Recipe Monday

I LOVE veggie burgers. I will spend my whole life in search of the perfect veggie burger. I tend toward those that are tender and moist, yet hold together and are highly flavorful. Getting a hold of a solid burger that has the right texture, without the use of eggs and dairy as a binder, can be challenging.

I had a request for a good burger/pattie recipe and I immediately thought of one that I made a few months ago that proved to be a winner. It holds up well, yet doesn’t cook up too dry. It’s also totally unique and bursting with spice and flavor. The recipe is inspired by a Curried Eggplant and Garbanzo Pattie that’s found in one of my favorite cookbooks of all time, The Vegan Gourmet.

I purchased this book sometime my sophomore year of college, when I was eating with the vegan co-op on campus. Those were some good times and really good meals. Those years, eating with the co-op, taught me a lot about vegan cooking, but more importantly, I learned how to be resourceful in the kitchen. The kitchen itself was pretty bare-bones. We had two pots, one of which was so thin on the bottom, that the prospect of having charred brown rice for dinner was almost always guaranteed. The other pot was a great cast-iron. Beans somehow always taste better cooked in cast-iron. Other that the pots, we had a pan or two, a couple of spoons, a sheet pan, a few bowls and not much else. Somehow, we all managed to turn out beautiful and healthy meals, lunch and dinner, five days a week. We would always give thanks together before we ate and the sense of community that I found, eating veggie-laden meals, covered in Braggs and Nutritional Yeast, was one that I’ve rarely found again.

The Vegan Gourmet has been well-loved since then. The page containing the recipe for a lovely Porcini Mushroom Stroganoff is splattered with tamari and the page with their recipe for Focaccia with Sautéed Onions is covered in dried flower. My adaptation for this fabulous burger recipe follows. Hope you try it and enjoy. Let me know if you do!

Indian Chickpea and Eggplant Burgers

• 1 Medium-Large Eggplant
• 2 tsp. sesame seeds
• 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 stalk chopped celery
• 2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (depending on spice level)
• 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
• 1 teaspoon coriander, ground
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup cooked or canned chickpeas, drained
• 1 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of tamari or Braggs
• Buns of choice

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cut and eggplant into chunks and roast for 20-30 min. with a tbsp. of olive oil and S and P
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and saute onion, celery, then garlic and spices for 10 minutes
4. Remove pan from heat and add 2 tablespoons of water
5. When eggplant is done, combine with chickpeas in a food processor
6. Pulse until you have a course puree
7. Place in a bowl, add veggies, bread crumbs, tamari, sesame seeds, cilantro and mix to combine well
8. Rub a baking sheet with olive oil
9. Form burgers and cook for 25-35 minutes until they are lightly browned on top
10. Serve burger, either in whole grain buns, on top of a salad, or along side veggies.
11. Good toppings might be cucumber and or a fruit chutney

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