Two-Bean Burgers (Vegan)

Our family here in Kelowna gets together for a Friday night dinner fairly regularly. We try to keep it simple so it doesn’t become burdensome and we linger over soup and salad like some may linger over a 5 course meal. This week was my “turn” (we don’t keep track, whoever feels like cooking invites) and I thought vegan burgers may be fun, with a side salad of potatoes and fresh peas in a classic vinaigrette. I went all out for dessert and made a four layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and chocolate glaze on top, but that’s for another post.

I have been making a lot of burgers lately, it’s like that in my kitchen, I get “into” one thing or another and make variations many times before moving to the next “thing”. These past couple of weeks it has been layer cakes and vegan burgers and thankfully I had friends and family to share it with.

When you make a vegan burger recipe, try to not get hung up on a “recipe” or specific quantities. It’s a matter of putting together ingredients that make sense for their texture and flavours and having a feel for a mixture that would hold together (no eggs to bind this together). Many vegan recipe use what they call a flex “egg”. I think this must have been invented by the flaxseed industry. It doesn’t quite make sense to me, or at the very least, I don’t feel it makes any difference.

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I made these burgers with rice, garbanzo beans and white beans as the base, together with homemade bread crumbs, shredded carrots and a third cup of bottled Harissa sauce that I had in the fridge. If you don’t have Harissa use any other sauce lingering in your fridge: BBQ sauce, tomato chutney or anything good that has a similar texture. Flavour as you wish. I added chilli powder, salt and pepper, that’s all, to accommodate the various palates at dinner. If you use Harissa it already has middle eastern spices in it. I put on thin kitchen gloves and work the mixture with my hands to mash the beans and combine the ingredients. The only thing I chop in the food processor are the garbanzo beans, and only until chopped, not made into puree.

These patties can be served as a vegan or vegetarian burger or as a side patty with a couple of summer salads for a perfectly acceptable vegetarian dinner. I like them with the tangy slaw on top or alongside. Recipe for the salw below.

I hope you enjoy.

Makes 8-12 patties, depending on size.

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Ingredients:

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1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups cooked chickpeas (can use canned, just 1 can is enough)
1 heaping cup cooked white beans (can use canned, one can is enough)
2 medium carrots, grated
1 heaping cup cooked rice (measured after cooking)
1 cup bread crumbs

1/3 cup Harissa or another sauce or chutney
2 teaspoons chilli powder or ancho chilli powder
1 tablespoon coarse salt
A large pinch of fresh dried garden herb mixture (thyme, oregano)

1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley.

Condiments for serving: vegan mayo, mustard, harissa etc.

Oil for frying (or just bake in the oven).

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Tangy slaw:

shredded green and red cabbage, about 4 cups

3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
2 tablespoon agave syrup

Mix the lemon juice and agave syrup, drizzle over the shredded slaw.

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Directions:

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Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, add onion and cook for 3-4 minutes only until softened and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.

Add the cooked chickpeas to a food processor (if you use canned drain them first) and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Place the chickpeas in a large bowl, add the beans (drain if you use canned), onion, carrots and rice and mix with a spatula to blend.

Add Harissa, chilli, salt and herbs and mix with a spatula.

Add the bread crumbs and mix them in.

Put on thin kitchen gloves and with your hands mix the mixture to break down the beans and combine everything together.

Add the parsley and give the mixture a final stir.

Taste the mixture – what you taste now will be what the burger will taste like when it’s cooked so adjust the seasoning now.

Form into patties and arrange on a baking sheet.

You can either bake them in a 400°F oven or fry them in a skillet brushed with oil until they are golden. You do not want them swimming in oil so use it very sparingly. I brush the skillet with a brush dipped in oil.

Cook until golden. These can be reheated in a 3500 oven before serving.

Tips: if I have leftover patties I crumble them and use in tacos.

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