Homemade Veggie Burgers

Summer is finally here (or is it Spring?), which means a major shift to social events centered around...a grill. Cookouts can be a little stressful (and also a little lonely) when you don't eat red meat. If I'm going to an outdoor party, I usually pray that the host has purchased some Boca burgers so I don't get stuck eating tomato slices and lettuce with mustard on top (much as I like that combo...no seriously). But though I enjoy the occasional Boca, I wanted to try out a veggie burger recipe to see if I could make something a little tastier and perhaps with less salt (which is high in most store-bought veggie burgers). I recently happened upon a black bean and beet veggie burger recipe and decided to try it, with a few tweaks here and there. And the result was a winner - great taste, lots of spice, and tons of protein and fiber, and almost no fat or sugar to speak of.



Lentil Black Bean Burgers

makes 3 burgers
adapted from http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/restaurant-reproductions/restaurant-reproduction-bestever-veggie-burgers-from-northstar-cafe-096967

1/4 cup brown rice
1 onion, diced small
1 cooked large red beet (about 1/2 pound), or 1/2 cup canned beets, mashed with a fork
1/2 cup diced mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs cider or red wine vinegar
1/2 cup black beans, presoaked
1/4 cup lentils
juice from 1/4 lemon
1/2 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
salt and pepper (to taste)

Add the lentils and presoaked beans and add them to a saucepan with a good amount of boiling water. Reduce the flame to low and simmer until tender, usually 20-25 minutes.

I really enjoy cooking with lentils because they afford all of the protein and fiber of beans but don't require an overnight soak, so I added them to this recipe. Note that neither is a complete protein (nor is rice). But I also kept in the black beans for flavor. I did the lentils and beans in separate pots but in retrospect I don't see why you couldn't do them together. You can also see advice on cooking with lentils here (I didn't know that older lentils take longer to cook!). Here are the lentils floating around in the water.




Add just over 1/2 cup water to a saucepan and add the rice. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. It's important to note that brown rice, with all of its fiber and whole grain goodness, takes longer to cook than white rice. However, if you make it a little underdone for these burgers, it actually adds some nice texture to the burgers.

While I waited, I ate an orange.


It was a really good orange. (Health link: does Vitamin C make your cold last less time?)

Next, heat the olive oil (or cooking spray if you prefer) in a frying pan and add the onion. Saute until brown.

Here are the pre-chopped veggies:




And post chopping:




Here's the onion in the pan:




Mmm, browning:




Add the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes.

Sadly, there were no fresh beets at the grocery store, so I had to go with canned. I mashed the beets with a fork, and found that worked better than dicing. Add the beats and, a few minutes later, the garlic. When it is sufficiently cooked, remove from heat.

Here's everything in the pan together:




Next, put the lentils and black beans into a bowl, and mash them with the same fork you mashed the beets with.

Add the rice and the veggie mix and keep mashing. Then add the olive oil (important for holding it together, but can be left out to cut the fat to virtually zero), the lemon juice (fresh if possible!), the vinegar, and mix it around. Add the spices, salt, and pepper, and adjust to taste. Feel free to add more red pepper flakes for more kick. Now, add about 1.5 Tbs of whole wheat flour to the mix and stir it around. You probably need to add more flour than this - I actually wish I had added more, because it would have made it congeal better when cooking - and in the end it should be pretty thick.

Here's what it looks like:




Respray the now empty frying pan with cooking spray and put it back on the heat. Using your hands, make patties from the bean/veggie mix and when the pan is hot, add them to the pan. Cook on medium for 6-8 minutes per side. When it turns, it should look nice and crisp:




Interestingly, with the red from the beets they almost look like ground beef.


When the patties are done, put it on a piece of multigrain bread and top it with tomato, onion, mushrooms, relish, lettuce, ketchup (now corn syrup free?!) or whatever else you like and there's your veggie burger! I used tomato, onion (from the unused half), and sauted some mushrooms to throw on top too. Add your favorite condiments and enjoy! Mmmmm protein!