These burgers make for a delicious meat-free alternative.
Prep Time: 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 50 minutesminutes
Total: 1 hourhour10 minutesminutes
Servings: 6full-sized burgers, or 12ish sliders (mini-burgers).
Ingredients
The burger mixture:
1/2cupdried chickpeas (garbanzo beans), soaked 8 hours or overnight (or one 14 ounce can of cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed)
1bay leaf
1/2cupraw quinoa (white or multi)
salt
3medium-sized red beets (about 10 ounces)
1tablespoonolive oil
1medium yellow onion, finely diced
2clovesgarlic, minced
2tablespoonscider vinegar
2-4tablespoonsfinely chopped parsley
zest from 1/2 a medium lemon
juice of 1 medium lemon
1large egg
1/2cupquick oats
For serving:
several tablespoons of light olive oil, for frying the burgers
6buns (such as Honey Oat Beer Buns), halved and toasted
mustard, mayonnaise, avocado, thinly sliced red onion, sprouts
Instructions
Cook the beans:
Drain the soaked chickpeas and place them in a medium saucepan with the bay leaf. Cover with 3 inches of water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beans are almost tender. At this point, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the pot. Continue cooking until the beans are very tender. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour total, depending on the size and age of the beans. Add water to the pan as needed. When the beans are done, let them cool in their water until needed. If you like, you can slip the loose skins off the beans, though this isn't necessary.
Cook the quinoa:
Place the quinoa in a very fine mesh strainer, place the strainer in a bowl or measuring cup, and fill with water to cover the quinoa. Let soak 5-10 minutes, swishing occasionally, to rinse off the bitter coating. The water will turn a beige-yellow. Drain the quinoa well, discard the soaking water, and place the quinoa in a small saucepan with 1 cup of water and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to very low, cover the pot, and let the quinoa steam until tender and all the water is absorbed, 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, until ready to use.
Cook the veg:
Peel the beets with a potato peeler, then grate them on the large holes of a box grater. The beets will spray, so wear an apron and have your work area clear of things you don't want covered in tiny red specks. Heat the oil in a wide saute pan (that has a lid that you will use lateover medium heat. When it shimmers, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5-10 minutes. Add the garlic, the grated beets, and a big pinch of salt. Give it a stir, then cover the pan and let the mixture cook, stirring occasionally, until the beet is tender, 5 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and deglaze by adding the vinegar and stirring up any good stuff that is stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Make the burgers:
In a large bowl, combine the cooked chickpeas, quinoa and beet mixture and mash with a potato masher to break up the beans slightly - the mixture should still be fairly chunky. Stir in the parsley, lemon zest and juice, egg, oats, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until combined.
Cook the burgers:
Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions (a large spring-loaded scoop works weland shape into 1" thick rounds. Coat the bottom of a wide skillet with oil and heat over a medium flame until the oil shimmers. Carefully add the burger patties. Cook until the first side is golden, 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook on the second side until it is golden and the burger is cooked through, 2-3 minutes, reducing the heat if the burger is browning too quickly.
Serve the burgers on toasted buns slathered in any toppings you like.
Notes
Adapted loosely from The Kitchn.If you don't have 8 hours to soak your beans, you can cover them in boiling water and let them sit for 1-2 hours, or just cook them from dried; they will take a bit longer to cook. I like to cook my own beans, as directed below, but you can certainly use canned or jarred ones if your prefer. The half cup of dried beans that I cooked yielded 1 1/4 cups of cooked beans, but you can throw the whole can in, which should contain about 1 1/2 cups. In that case, you won't need the bay leaf.As I mention above, the quinoa, chickpeas and vegetables can all be cooked a day or two ahead of time. The burger mixture keeps well for several days in the fridge for on-demand burgers. Serve these with Honey Oat Beer Buns.Update 11/13/13: A few commenters have reported that their burgers aren't holding together well. Until I can get to the bottom of this, I would recommend weighing your beets - they should be 10 ounces in all. If you've weighed your beets and the mixture still won't stick, try adding an extra egg and/or more quick oats.Nutritional values are based on one of six burger patties.