Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan. Rub the sweet potatoes with a little olive oil, season with salt and place on a baking tray. Bake for 1 hour, until the skin is crisp and the middle is soft.
Add the red onion to a small bowl, add the juice of the limes and scrunch with your hands to pickle.
Add the spices to a dry pan over a medium-high heat. Toast for a minute, until fragrant, then tip into a mini chopper. Drain the black beans, then add them to the chopper and blitz. Soak the chia seeds in 3 tbsp water for 10 mins.
Once the potatoes have cooked, remove from the oven, slice in half and carefully scoop the flesh into a bowl. Add the black bean mix and stir well, add the chia seed gel, season and mix, then shape into 4 -6 burgers (you can always freeze two!). Set aside in the fridge/freezer to chill.
Take the skins and cut into strips. Mix the soy, agave and liquid smoke together, brush the skins with the mixture, place on a baking sheet and back for 5 – 10 mins, until crispy- set aside. Mix the ketchup and mayo together to make the burger sauce.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a pan over a medium-high heat, add the burgers and fry for 3-4 mins on one side, then flip, top with the vegan cheese and fry for 3 mins further.
Pile the burgers up, spreading the burger sauce on the base, then the burgers- topping them with the crispy skin ‘bacon’, sliced tomatoes, pickled onion, pickled jalapenos, shredded lettuce and more burger sauce.
Max La Manna is a low-waste chef, presenter and award-winning author. His latest cookbook, You Can Cook This! will be released in Spring 2023. You can pre-order a copy here. For more inspiring, waste-minimising recipes from Max, follow him on Instagram @maxlamanna and Tik Tok @maxlamanna.
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