This recipe began life as one of those ‘throw it all together and see if it works’ ideas, but my daughter Imogen loved them so much, she insisted that I make them again… and write down the recipe this time ;-).

A Thermomix makes this recipe really easy, but if you don’t have one, scroll down for non-Thermomix instructions.

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, sliced 5 mm thick
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 clove garlic
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
250 g mushrooms
1 bunch kale (I used Tuscan), leaves stripped off stems
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
1/2 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cups cooked chick peas

Method:

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Arrange eggplant slices on an oven tray lined with baking paper, and bake for 20 minutes. Flip slices and bake for another 5 minutes.

Thermomix instructions

Place rolled oats in Thermomix bowl, and chop at speed 5 for 3 seconds or until they form a coarse meal. Set aside.

Blitz garlic and ginger on speed 7 for 3 seconds. Add spices and a splash of water, and cook at 100ºC for 2 minutes on speed 1.

Add kale leaves to Thermomix bowl and chop on speed 7 for 6 seconds. Add mushrooms and chop on speed 5 for 3 seconds. Add sun-dried tomatoes and cook at 100ºC for 8 minutes on speed 1.

Add baked eggplant slices, walnuts, chick peas and rolled oats and process for 8-10 seconds on speed 8, using the spatula to ensure ingredients are evenly mixed but not completely homogenised.

Non-Thermomix instructions:

Pulse rolled oats in food processor bowl until they form a coarse meal. Set aside.

Mince garlic and ginger. Shred kale finely and slice mushrooms 5 mm thick. Roughly chop sun-dried tomatoes.

Place a heavy-based frying pan on a hotplate or burner on high heat until it reaches the ‘mercury ball’ stage i.e. a drop of water flicked into the pan rolls around the pan like a mercury ball before evaporating. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté vigorously for 30 seconds. Add spices and stir for a few seconds. Add kale, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, turn heat down to medium, cover the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes or until kale is tender.

Transfer vegetable mixture to food processor and add baked eggplant slices, walnuts, chick peas and rolled oats. Pulse until ingredients are evenly mixed but not homogenised.

Form mixture into patties (8-12 depending on preferred size) and place on baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake at 200ºC for 20 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

We served ours on wholemeal buns, with beetroot slices (just bake whole beetroots in their skins for 40 minutes or until they’re really soft, then pull off the skin and slice), pineapple rings, capsicum rings, baby spinach, baby leaf mix, avocado and cucumber. We pile it all on a platter and let everyone build their own burger.

What’s a burger without fries? Sweet potato fries are really simple: just peel sweet potatoes, cut in fry shapes and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with onion and garlic powder, paprika, nutritional yeast, sumac or any other spice you enjoy, and bake at 200ºC for 20 minutes then flip over and bake for another 10-15 minutes.