Have some leftover rice? Great! Let’s make patties :). Patties are a great way to use leftover anything: rice, couscous, vegetables: chop together with an egg, spice it up and enjoy your own homemade brilliant burger.

In fact, I always make sure I make too much rice for one day just so I can make patties (or nasi goreng: fried rice, but that’s for another time) the next.

The recipe is simple and it changes a bit every time so as always I invite you to work with whatever you have lying around.

In this batch, I had about one half to one cup of brown (wholegrain) rice from the day before. I added about a tablespoon of sunflower seeds (could be replaced with the same amount of cooked beans, lentils or chickpeas), one clove of garlic and a handful of stinging nettles (this could also be spinach or kale or almost any other veggie, actually), blanched for one minute then tumbled dry.

I chopped everything in my little electrical herb chopper. It made for a kind of half sticky, half loose dough.

In a new bowl, I added one egg to the mixture plus some pepper, salt and ras el hanout, which contains cumin, coriander and paprika, and that I think is a golden combo for patties because it gives a ‘meaty’ experience (without the part where an animal actually dies).

The mixture should taste rather strong, at least I like the rustic burger quality that will give to your plate. Adding a bit of miso also helps with enhancing those flavors!

Be wise with tasting though; there still is raw egg inside.

Now divide the mixture in even parts, heat some oil and fry the patties like you would any other burger.

These are great, I have always had raving reviews about them. Vegetarians, meat lovers and kids will love them alike, I swear! Just remember what I said about that spice combo, I think that really does the trick ;).