Black Bean Burger
I have been on the quest for finding a reliable recipe for a quick and easy veggie burger for quite some time. Many of the recipes that I have come across either seemed too complicated or for one reason or another were just not quite what I was after. Mostly, the way the burgers turned out did not merit the effort put into them, as they were too crumbly, mushy or disappointingly bland.
While there are a lot of components to ‘the perfect burger’ I am not convinced that it all needs to be contained within the patty itself. I have found that a lot of recipes require a lot of ingredients whose flavours may be lost once they are cooked, in particular when the patty is served up in a sandwich. This burger recipe is very simple, but the results are very toothsome indeed. We found that these burgers are quite tasty whether in a sandwich or on their own, and our findings were supported by the litmus test of Little Boy Green's approval.
Given the good results of the Baked Falafel recipe I decided to put together a bean burger recipe that followed the ingredient proportions of the falafels very closely. This recipe is as simple in its preparation as the falafels, wholesome and fantastically nutritious, yet delicious. Because the ingredients can easily be replaced by a number of alternatives I will probably experiment with other bean and spice combinations. I used oats to thicken the mixture because they are readily available in our pantry, can be used without any prior preparation and are pretty neutral flavour-wise. Oats are also gluten free, should you be gluten intolerant or otherwise look to avoid gluten (quinoa flakes or buckwheat flakes could substituted for the oats).
Since this time I did not have an infant in the room while preparing the burgers, I used a food processor, but the recipe could easily be done without one (see the Baked Falafel recipe video). We used black beans in this recipe, but any kind of bean would work. Parsley can be substituted for or added to coriander. Go ahead and add spices. I do not think they are necessary, but some chilli flakes wouldn’t hurt and we are likely to try out some flavour variations.
Ingredients: (makes 5-6 patties)
- 2 x cans black beans (if using cans, make sure that they do not contain sugar or salt and are in water, otherwise adjust seasoning accordingly)
- 1 x large clove of garlic
- 1/4 onion
- 1 x small bunch of coriander (aprox. 50g)
- 1/4 cup rolled oats (4 tbsp)
- 1 x tbsp bouillon
- 1 x tsp salt
Method: (see video below)
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Roughly chop the garlic, onion and coriander and place in the food processor along with the oats, salt, bouillon and one drained can of beans, then pulse into a coarse mixture.
- Add the second drained can of beans and pulse to combine leaving some of the beans intact.
- Shape the patties and place in a preheated oven for 40 minutes, flipping over once after 20 minutes.
