Firstly I'd like to say a big whopping Hi to all you Steemitarians! I'm Marc and together with my wife Silvia we cook and prepare plant based recipes! Plant based means Vegan, but we're not that kind of vegan that forces you to comply or die! We simply want to give as many people as possible the option to make some nice and always easy to prepare dishes.

This is our very first recipe on Steemit and we're really excited to have found a platform where we can expand our outreach. Our main mission might surprise a few, but we're really here to "help and save". We've been on Instagram for 4 years and we have a small FB following I just started. It's always the same motto Help and Save. That means we show others how to eat healthy plant based food and in doing so, we help both our followers and each dish you make, less animals end up on a plate, which is the save part :). As we go along I shall be explaining more about ourselves, but right now I just wanted to say hi and thanks for the opportunity. So without further a do, the following recipe is something I designed just a few days ago and I was very surprised with the excellent flavour. Our recipes are always simple, so if you like what you see, maybe you would like to bookmark us or even give us a follow.

JUMBO BLACK BEAN, CILANTRO, BEETROOT BURGER

https://s29.postimg.org/o7jzn90tj/bean-beetroot-burger.jpg

I really never thought that a plant based vegan burger could even come close to a real meat burger and I know many people still have that mindset. Being vegan doesn't mean I can't remember what a meat burger tastes like, I mean, I literally lived of fast food for a zillion years! I LOVED MEAT BURGERS!!!

However as a food junkie, I can happily say for me, that times have changed! As I became a Vegan I literally remember going to McDonalds the day before I committed to a plant based lifestyle and eating 2 burgers, thinking that I would probably never be able to eat a real burger again.

4 years later, I can tell you, we have 100% meat tasting burgers that even have blood dripping out of them!!! But I can also tell you, the 'beef' burger (vegan or not) is boring compared to the new plant based options. The evolution of burgers has changed so much the last year or 2, that in my honest and unbiased opinion, plant based burgers really rock!

Ingredients:

1/2 white onion
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 half red bell pepper
4 oz/120 gr/0.25 pounds tinned sweet corn
14 oz/400 gr/ 0.8 pounds boiled black beans
(if canned, make sure you drain them extremely well. You’ll get better results if you boil dried beans)
A bunch fresh cilantro
1 cup ground oats (make sure you have a bit more just in case) can be substituted with flax meal
8 big portobello mushrooms the size of a burger bun
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 Big tomato
1 Zucchini
4 Slices vegan cheese (optional)
lettuce
1/2 red onion
burrito spices
ketchup at taste

Directions

For the burger: Finely chop half a white onion and fry in a shallow pan with 2 spoons of olive oil for a few minutes till golden.
Finely chop both the green and the red bell peppers and add to pan and gently fry for another 7-8 minutes.
In the meanwhile chop the cilantro in to small bits.
Now add the pre-boiled and drained black beans to your pan and mash them with a fork. Stir well together with the peppers and onions and add in any burrito spices you have on hand. Add in the cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. I usually make it a little stronger because when adding the next step, the oats take away a bit of the flavor.
Add just half the oats or flax meal at first, then add little by little if needed. You want to make a dough like mixture that is stiff enough to form the patties. This is usually going to vary depending on the consistency of the beans.
Now you have your mixture right, take some baking paper, pour the rest of your oats or flax meal on it and form the patties. Place the patties on to a tray and let rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour. You can just go ahead and make the burgers right away but chances are that they’ll break, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. With that said, if you’re short on time or just so darn hungry, place them in the freezer for 30 minutes and prepare a side dish to accompany this dish, such as the oven sweet potato yams, which are absolutely yammalicious!
Once the patties have had time to rest and hardened a little, place them in a non-stick pan adding just 2 spoons of olive or coconut oil.
Let your awesome looking burgers sizzle for a few minutes on each side. One trick I like to do is make sure that the heat is turned up when placing the patties in the pan. Then after just a minute or so I turn the heat down. That way the burger becomes even stronger.
Whilst your bean burgers are sizzling nice and gently in the background, it’s time to prepare your portobello mushrooms. Start by removing the stems. Place the heads in another pan, again with just 2 spoons of oil and very gently warm. Don’t cook for too long otherwise you’ll end up with a burger you can’t actually hold.
All that’s left now is to prepare your toppings. Cut the zucchini in to long slices. Slice your purple onions and tomatoes. Grill for a few moments in the pan again with little to no oil.

Last but not least, I can't emphasize how much we like to help. That means, it's clear that here on Steemit, we're not going to be surrounded by plant based vegans. But even on our Instagram, we help mainly people who just want to eat a plant based meal and nothing more. So if you do have any questions about preparing your dish, let us know with a comment.

So that's it, that was our first post, I just wanted to get 1 out and do it. We have thousands more posts to come so stay tuned. Thanks for your time

Marc & Silvia xoxo