Thyme & Cumin Veg Burger With Creamy Lime Avocado Sauce

Living as a vegetarian in this country is crazy EASY!!!!! We are so fortunate to have very many fresh ingredients and a ton of pulses that can be cooked in many different ways. Being vegetarian is not complicated or special- it simply means one does not eat meat. That means you can very readily enjoy a majority or Kenyan meals without slashing out plenty from our everyday meals. You will still enjoy your bhajia, viazi karai, ndengu, chapati, egg curry, githeri, bean stews, ugali, all our amazing traditional mbogas, biringanya, seasonal fruits, rice dishes, faluda, vibibi, vitumbua, mandazi, viazi vya rojo, njahi….the list is literally endless! We surely do live in the best country on earth!!

I love meat but I do not hesitate cutting it out from my dies once in a while because I still know I will eat delicious meals with all the amazing produce we have. I love meaty burgers but veg burgers are equally as delicious! My veg burger, whose patty was made with njahi and mushroom- and with the rich flavors of thyme and cumin was one for the books!

The video was crazy fun to film, and I know you will enjoy watching it too:

PREP TIME: 15 MIN COOK TIME: 15MIN SERVES: 2

Ingredients

For the patty

1 cup of boiled amana njahi

2 cups of button mushrooms

1/2 a cup of dania sptems

1 red onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic

Fresh dania

For the dip

1 /2 an avocado

1 freshly squeezed lime

Fresh dania

3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt

A dash of salt and pepper

For assembling

2 buns

Fresh tomatoes

Fresh lettuce

Method

Boil your njahi prior to this. For that, I chose to boil mine with some cumin so that flavor develops some depth. This flavor will also lend to the patty itself. Make sure they boil until they are super duper soft, and soaking them the night before cuts down this time by alot.

Once done, set aside a cup.

On a pan, add the red onion, dania stems and garlic. Sautee until fragrant, then add the mushrooms and the spices. Sautee until the mushrooms are cooked, browned and caramelized. You see how gorgeous they look? The brown color of the caramelization contributes to the brown color of the patty so it is super important that you get the brown going. I went with button mushrooms, which are readily available and each punnet costs about 190 bob.

In a separate bowl, mix the pre boiled cumin infused Amana njahi, the caramelizes mushrooms and roughly chopped dania, then pop everything in your food processor or blender and blitz until chunky. Make sure you run until they are chunky and not soupy and watery so that you are able to mould them into your patties. Njahi can also be made into ‘veg balls’ and with a perfect recipe, they are actually very delicious!! They are indeed very versatile and can be cooked in different ways besides just stews.

Incase you need a visual guide on how I moulded my patties, watch my YouTube video.

This should take less than a minute. Shape them into your patties, then pan fry them. Add some cheese over the top during the last few minutes then proceed to assemble.

For the dip: Pop all the ingredients into a blender, and let everything run until nice and creamy. Set aside. It is the same dip I made for my bean taco and I also thoroughly enjoy having it with my fish tacos. It is very easy to make but the flavor is so explosive! I took you through how to make this as well in my video for today.

Inakaa poa, sindio?

For assembling: Slice your buns (make sure you always use soft, fresh ones), spread the creamy dip, place the patty, some fresh tomatoes, lettuce, more creamy dip, then the top bun.

I know you guys know I never let you down when it comes to food, and when I tell you something is delicious, trust me it always is!! I thought my burger would taste ok, but it actually tasted FREAKIN’ FANTASTIC!!! If you follow me on Instagram, you watched me devour it on stories and the ecstasy was real! Everything came together so well, all the flavors complimented each other to perfection and so happy my veg burger was as filling as it was super delicious!!

Anything and everything in this world can be made delicious! And my njahi burger is not different. Ready for a real party on your taste buds? Then this beauty will give you an adventure you will never forget!