Introducing Tess and her carrot and sesame burgers

Tess is a 9 year old budding cook and my junior blogger.  Tess says: ‘This is a a burger full of deliciousness and I’ve made it three times. Our family ate it tonight and we all liked it because its vegetarian and full of flavour. It’s healthy and very carroty and I think the yoghurt makes a big difference and so do the sesame seeds. I definately recommend rocket in the burger because it makes it crunchy and peppery, but not if if you don’t like it.’

Tess’s mum says: ‘If you have loads of carrots this is a great way of using them up. But there’s lots of grating involved (unless you have one of those whizzy machines) and you’ll need a decent/large-ish food mixer to make your life easy. You could add another egg into the burger mixture for binding it if you like.’

Here is the recipe (originally from www.bbcgoodfood.com).  Serves 6:

Burger:

750g carrots, peeled and grated

1 large can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small onion

2 tbsp tahini paste

1 tsp ground cumin

1 egg

100g breadcrumbs

zest of one lemon

3 tbsp sesame seeds

3 tbsp olive oil

Lemon dressing:

at least half a large pot of natural yogurt

juice of half a lemon

1 desert spoon of tahini

And finally:

6 wholemeal buns

rocket leaves

avocado

sliced red onion

Optional – chilli sauce to serve

Put a third of the grated carrot in the food processor with the chickpeas, onion, 2 tbsp tahini, cumin and egg. Whizz to a thick paste and scrape into a large bowl.  Heat 1 tbsp oil in a big frying pan, tip in the remanning two thirds of grated carrot and cook for 8-10 mins stirring all the while until the carrot is softened (it will turn a little more golden in colour).  Add the cooked carrot to the whizzed up paste of carrots, add breadcrumbs, lemon zest and sesame seeds. Add seasoning and mix together well with your hands.

Make the lemony dressing by mixing the yogurt, tahini and lemon juice.

Divide the burger mixture in to 6 balls using wet hands and shape into burgers. Heat a non stick frying pan and brush burgers with remaining oil on both sides. Cook burgers for 5 mins on each side until golden and crisp. Meanwhile half the buns lengthways and warm. Add a burger to each bun and lather with lemony dressing (the more the better!)  Add rocket leaves, some red onion slices and slices of avocado and finish with a drizzle of chilli sauce if you like it and have some in.

Enjoy!

Tess will be a regular contributor to the blog and next plans to write about easy recipes for children to cook, including popcorn topping and her very own dessert recipe!

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