Indian-style vegetarian burgers, plus a carrot side salad

Yesterday I made Indian-style vegetarian burgers again, this time with a curry paste spice mix and 1:1  chickpeas to (what my supermaket calls) 'mixed beans and pulses' (this includes black eyed beans, soy beans, kidney beans etc). They turned out quite well, the beans made them a little softer than my other veggie burgers.

Indian spice veggie burgers
Ingredients (for 8 small burgers or 4 persons)
an inch-long piece of root ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp garam masala (an Indian spice mix)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground, dried coriander
2 tsp whole yellow mustard seeds
1/2 - 1 red chili
the stalks of a 40g bunch of fresh coriander (you use the leaves for the side salad - see below)
a 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
a 400g tin of 'mixed beans and pulses' (or just some beans you particularly like - I'd suggest mellow-flavoured ones though, like kidney beans -- black beans are probably a little too strong in flavour and colour)
1 egg
flour for dusting

sunflower oil


Chop up the coriander stalks, ginger and garlic very finely. Add these to the spices and pour in about 2 tsp of the sunflower oil. Make a curry paste out of the mixture, either by whizzing it in a food processor or by using a pestle and mortar. (If you're extra keen you can first heat the dry spices in a dry frying pan to release the flavour...)

Put the curry mixture in a large bowl and put aside. Now, ground up the chickpeas and beans in either a food processor or using the pestle and mortar. Do it in batches if you're not sure it will fit. Now, add the ground up chickpea-bean mixture to the bowl with the curry. Add an egg. Form 8 small patties out of the mixture, dust these with flour and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Heat up about 4 tbsp of the sunflower oil in a frying pan and fry 4 of the patties for about 6 minutes (3 on each side) or until golden brown and hot. Repeat for the other 4 patties. Serve with chunky chips and a fresh side salad like the one below.

As a side dish I made the following.

Indian-style carrot side salad
Ingredients
4 large carrots
peel and juice of half a lemon
olive oil
the leaves of a 40g bunch of fresh coriander
40 grams of shaved almonds

Heat a dry frying pan and add the almonds, shaking continuously so that the almonds don't burn but just turn a nice golden brown. Grate the carrots very finely. Add the coriander leaves and lemon peel. Make a dressing 1:1 of lemon juice and olive oil and dress the salad with that. Scatter over the almonds. Enjoy with the veggie burgers (alternatively, this is a nice fresh side dish to go with a curry).