Kokova Magazine

Taking place from Monday 23 May to Sunday 29 May 2011, it’s a time for everyone from foodies to families, caterers to cafés, market stalls to meat-free aisles, green grocers to gourmet chefs and supermarkets to stylish restaurants. It’s a real food for thought week. National Vegetarian Week.

Serves 4
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 40 minutes
Vegan

Ingredients

For the burger

• 600g sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ras el hanout (Moroccan spice mix)
• 5 pineapple rings
• 1 tsp rose harissa (or harissa)
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 50g almonds, coarsely chopped
• 100g pumpkin seeds, crushed
• Gram flour (chick pea flour) to coat the burgers

For the relish

• 3 Bird’s Eye chillies, finely chopped (will be hot, you may wish to use milder chillis)
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• Half lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp tomato puree 4 wholemeal rolls

Procedure

• Preheat the oven to 220C.
• Cut the sweet potatoes in half and bake in their skins on a lightly oiled baking tray for 30 minutes. When they are soft scoop out the flesh and set aside.
• Meanwhile gently fry the onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until soft.
• Add the garlic and ras el hanout.
• Continue to fry for another 30 seconds, stirring continuously.
• Chop one of the pineapple rings into small cubes and put in a big bowl, with the cooked sweet potato flesh, fried onions, rose harissa, breadcrumbs, almonds and pumpkin seeds.
• Season to taste.
• Form the mixture into burgers. You can make four thick or eight thin burgers as preferred.
• Coat them in the gram flour and shallow fry until golden on each side.
• While the burgers are frying, make the relish by mixing all the ingredients together.
• Griddle the remaining pineapple rings on each side.
• Assemble by placing one burger in each roll, followed by the griddled pineapple then the relish.
• Add the second burger on top if using and serve with a simple Moroccan salad (recipe below).

Simple Moroccan Salad
Preparation time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 medium tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 red onion finely sliced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 100g watercress
• 100g finely sliced ready to eat dried apricots
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Half tsp cumin powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

• Place the chickpeas, onion, tomatoes, watercress and apricots into a serving bowl.
• Mix together the oil and cumin and pour over the salad.
• Season with salt and pepper.

© the Vegetarian Society 2011
www.nationalvegetarianweek.org