Never Buy Hamburger Buns Again!

Part I: Burgers!

To me, summertime equals firing up the grill, a nice cold summer beer (your favorite lager mixed with lemonade – a delicious invention by my twin sister), and eating on the patio. When most people decide to grill out, they turn to burgers or hot dogs; vegans are no exception. I was recently in the mood for a veggie burger and decided to use chickpeas as the base. After searching around on the Internet, I remembered a recipe recently posted on one of my favorite blogs, (never home) maker. I stuck with the recipe, found here, except for the fact that I used a jalapeno pepper instead of a green chili pepper (in my mind, they’re all the same = hot!). I ended up making about 8 smaller burgers. Due to lack of charcoal I did bake these, but I’m sure they’d be equally good grilled up outside.

I served the burgers with French Potato Salad and a summer beer. I was excited to find a recipe for potato salad that didn’t call for vegan mayo (which I love, but can’t find anywhere in my town). The recipe was okay, but could probably use some tweaking – including cutting down on the oil to maybe 1/4 cup.

Part II: Homemade Hamburger Buns!

I’m not a big fan of those dry, crumbly hamburger buns you buy in eight-packs at the store. They’re pretty tasteless and you always have some left over. I love homemade bread and we would usually buy delicious little buns from a local grocery store. Unfortunately, they recently closed down and I’ve been hunting for the perfect burger bun ever since. But then I decided to try making my own … which was the best idea I’ve had in a long time! This recipe was so easy and quick to prepare and left the kitchen smelling amazing. I was very happy with how they turned out; Will thought they were a little heavy. I may need to adjust the amount of kneading when I make these again. The recipe can be found here. To veganize these buns, I used a flax “egg”. To equal one egg, just beat (with a wire whisk) 3 Tbsp. water into 2 1/2 Tbsp. ground flax seed. The mixture will get really gelatinous and makes for an excellent egg replacer in baked goods (plus, you know, omega 3 fatty acids and all those healthy benefits).

Advertisement