Bean Burgers

Another Monday, another Chick Pea. I'm going to start calling her Versatile.

I went to the food network today to find a Bean Burger. I've had vegetable burgers before, but folks - this one ROCKS.

The recipe is courtesy of Rachel Gitlin and she calls it Garbanzo Bean Burger. She recommends that you accompany it with a Tehina Onion Sauce, it's probably good, but I didn't get to that today. Maybe next time.

1 tbls vegetable oil. I'm stopping right there because there has been quite a discussion around the house about vegetable oils. "Olive oil heated to a certain temperature changes it's advantage to us and should not be used for frying," says One. "Canola oil is a Canadian product made from genetically modified rapeseed and was originally used as a motor oil," says Two. We don't know what to think. So to keep the heat down in the discussion, I fried my burgers in Expeller Pressed Safflower oil.

1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup carrots, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup walnuts
1 15.5 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained (1.5 cups)
5 tbls gluten flour
hold it again - no gluten for me, so I substituted 5 tbls of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour and 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onions, carrots, garlic, cumin, celery seed, and salt over medium heat until the onions are transparent. In a food processor (or blender), chop the nuts until 1/2 are a coarse meal and the other half are just chopped. Dump them into a large bowl. Add the sauteed vegetables.
Put the garbanzo beans into the food processor (or blender) and chop until 1/2 of the beans are pulverized and the other half are quartered.
Add flour, arrowroot powder, beans and parsley to the bowl of nuts and veggies.
Mix everything together with your hands until the mixture has enough body to form a patty. You may want to add a little water to help the mixture bind. I didn't find this necessary. It's really a pretty mixture.

Form the mixture into 4 burgers. I recommend that you make flat-ish burgers, so the surface gets crunchy and the center is hot and not too soft.
Fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side.

These are the BEST vegan burgers I've ever had. And on thanksgiving, I will make them again, form them into little patties, and serve them as hors d'oeuvres on little rice crackers with a little slice of red pimento on top for color. Fancy.