Jethro's Black Bean Burgers

Jethro’s Black Bean Burgers

Jethro Carr

Featuring:

Beetroot

Pulses

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

In season now

Serves: 6

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

400g tin black beans

400g tin chickpeas

4 spring onions

1 red chilli

70g breadcrumbs

1 tsp smoked paprika

4 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp olive oil

Yoghurt dressing:

A few sprigs flat-leaf parsley

280g natural yoghurt

Juice of 1 lemon

To serve:

6 wholemeal rolls

2 large gherkins

250g cooked beetroot

3 radishes

60g rocket leaves

60g feta

Method:

Drain the black beans and chickpeas into a bowl. Finely chop the spring onions and chilli. Using a food processor or hand blender, roughly blend the chickpeas and black beans along with the spring onion, breadcrumbs and paprika.

Divide bean mixture into six balls or twelve balls if you are making mini burgers. Dust each with flour and flatten into a patty shape.

Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the burgers in batches for four to five minutes on each side. Keep warm. Repeat with remaining patties.

Chop the parsley leaves and combine the yogurt, parsley and lemon in a bowl. Season to taste.

Slice open the wholemeal rolls. Finely slice the gherkins, beetroot and radish. Serve the black bean burgers in the rolls topped with your choice of toppings and dressing.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

Kids could help you drain and rinse the beans and chickpeas, or push the buttons on the food processor, but the real favourite task is likely to be shaping the burger patties!

Master these skills:

Cleaning vegetables, Weighing, Mixing

More about Kitchen Ninja Skills

Activities

Why not try making beetroot prints on paper plates using a cut beetroot? You could even take it a step further and carve a heart or shape into the beet to make stamps or temporary tattoos for hands. Make sure to wear an apron and perhaps some gloves to avoid staining! It can also be fun to try and paint or draw a beetroot picture with a raw halved beetroot – can they show the detail of the rings and shades of colour in the picture?

Kids more interested in science? Try Stefan Gates’ videos, including how to explore colour, patterns and shape using beetroot here.

Find loads more free veg-themed crafts here and games here.

Sensory

Beetroot is a fun one to explore through sight (just remember that it can get a little messy and stain, so make sure to wear aprons or old clothes and be prepared to get some pink fingers for a few days if you don’t wear gloves!). Try exploring whole and halved beetroot to describe the look, colour and patterns you see on the outside and inside. What does it remind you of? If you can get a few different kinds of beetroot (purple, golden, candy-striped), it can really spark the imagination!

Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!

Serving

When you next make this, why not get your child to decorate the table with a pink or purple theme to reflect the beetroot in the meal, or come up with a funny name for the burgers to share their involvement with everyone.

Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.

Jethro Carr

Chef Jethro Carr is a Community Cookery Leader at the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership’s Community Kitchen & runs the pop up cookery school Kitchen Academy. He has a simple and friendly approach to exploring global cuisines and enjoys cooking with recipes that are down-to-earth and fun. He has taught in schools, universities, festivals and events nationwide. Teaching people young and old to cook, he performs cookery demonstrations, master classes, workshops, gastronomic experiments and corporate team-building events.

bhfood.org.uk/

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