A fast food favourite, but not as you know it.
My Tofu Burger!
Stacked with cheese, pickles and homemade sauce, on a bed of crunchy rainbow salad.
Tofu is great value
Really high in calcium, protein, and low in fat.
You wanna remove
about 4 tablespoons
of liquid.
Losing some of the water content ensures lovely, crispy edges when the tofu cooks.
Add about 75g of wholemeal breadcrumbs and crack in an egg.
We're gonna use flavouring
from an old friend.
You'll either love it or hate it.
So I want 2 teaspoons of marmite.
And that's the great thing about tofu, it's a great carrier of flavour.
You know, the marmite gives it a lovely savouriness which I like,
but at the same time you can swap marmite out and put pesto in.
You could use harissa instead.
Miso.
Have fun with it, make it your own.
This recipe is a good base.
Once it's evenly mixed,
shape into 4 patties,
and it's time to cook them.
I've got an amazing tip that's gonna add loads of warm herbal flavour and more crunchy texture to my burgers.
Rosemary, when it gets fried in oil,
incredible things happen.
it's kind of turned into like...
little crisps.
Lay your patties on top of the rosemary.
And now it's time to knock up a vitamin packed, homemade ketchup...
with no sugar.
We need about 8 lovely, ripe tomatoes.
Fresh is cool. Of course you can do this with tinned tomatoes if you want.
But fresh, ripe tomatoes are gonna give you that kind of sunshine vibe.
Chop up the tomatoes, add to the pan, and then season with salt and pepper.
Definitely I like a little bit of spice, so a tiny bit of chili sauce, or some dried flakes of chili here.
And then what other things make that kind of ketchup work?
Acidity, that kind of [clicks tongue] that sort of piquance.
So red or white wine vinegar, about...a tablespoon.
So we're not gonna add sugar, because I think you can get a lovely result.
A fresh result with the natural sugars that are in these tomatoes right now.
That's why they got to be ripe.
Tear in some fresh basil.
And you can see this is getting thick already.
So what we will do, is
as it's cooking,
we'll just use a potato masher
to break the sauce.
But look at how quickly that's happening!
Flip your burgers, cooking them for 3 minutes on each side.
So look at these, I mean they're looking really good.
Great colour, crispy, soft, and sort of nice in the middle.
Kind of quite excited about that.
Next, classic burger territory.
Cheese.
To add calcium, but also, I want to keep it light on calories.
50 grams is all we need.
So, to complete this meal, we want to do a hybrid of a slaw cum salad cum kind of shred vibe going on.
Eating a wide range of colours will provide a spectrum of super food nutrients.
So I'm using all sorts of crunchy veg.
Sliced.
Chopped.
Ribboned.
And for some real retro fun,
crinkle-cut.
Reminds me of an 80's perm.
I don't know why.
And once we've done that, let's just get in there,
mix it up,
and kinda let it...just all look gorgeous.
Let's just create a massive bed
of goodness and colour.
Next, a dressing for my salad.
Plain light yogurt.
Good for your digestion.
A handful of basil,
dijon mustard,
and a splash of white wine vinegar.
You want that twang in there.
Some salt, just a little bit.
And chili. About half a chili.
Just to give it a little rumble of spice.
Whizz it up until smooth,
and drizzle it all over your rainbow salad.
Time to build your brilliant burgers.
I'm using wholemeal buns.
On average, double the fibre of white.
Covered in that tangy, tomato sauce,
with your cheesy tofu patty resting on top.
And no burger is complete
without pickles.
Just two, or three.
And then, the lid.
So look, there you go.
Really healthy, totally balanced.
We've got all of those elements.
We've got carbohydrates, protein, fruit, veg, and dairy.
Tomato sauce is delicious.
Texture in there, it's soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.
That, my friend, with the salad, unbelievable.
Something a little bit different.
Really delicious.
And quite messy.
I like it.