Hi Everyone! How have you been? Its time to thank you all wonderful readers and blogger friends for your great support. It would not have been the same without your support. The blog has come a long way from what it started.  It helped me share my love for good food with you and feed healthy food to my family.  I would love to hear from you about your views and ideas regarding recipes/technicalities of the blog. You can also tell me what type of recipes you would like to see here. I was thinking of adding a special category of my family recipes in its original form (I mean not healthified). The recipes that are there in my family from my grand parents time to authentic recipes which I make for my children now. What say??

Few days back, I was trying to make my Beet and Sweet potato Patties to go with burger buns that we got from a store for free. I felt, the patties needed more texture, crunch and flavor to be burgers. I added cooked quinoa and almond meal to the recipe and it looked perfect. Soy sauce gave much needed smoky flavor. Quinoa is considered a super food because of its high protein and fiber content. It is actually a seed with all the 9 essential amino acids that are rarely found in plant based food. It is a great meat alternative to vegans/vegetarians. It is cooked and eaten similar to rice and it tastes neutral and has nutty texture which I love. You can substitute the quinoa with cooked broken wheat (dalia) or rolled oats too. Almond meal can be substituted with any nut ground to fine powder. Sweet potato can be substituted with potato. I made Avocado chutney with peanuts and garlic and few other spices. It gave the dish that zingy Indian touch. I roasted sweet potato fries with chat masala and cumin for the side. It is a complete and awesome dish. You just make the burgers and a appetizer or with a simple salad as a meal. I hope you would get to try this.

Beet, Sweet Potato and Quinoa Burgers with Avocado Peanut Chutney(Indian Dip) and Sweet Potato Fries:

Servings: 8 big size

Ingredients:

For Burger:

Beetroot: 4 medium size, boiled/roasted and grated

Sweet Potato: 1 medium size, boiled/roasted

Quinoa: 1 cup, cooked

Almond meal: 1/4 cup

Roasted Gram Flour: 1/2 cup (I used finely ground Roasted bengal gram/dalia)

Scallions/Green Onions: 2, chopped finely

Ginger: 1.5 inches, finely chopped

Green Chili: 3, finely chopped

Coriander Powder: 1 tbsp

Garam Masala Powder: 1 tsp

Dry Mango Powder (Aamchur): 1 tsp

Soy Sauce: 1 tsp

Salt: 1 tbsp, As required

Bread Crumbs: 2-3 tbsp, to coat

Oil: 2 tbsp, divided

For Chutney:

Avocado: 1 small, peeled and stoned

Peanuts: 1/3 cup, roasted

Garlic : 2 cloves

Green Chili: 1, As required

Lemon Juice: 2 tbsp

Water: 2 tbsp

Salt: 1 tsp, As required

For Sweet Potato Fries:

Sweet Potato: 1 small, peeled and cut into 2-3″ inch long pieces

Chat Masala: 1 tsp

Red Chili Powder: 1/2 tsp

Roasted Cumin Powder: 1/2 tsp

Oil: 1 tbsp

Other Ingredients:

Burger Buns: 8

Few Onion Rings

Few Tomato Rings

Few Cucumber Rings

Few Lettuce Leaves

Procedure:

For Burgers:

1. Heat a non-stick pan and add oil. Add ginger, green chilies and scallions and fry for few seconds.
2. Add in roasted and grated beetroot, sweet potato and cooked quinoa and saute well until all the moisture is evaporated.
3. Add in dry spice powders like salt, coriander, garam masala, dry mango powder and soy sauce. Add in roasted bengal gram powder and fry for a minute. The mixture should come together as a mass or bind easily. Transfer the mixture to bowl and let cool. Adjust the seasoning.
4. To fry the burgers, heat a flat nonstick pan and brush with oil. Make patties with the beetroot mixture by oiling your palms. I made it palm size with 1/4th inch thickness.
5. Coat the burgers in bread crumbs both size and fry both sides for 2 minutes or until brown. Set aside on paper towel.
6. To make the chutney, combine all the ingredients in blender mentioned in chutney section. Blend to smooth puree. You can add a tbsp of oil if required.
7. To make Fries, pre heat oven to 450ºF. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
8. Toss the sweet potato strips with enough oil to cover and add in dry spice powders mentioned in fries section and salt.
9. Spread on the tray in single layer. Do not crowd. Bake for 15 minutes until edges charred. Turn the fries once in half way. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
10. To assemble, toast the buger buns with butter/oil. Heat onion rings and burgers for a minute.
11. Layer lettuce, onion, tomato slices and burger on the bun. Top with chutney and tomato ketchup. Enjoy when hot.

 

Tips:

1. To roast beetroot and sweet potato, preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.
2. Wash and dry the vegetables and oil them with peel on. Bake them for 45 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. You can insert a knife and check.
3. These burgers freeze well for several months.