Nutty Veggie Burger

I am going to be the godmother for my nephew Jonah when he is baptized next month. I got to hangout with him this past weekend during the mandatory seminar for the baptism. Since the last time I saw him, he has learned to have a strong grip, including my hair. Ouch.

This weekend, Chris created a test garden for me. This is my first garden so we are testing out with a few vegetables and hope to expand it in the future. My starter veggie plants are cilantro, basil, tomatoes and parsley. On the more ambitious side, I bought kale seeds to plant this weekend.

We heard our soil is really good and any plants will grow on it. We live in Orange County, so probably the area we live in used to be farms. I really hope these plants will grow like weeds because I want to have a large garden soon.

On Sunday, I made a batch of veggie burgers to eat throughout the week. We have a short week this week because we are leaving for a fun trip on Friday. I wanted to make a recipe that was good and easy, used up items that was already in the pantry and that I can eat with plenty of vegetables.

I used Angela’s recipe, the recipe she calls their “perfect veggie burger” . I followed the recipe and added more spices and substituted spice for what I had on hand. She is right, these have plenty of texture and crunch from the almonds and sunflower seeds. Since I make a lot of veggie burgers, this version I will call Nutty Veggie Burgers.

Most veggie burgers are mushy but these pack a lot of crunch.

Nutty Veggie Burger

(makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• Flax eggs: 2.5 tbsp ground flax + 1/2 cup warm water, mixed in bowl
• 1 cup oats, processed into flour (I used my coffee grinder to make oat flour)
• 1.5 cups bread crumbs (I processed 3 pieces of toasted Ezekiel bread until fine crumb)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and roughly pureed or mashed
• Heaping 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (I used 2 Tablespoon of dried parsley)
• 1/3 cup almonds, chopped (I toasted them for more nutty flavor)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, (I toasted them for more nutty flavor)
• 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
• 1.5 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 1/2 tbsp oil. Mix your flax egg together in a small bowl and set aside for at least 10 mins while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Place all ingredients (except spices and salt) into a large mixing bowl and stir very well. Now, add seasonings and salt to taste.

Oat flour, bread crumbs and carrots went in first.

Toasted sunflower seeds and almonds, flax egg mixture, sauteed onions and garlic and mashed beans went in second.

After I mixed all the ingredients, I add all the spices and stirred it well. Love the red pop from the smoked paprika.

3. With slightly wet hands, shape dough into patties. Pack dough tightly as this will help it stick together. I made 8 medium patties.

4. Cooking methods: You can fry the burgers in a bit of oil on a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. If baking in the oven, bake for 30-36 mins (15-18 minutes on each side) at 350F, until golden and crisp. For the BBQ, pre-bake the burgers for about 15 minutes in oven before placing on a pre-heated grill until golden and crisp on each side.

I cooked one right away on a cast iron with a little bit of oil.

Served it on whole wheat bun, veggies and plenty of ketchup.

Big bite of crunch. This was delicious.

Since I was planning to freeze the rest of the patties. I baked them at 350F, 15 mins on each side. I wrapped them individually after they were completely cooled.

As we eat them throughout the week, I just thaw them out and cook/warm them on a skillet before serving.

I find using the cast iron has the best texture when it comes to cooking my veggie burgers, they have this perfect crisp that I love after they are cooked.

I also love eating veggie burgers on top of a huge salad.

Do you have a vegetable garden or plants that you take care of at home? Do you make your own veggie burgers?