Mushroom falafel burgers

Complete with a homemade special sauce, juicy mushroom and melted cheese this burger ticks all the boxes and is packed with veggies. Have the serviettes handy! #RecipeForLife

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• olive oil, for pan-frying
• 4 slices cheese
• 4 burger buns, split
• 4 baby gem lettuce leaves
• 1 ox-heart tomato, sliced
• sumac, to taste
• 1 Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced
• ½ small red onion, thinly sliced

Mushroom falafel burgers

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 250 g small mushrooms, sliced
• 1 bunch spring onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• pinch red Aleppo pepper
• 400 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• juice and finely grated zest of  lemon
• ¾ cup chopped parsley
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Special sauce

• 125 g Kewpie mayonnaise
• 100 g tomato sauce
• 40 g American mustard
• 60 g cornichons, finely diced
• 2 tbsp drained yoghurt

Chilling time: 30 minutes

Instructions

For the burgers, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, season to taste and cook for 3-4 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add the spring onion, garlic and spices and cook for a few minutes or until fragrant. Remove from the heat and transfer to a food processor. Drain the soaked chickpeas and add to the blender with the chia seeds, lemon juice, zest and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and process until well combined. Divide the mixture into 4 and shape into patties, about 1 cm thick. Place on a baking paper-lined tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the special sauce, mix all the ingredients together and adjust the seasoning if desired. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook the burgers patties for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden. Top each burger with a slice of cheese, remove from the heat, then cover the pan with a lid or foil and stand until just melted.

Meanwhile, toast or grill the burger buns. Spread the bases with a good dollop of special sauce. Top with the lettuce and tomato. Sprinkle a little sumac, salt and pepper over the tomato, then top with the cucumber, onion and another dollop of special sauce. Place the lids on top and serve immediately. 

Shane Delia's Recipe For Life airs 8pm, Thursdays on SBS and then on SBS On Demand. You can find the recipes and more features from the show here. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.