corn soup is a great gluten free, vegan soup option and not that hands-on a recipe – so perfect for a weeknight meal option as well.

If you try this easy sweet corn soup recipe, please tag me in your creations on Facebook, Instagram or leave a comment here. Have a great week ahead.

Creamy Vegan gluten free corn soup recipe

Easy Sweet Corn Soup: gluten free, vegan fresh corn soup
 
Author:
Serves: serves 3-4
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • ¼ tsp red chilli flakes
  • 3 cups corn
  • 1 jalapeno, chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 cups vegetable stock (you can use chicken stock if you like)
  • Cream or coconut milk to garnish
Instructions
  1. Heat oil and butter in a sauce pan.
  2. Saute the garlic till golden brown.
  3. Add the onions and cook till translucent.
  4. Add the corn and jalapeno cook for 5 minutes.
  5. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Add the stock and let simmer for 10 minutes.
  7. Remove from flame, and blend the soup either using an immersion blender or a blender.
  8. When ready to serve, heat again. Check seasoning. You can top the soup with microgreens,a drizzle of cream, a sprinkle of red chilli flakes/chili oil, cilantro or green onions.