baked samosa burgers

Samosas go burgers

Baked samosa burgers are full of the yumminess you’d expect from the original appetizers all wrapped up in a healthy, plant-based burger. We’ve even got an easy, spicy coriander-mint sauce to top them off.  Who needs take out?

Samosa inspired

The ingredients and resulting flavor for this dish are inspired by those yummy samosas that starts many an Indian meal. In coming up with this recipe, I wanted to recreate the flavor profile of the filling and spices while dispensing with the fried outer shell.

The mission

Veggie samosas generally have a filling of some combination of potatoes, peas, onions and cauliflower. Carrot adds sweetness and texture. Coriander because it’s the perfect herb to pull it all together.

The spices

Spices are important for Indian-inspired dishes and these burgers are no exception. Fortunately, there isn’t a long list for this one. We’ll just use curry and onion powder with a pinch of cayenne to add some heat. Feel free to use more if you like it hot.

Oats, beyond breakfast

Burger binders include everything from seitan to flour (including chickpea flour) to oats. The trick is finding something that serves its purpose without commandeering all the flavor. Ground oats are a great option because they have a mild taste. You also don’t need to use so much that you lose the texture and color of the vegetables you add.

The ties that bind

If you’ve experimented with veggie burgers (and even if you haven’t) they all follow a similar formula: veggies, sometimes a grain or legume and a binder to hold them together.

Check out a few prepared veggie burgers and you’ll probably notice that they contain a lot of undesirable ingredients. Added oil, preservatives and gluten if that’s something you avoid. What I notice is a lot of empty calories. I like to save my calories for something tasty.  

The great top off

Coriander-mint sauce is a standard samosa dipper and I highly recommend it with baked samosa burgers. I created a quick blend of fresh coriander and mint, lemon juice, ginger and garlic. The spicy sweetness comes from jalapeno and agave syrup thrown in the blender.

If you aren’t a coriander person, create a straight mint sauce. You may want to add a cup of spinach to bulk it out a bit and so it isn’t too overpowering – unless you like the super mint thing. This is another great place for tomato chutney, so give that a whirl if you don’t already have it stockpiled in the fridge.

Flavor first

Before I became plant based, I wasn’t motivated to be creative on the burger front. When I stopped centering everything around one main ingredient (meat), I was both challenged and excited to see what I could come up with.  It wasn’t exactly turning burger making on its head, but rather coming at it from multiple directions. New perspectives if you will. I could take inspiration from a certain flavor profile, ingredient or spice and build from there.

Final thoughts

A funny thing happens when your perspective gets tilted. Initially, there is a bit of loss for the foundation you relied on. In some cases, that foundation also served as a barrier. Once it’s gone or you reach past it or break through it, it’s all wide open. You have the opportunity for multiple perspectives. It’s the cycle of opportunities, perspectives, approaches and actions. Peace.

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