My husband is not a veggie burger guy, but he loves these. The trick is to make sure the patties have
texture by not processing the cashews or mushrooms too much. These hold together pretty well, but are best served contained inside a bun, as a mini burger. If you like, you can prepare this recipe up to 24 hours ahead and then cook up the patties right before serving.
Yields 12 small patties.
ingredients
directions
In a large bowl, mix the chia seeds with 2 tablespoons of water, the tamari, honey, nutritional yeast, and thyme. Set aside to allow to gel for 10 minutes.
Sauté the onion and garlic with the salt in 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat until translucent, stirring occasionally.
While keeping an eye on the onion and garlic, in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, blitz the cashews until just chopped into small pieces. Pour on top of the chia mixture.
Put the mushrooms and parsley in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Be sure not to process them so much that they become pureed. You want some texture. Add to the bowl on top of the cashews, and add the bread crumbs as well.
Spoon the cooked onion and garlic into the bowl with everything else, and stir until well mixed.
Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour.
To make uniform-size patties, use a small ice cream scoop to measure out balls of the cashew-mushroom mixture into your hand, then form each into a small disk shape that will fit your slider buns. You can do this one by one, putting them straight into the pan, or form all twelve patties first, laying them out on a plate ready to be cooked.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties for approximately 4 minutes on each side, flipping carefully and keeping watch that they don’t burn. If the pan becomes too hot, turn the heat down as necessary.
Serve in a slider bun with your favorite burger toppings. We enjoy ours best with mayo, lettuce, and tomato, and sometimes, to fancy them up, with pickled red onions or chutney.