Ok – get yourself a cup of something, put up your feet and relax…and then read this loooooong blog entry!
I find frozen veggie burgers handy to have in but I have been looking for a good, trustworthy bean burger recipe to have also…and I think this is it. It is adapted from the chickpea cutlet recipe in The Veganomicon.
Bean burgers
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 cup mixed beans
3 tbsps olive oil
1 cup wheat gluten
1 cup wholemeal bread crumbs
1/2 cup veg stock
3 tbsps tamari soy sauce
3 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 tsp miso
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp smoked pimenton
1/2 tsp yeast extract
Salt and pepper
Mash the chickpeas, beans and oils with a fork until all the peas/beans are mashed but a few remain as lumps.
Add everything else and mix well.
Knead for 3 minutes.
Using a spoon or your hands form into about 14 burgers
Fry in some olive oil – about 8 minutes each side.
Sorry – no pictures!! They were delicious and my son has DEMANDED I make them again.
Now, we don’t often have over ripe bananas in the house but when we do, we used to make a banana bread (recipe from Nigella Lawson) and I have wanted to try to veganise it for a while – this is the result and it worked awesomely well….you wouldn’t know it was any different from the original.
Banana bread
100 grams sultanas
75 ml dark rum (or Bourbon)
175 grams plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
125 grams vegan marg (melted)
150 grams caster sugar
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt mixed with 2 tbsps cornflour (this replaces the eggs)
4 small very ripe bananas (mashed)
60 grams chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Put the sultanas and rum in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour or longer.
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest.
Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and combine well.
In a large bowl, mix the melted marg and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the yogurt/cornflour mix, then the mashed bananas.
Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnuts, sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, and stir well.
Scrape into a loaf tin (2lb) and bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1¼ hours.
When it’s ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish.
Leave in the tin on a rack to cool.

And if you still have some bananas needing used up – this recipe is adapted from River Cottage.
Banana fridge flapjacks
100g pitted dates
100g dried prunes
2 ripe or slightly over-ripe medium bananas, peeled
150g syrup – golden and maple worked well, or you could use agave
2 tablespoons coconut oil
325g medium porridge oats
100g raisins
100g unsulphured ready-to-eat dried apricots, finely chopped
100g mixed seeds – sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, hemp
Line a shallow baking tray, about 20 x 30cm, with baking parchment.
Put the dates, prunes, bananas, syrup and coconut oil in a food processor and blitz to a thick, fruit-flecked purée.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, raisins, chopped apricots and seeds.
Stir in the puréed fruit and mix well
Tip the fruity oat mixture into the prepared tin and gently press it out, getting it as even and level as you can.
Put the tray in the fridge for 2–3 hours to allow the flapjack to set, then turn out on to a board and slice into bars.
Keep in a plastic container in the fridge and eat within a week.

These bars are gorgeous and feel oh so virtuous too! My wife says they are good for the colon!
And finally – a restaurant. We got a babysitter last night and headed into Edinburgh to Yeni, http://www.yenirestaurant.com/ a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Meze restaurant. I had heard good things about it and the selection available for vegans and it did not disappoint.
The deal is you choose 3 – 4 items each and they come as and when they are ready. There was a good selection of items marked as suitable for vegans and I was spoilt for choice. The updated wine list will also highlight wines that are suitable for vegan also.
I had spinach filo rolls, baked aubergine (which was amazing!) spicy potatoes with a tomato sauce and baba ganoush; we had olives and flatbreads to share also.

AND they had some vegan dessert options – I went for the Turkish delight which went well with a coffee.

All in all, a really good meal and I heartily recommend a visit. We will be going back with the kids very soon.