These veggie burgers can be made with almost all vegetables you have in your fridge.
The only thing you have to be cautious about is to drain well the vegetables which have a lot of water content, such as the zucchini (courgettes) or the tomatoes.
I used eggplants (aubergines) which I had in the deep freezer. When they were cheap I bought some from the farmers’ market in Nafplion and after eating what we needed, I fried the remaining and stored them, four in each zip lock bag, in the freezer.
This way they can be preserved for a very long time and can be used in many recipes. All you need to do is to thaw them. However, in this case, it’s not even necessary to thaw them as you can easily chop them while they are frozen.
Instead of making burgers, if you want them smaller you can make smaller fritters by shaping them or just dropping a spoonful of the mixture directly into the frying pan.
If you want to avoid frying them, you can line a baking tin with parchment paper, shape as you like and bake them until golden.
They can be served as an appetizer, a side dish or a main dish with a salad.
I served them with a Greek Salad, in which I added a different variety of small olives called Koroneiki, which are very delicious, different colours of bell peppers and coriander.
Instead of the usual feta, I added buffalo cheese, which is similar to feta but made with buffalo milk.
You can find the olives and buffalo cheese in the Mediterranean Diet Store, on 1 Sophocleous Street, Athens, Telephone 210 3234512.
Greek Veggie Burgers
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes: 16 – 20
Ingredients:
- 4 “tsakonikes” eggplants (Japanese type) cut in half , fried and coarsely chopped
- 1 large tomato, finely chopped and drained (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup grated and well drained (about 7 small) zucchini (courgettes)
- Salt (about ½ tsp)
- 4 grated carrots (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup different colours (about ½ of each of 3 bell peppers) , coarsely chopped
- 4 green onions, white and part of green leaves, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 clove (about 1 tsp) mashed roasted garlic
- ¼ cup dill, finely chopped
- ½ cup fresh mint, finely chopped
- ¾ cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp salt
- Freshly grated black pepper
- 110 grams fine semolina
- 185 grams all-purpose flour
- 130 grams feta
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 eggs
- Olive oil, for frying
Directions:
- Cut the eggplants lengthwise and fry on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper and then cut them into smaller pieces.
- Grate the zucchini (courgettes), put them in a colander and sprinkle with salt. After ten minutes squeeze all the water out.
- Finely chop the tomato and drain.
- Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and using your hand mix well.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before frying. They can be left in the fridge for at least one day.
- Heat the olive oil on high heat. Form the vegetable burgers. Fry on first side until golden and then turn them over. Remove them on kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.
You can serve these Burgers as an appetizer with the Cream Cheese Dip, or as a side dish or as a main dish with a Greek Salad. We had leftovers and ate them the next day and they were even more delicious!
Cream cheese Dip for eggplant fritters
Preparation time: 5 minutes Ingredients:
- 100 ml Greek yoghurt
- 100 ml mayonnaise
- 200 ml cream cheese
- 2 tbsp dill, finely chopped
- ½ cup cucumber, grated and water squeezed out
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
Salt ½ tsp hot chili pepper flakes (or add red sweet chili flakes) Directions:
- Put the first three ingredients in a bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk until incorporated.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix.
- Taste and adjust to your liking.
You can find many more Greek recipes in my cookbook “More Than A Greek Salad”, or in the shorter version “More Than A Greek Salad Just The Cookbook” and “Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water, Flavours of Cyprus, Kopiaste!” both available on all Amazon stores.
Other relevant recipes:
Ntomatokeftedes (Tomato Patties)
Kolokythokeftedes (Zucchini / Courgette burgers)
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Malar
Thursday 18th of June 2015
eating burger is very enjoyable, especially eating vegan burger is chance less and amazing. it is mouth watering while seeing this images.
Carole from Carole's Chatter
Friday 6th of March 2015
Thanks for bringing this over. Now on my shortlist for a feature. Cheers from Carole's chatter
Ivy
Friday 6th of March 2015
Thank you Carole.
Simona
Monday 6th of October 2014
What a nice combination.
Rosa
Sunday 5th of October 2014
Very tempting! Your burgers must taste wonderful. I'd love to taste them.
Cheers,
Rosa
Angie
Sunday 5th of October 2014
These veggie patties look fantastic, Ivy. I have never had eggplant fitters and they sound and look very tasty with cheese dip.