Last week I was spoilt with a delicious fully raw lunch at my very talented and lovely friends house, Hadeel. I am lucky to have another friend on the compound here who loves spreading the raw food love as much as I do.

She made me this lunch and I left feeling very inspired as I often get into a raw food rut of smoothies, juices and fresh fruit on the go. Even thought there is a little prep time involved in making these burgers, you can make a whole batch of them and save them in the fridge for up to a week later.

Hadeel didn’t own a dehydrator so she gently baked these in her oven on the lowest setting, but if you don’t have a big problem with them not being raw then just bake and eat whilst warm.

Hadeel did serve these gently warmed (which really made them) so if you have made them in advance, try and warm them in your dehydrator or in an oven for a couple of minutes before serving.

I know these burgers were based on Matt Amsden’s Big Matt burgers which I don’t have the recipe but I tried to remember off the top of my head what Hadeel had made these with and this is what I came up with.

I hope you love them as much as we did!

Recipe | Raw Mushroon Not Burgers

Ingredients:

Makes approximately 16 burgers

- 1 cup raw almonds soaked overnight and rinsed (you could also use nut meal from making nut milk)

- 1 cup raw walnuts soaked overnight and rinsed

- 1 cup raw sunflower seeds overnight and rinsed

- 3 cups mushrooms (portobellos are best but I used chestnut)

- 1 white onion, chopped

- 3 sticks of celery, chopped

- 1/3 cup of lightly packed parsley

- 5 cloves garlic

- 1/3 cup olive oil

- 1 tablespoon cumin powder

- 1/3 cup of tamari/nama shoyu/wheat free soy 

- 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until they form a chunky paste or pate. Believe me this mixture tastes pretty damn tasty.

DEHYDRATOR METHOD

Form into burger type shapes on Teflex sheets. I used a 8cm ring that I use for plating up salads etc. You could use egg rings or just your hands to make it more rustic. I made about 16 burgers and 2 mini burgers for tasting.

Dehydrate at 110’ for 4 hours or until they remove easily off the Teflex sheet, then place onto mesh sheets, and dehydrate for another 8-10 hours or until desired texture. I like a bit of crunch but a little moist inside. And they will go darker as they dry out.

OVEN METHOD

Form into burger type shapes on baking sheet/baking tray. I used a 8cm ring that I use for plating up salads etc. You could use egg rings or just your hands to make it more rustic. I made about 16 burgers and 2 mini burgers for tasting.

Bake on lowest oven setting (leave the door ajar if you really want to keep the temperature down to ensure less damage by heat) but understand each oven will take a different amount of time to get to desired texture. Just keep an eye on it.

To Serve:

You can serve on greens or use a lettuce leave as the bun,  and enjoy it with salad or as we did both times with delicious fresh made guacamole.

Variations:

You could also use this recipe to make meat balls to accompany raw zucchini noodles and marinara sauce.