On 10 Sep 2004 09:40:49 -0700, (Ross Clement)
wrote:

>dave@ .com wrote in message >...
>> For any of you in the UK, I recently discovered xanthan gum in Tesco's
>> organic food section. It is vegan (a very fine powder - made from
>> fermented cabbage) and commonly used as a thickener in sauces and
>> dessets etc.
>>
>> I did some experimenting last night, and for the first time ever, made
>> a bean burger that bound together while it fried.
>>
>> Dave
>
>Please can you post the full recipe you used.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Ross-c

Hi,

Actually I didn't use any special recipe- I just squashed half a tin
of (drained) chick peas and half a tin of (drained) butter beans
together by hand, together with a chopped onion, garlic puree, a blob
of mustard and then mixed in the following powder:

A good teaspoon each of: vegetable stock powder, curry powder and
xanthan gum powder with a big sprinkling of ground black pepper.

After kneading the whole lot together, it thickened into a nice dough.

I found the best way to fry it was to keep the oil on quite a low heat
and add the mix as single balls, keeping it moving as it cooked. After
a while it could be pressed down lightly to form the burger shape.

It still has a tendancy to stick to the pan but not as much as the dry
packet burger mixes do. I suspect it would cook well if it were
lightly covered in oil and roasted in the oven

On another occasion I also added breadcrumbs, ground oats and kidney
beans which also worked quite well.

The xanthan gum is sold as a gluten alternative, trademarked
"bodyline" and I've just found a url on the jar - www.mhfoods.net
- along with a gluten free bread recipe.

I found this stuff in the gluten free/organic section of our local
Tesco and had left it in the cupboard for a few weeks before
re-discovering it and experimenting the other night. Just checked
again today and they are still selling it.

Dave