Black bean burgers from hell and blackened tofu slabs

There aren't many things that are more awesome than veganism or heavy metal music, unless of course you combine them both into an online cooking show. Tim Hogarth has done this with his heavy metal vegan cooking website and youtube channel. The videos are really fun and the recipes are not too difficult to make. I've made the apple pie and black bean burgers so far.

Check out the video and recipe for the black bean burgers.

The only mildly difficult part about this recipe was cooking up the black beans, since I'm not willing to pay $5+ for a can of beans no matter how convenient it is. I buy my black beans, and most of my dried beans, from D'Souzas at Preston Market.

BLACKENED TOFU SLABS

Just when you think it can't get any cooler, I pull out a recipe from "vegan soul kitchen". Having experienced the "watermelon with basil sea salt" a few years ago while at a friend's place, and flicking through their copy, I knew that I needed to get it, and I finally did.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 kilo extra-firm tofu (I used the joyco nigari hard tofu that you can get from safeway), frozen, thawed, pressed and patted dry, cut into 3 even widthwise slices

Combine everything, except the tofu, in a small bowl and transfer to a large plate. Brush the tofu with  olive oil and dredge in seasoning. Fry until crisp (2-3 mins each side).


Typing up the recipe has made me realise that I actually put in too much cayenne, which explains its dominance, but that is the kind of dominance I don't mind.

Having made too much of the seasoning, I mixed it in with some margarine and used it as a sandwich spread. It's a keeper.