Black Bean Burgers Round 1 - Recipe

In my mission to eat more sustainably I have begun making almost all our food from scratch. I have also cut out meat almost completely. My arsenal of recipes is now reduced. It's time to bulk back up.

I believe every good recipe arsenal should have a burger. Since meat is out I'm now on a hunt for the perfect black bean/vegetarian burger. My first attempt is from Guilty Kitchen. Her recipe is simple and she says that her and her family eats it at least once a week to lower their carbon foot print. Good for them. So I adapted her recipe like this:

Ingredients
2.5 cups of black beans rehydrated (1 cup dry)
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 1/2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs (I used 2 ten grain rolls)
1 egg
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (contains fish)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 an ancho dried pepper, diced

Step 1: Put half the black beans in the food processor with the cilantro, garlic, onion, and egg.  Whir it around in there until it is well mixed.  Pour it into a bowl.

Step 2: Put breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce, cumin and ancho pepper into the food processor and whir that around a bit. Pour it into the bowl with the other bean mixture and the rest of the beans.


Step 3: Mix everything together and form it into 6 patties. I patted out the mixture onto my cutting board (about 3/4 inch thick) and used a round plastic container as a cookie cutter to make uniform patties.

Step 4: Bake the burgers on a greased cookie sheet at 375F for 25 minutes.

You could serve these on buns, but I didn't get around to making any. Instead I served them over a mixed lettuce salad with a dollop of plain yogurt and cilantro on top. For Jeff I melted some Jack cheese on top. For me I shredded some extra carrots on the salad. I decided it needed some dill pickle relish on top too. With a tangerine on the side you have a very healthy meal.

If you are keeping track of health info each patty has 166 calories, 2 grams of fat and 6 grams of fiber. That's 3 Weight Watchers Points each. I'm actually really surprised how healthy these are! They were a little dry, so I will continue on my quest for the best black bean/veggie burger.  If you have a good veggie burger recipe put it in the comments or send me a link!

Tomorrow I think I'll try making my own burger buns. Stay tuned! **Update** I forgot I am going to a sustainability conference tomorrow put on by the Iowa State Leopold Center.  I'm excited, but I won't have time to make bread.  I'll bake bread on Thursday.