Eco bean burgers

I wrote last term about how reducing the amount of meat you eat can reduce your carbon footprint, but the last place that you might want to consider going veggie is a barbie! The meat free options are usually limited to grilled vegetables (delicious, but not usually substantial enough for former carnivores) or cardboard textured soy burgers (downright unpleasant). But we eco warriors are out to change all that with this recipe for yummy bean burgers.

You need:

• 1 can kidney beans

• 1 can butter beans

• 1 can sweetcorn

• 1 onion

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 fresh red chilli

• 2tbsp vegetable oil

• 1tsp cumin seeds

• 1tsp dried oregano, thyme or mixed herbs

• 2tbsp flour

• Salt and pepper

• Some breadcrumbs (you can make these by sticking some old dry bread in a blender and pulsing until it resembles, well, breadcrumbs)

First, finely chop the onion, garlic and chilli and fry in the oil until the onion is soft. Tip into a big bowl and let it cool down a bit before you drain the beans and sweetcorn and add them to the bowl.

Now mash up the beans with your hands, mushing them together with your fingers until the start sticking together (you could do this with a fork, but don’t, ‘cos that’s boring). Some of them will stay whole but just bear in mind that they need to be mushy enough to go into a burger shape and stay there.

Add everything else except the breadcrumbs and mix before starting to make the mixture into fat discs and rolling in breadcrumbs. Make sure they’re packed tight together otherwise they’ll fall apart on the grill. Chill for as long as possible (you and the burgers both), because this makes them firm up and then stick them on the barbie until the outside is golden and crispy (or black and carcinogenic, depending on who’s doing the cooking). I like them in a roll with salad and hot salsa with potato wedges on the side. Yum. Now revel in your eco-ness.

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