Jono & Jules do food & wine

We’ve been meaning to try veggie burgers on the barbecue for a while now. These sweet potato and black bean ones have lots of spice and cooking the sweet potatoes in the coals gives them a great smoky flavour. These take a while to prepare and you do need a charcoal barbecue. And while they’re a lot softer than a traditional burger the flavours still make it a good choice if you feel like something different or if you don’t like meat.

Sweet potato and black bean burgers – serves 6

• 2 large sweet potatoes (600g in total)
• 2 x 400g tins black beans, drained and rinsed
• 75g panko breadcrumbs
• 80g roasted cashew nuts, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp hot smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

FOR THE CHIPOTLE LIME MAYO

• 140g mayonnaise
• 30g chipotle chillies in adobo sauce, finely chopped
• juice of ½ a lime

TO SERVE

• 6 burger buns
• 6 slices of cheddar or Gruyère cheese
• 2 avocados
• pickled jalapeno chillies
• lettuce

You need a charcoal barbecue for this. Wait until the embers have turned white, then wrap the potatoes in tin foil and nestle them into the coals. Cook for about 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until soft.

Tip the black beans into a large bowl and roughly mash with a fork.

When the potatoes are cooked, unwrap them and leave them to cool slightly. Then scoop out the insides and add to the black beans. Add the breadcrumbs, cashew nuts, spices and some salt and pepper. Mix well, then divide into 6 burgers. Put onto a tray, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to firm them up.

Heat the barbecue up again and mix all of the mayo ingredients together and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large cast-iron frying pan on the barbecue. Add the burgers and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. When you turn them over, toast the burger buns and set aside. Lay the cheese slices on top of the burgers, add a little water to the pan and cover with a lid – the steam helps to melt the cheese.

Spread some mayo on the bottom half of the toasted buns. Add a burger, some avocado and a few jalapaenos. Serve with some lettuce or salad leaves on the side.

(Original recipe from Outdoor Cooking by Tom Kerridge, Bloomsbury Absolute, 2021.)