Vegan burger with aubergine bacon and cashew cheese

INGREDIENTS (2 large burgers):

Burger ingredients:

• 200g frozen soy mince (meat free mince)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
• 1 tsp BBQ seasoning
• 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup gram flour

Aubergine bacon ingredients:

• Aubergine
• Smoked paprika powder
• Garlic powder
• BBQ seasoning
• Salt

Cashew cheese ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cashew nuts
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tso extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Other ingredients:

• Ketchup
• 2 buns
• Salad

METHOD:

Chop up an onion finely and fry in some oil together with the soy mince. Add all other ingredients apart from the gram flour and cook for about 5-10 minutes.

Then put the mixture into a bowl and add 1/2 cup of gram flour to it. Mix together well until you get a sticky 'batter'. Form patties (they shouldn't be too thick, otherwise the inside doesn't cook properly) and fry in a griddle pan until the are browned on both sides (same as meat basically).

Take an aubergine and cut it into thin bacon-size slices. Season the slices on both sides with smoked paprika powder, BBQ seasoning, garlic powder and salt and fry in oil until they are slightly crisp (unfortunately you will need quite a bit of oil, aubergines are almost thirsty for it). When done put them on a sheet of kitchen towel to get rid of some of the oil.

For the cashew cheese put all cashew cheese ingredients into a smoothie blender and blend until you get a nice smooth cheese sauce.

To assemble cut a bun into half, add salad at the bottom, then the meaty patties, ketchup, followed by aubergine bacon, the cashew cheese sauce and a few sliced tomatoes on top. Enjoy!