dish 14) soya burgers a la jade

ZOMG! I cooked THREEEEEE dishes from scratch on the weekend. This was the first one. I have never used soy beans before so I picked some dry ones up from the market on Friday ($4 per kilo) and soaked them overnight for this little beauty. I found a recipe online but of course didn't follow it properly (oops) but they turned out pretty delicious! Here are the first and last pictures, as the in-between ones were pretty un-impressive.

Can you see the hair on the beans!? Gross, didn't notice that until now... hmm. I thought they tasted a little hairy haha. Anyway here are the patties about to go in the oven:

The flavour was amazing, but they were still a little soft in the middle. I don't think i'll ever figure out how the dude from "Vego 'n' Lovin it" does it. I like soy beans, they are supposed to be one of the best legumes around in terms of nutritional value. They are also cheap azz. They went down a treat at the BBQ I attended on Saturday and I gave some more as a gift to my friend's mum. The rest are now in the freezer for later easy consumption!

Here is a rough recipe of what i did:

2 cups dry soy beans

6 cups stock (veg or beef)

2 tbsp. oil

4 garlic cloves, diced

2 large onions, minced superfine

1 carrot, minced superfine
1/2 green capsicum, minced
1/2 red capsicum, minced

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. parsley

Pepper and salt

2 tbsp. peanut butter
Squirt of light soy sauce

*'no egg' if you want to thicken it up vegan style.

- Soak the soy beans in water to cover overnight. Put soy beans and stock in a large pot, and cook over low heat for 2 1/2 hours until soft, making sure they are always covered with liquid.

-Skim the gunk off the water as it cooks. (I heard that this foam is what exaccerbates bean-related flatulence, but I have read an article today which says that it is indigestible sugars in beans which cause gas and not the foam. The article says that the foam is caused by water soluble proteins.)

- In a food processor put in the onion and blend to fine bits. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add the garlic and onions and cook until golden.

- In the food processor, add the carrot and capsicum and blend into tiny flecks. Add this and seasonings to the onion/garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, until tender.

- Preheat oven to 180C. Oil a cookie sheet.

- Drain the soy beans and blend up in the food processor. Combine them with the vegetable mix in a large bowl. Add the peanut butter.

- Form the mixture into patties and place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes; turn burgers over and bake for 20 mins more.

These go really well with tomato relish or fresh tomato :) mmm hungry!!