Ingredients
- 2 About 2 cups of blanched and tightly squeezed out dark green leafy vegetables - about 6-7 cups of washed greens. Use at least half strong flavored greens such as arugula (rucola/rocket), cress, shungi
- 450 g / 1 lb firm tofu, drained
- 120 g / 4 oz. fresh mushrooms (you can use one type of mushroom, or a mix, whatever you have), finely chopped
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 Tbs. dry breadcrumbs
- 1 Tbs. finely chopped rosemary leaves
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. salt
- several grinds of black pepper
- olive oil
Preparation
Step 1
To prepare the greens: Cook the greens in boiling water for a couple of minutes until they are limp. Thicker leaves might have to go in first, then thinner leaves. Drain then plunge the greens in cold water. Drain, and gather up the greens into clumps and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Chop up fairly finely.
To prepare the tofu: If you have a big thick block, slice it in half lengthwise. Put on a microwave safe plate and microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes. Drain in a sieve, then wrap up in paper towels to draw off excess moisture. Alternatively if you don’t have a microwave oven, boil the tofu for about 3 minutes, drain well, then put into a sieve. Put a weight on top such as a bowl full of water, and let drain for about 10 minutes. Draining the tofu well is the key to having a burger mixture that is not too watery to hold together. (This holds true for any tofu-based mixture like this.)
Sauté the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until the onion is limp and transparent. Add the mushrooms, and continue cooking until the mushrooms are fairly dry and there are no puddles of moisture around. Add the chopped up greens and sauté briefly for a couple of minutes.
Put all the ingredients except the olive oil into a bowl, and mix very well with your hands, until the mixture is almost paste-like rather than crumbly. If it seems too wet to you add a bit more breadcrumbs and mix well again.
Heat up a non-stick frying pan or griddle and add a little olive oil. Form the burger mixture into small patties (put a little oil on your hands if the mixture sticks too much), and panfry with medium-high heat on both sides until golden brown. You can eat the burgers plain, or with a sauce - ketchup is fine!