Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Veggie Burger

What we call Veggie burgers are known as cutlets in Indian cuisine, just served with buns and condiments. True to the Improv Chef style, this could be adapted to ingredients on hand, as well as prepared vegan without cheese and egg white.

1 c. Barley cooked in vegetable broth
3/4 c. Yellow lentils, cooked
1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms cut down about the size of a pea (shitake, crimini, or both)
3/4 c. grated or finely chopped white cheddar cheese
1/4 c. finely chopped sweet yellow onion
2 T. chopped green onion
4 T. Almond flour
2 egg white
garlic salt
salt & pepper

I cooked the barley the day before. Cook it at least one hour to the stage where it is starting to mush up. You want enough liquid so that it will blend together and help bind the ingredients. Mixed all ingredients together. Reserve 1 cup of mixture and add the rest to the cuisinart and blend on the pulse mechanism on/off 6times (about 20 seconds). Return to bowl and add the reserved chunkier variety. This should be sticky enough to make balls. Flatten the balls into "cutlets" or "burgers".
I used a drizzle of "fume grapeseed oil" but any cooking oil will do, in a non-stick pan. I cooked the cutlets on medium high heat until crispy and brown on both sides. Serve with your favorite condiments, or sauce, loaded with avocado, tomato, sprouts, what ever you can fit on a bun! Enjoy!

Recipe with notes on alternatives:
1 c. Barley cooked in vegetable broth (or short grain brown rice cooked in veg broth)
1/2 c. Yellow lentils, cooked (cooked or canned and drained pinto beans, white beans or black beans)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (subtitute or combine with cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds)
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms (shitake, crimini, or both)
1/4 c. chopped cheese (cheddar or other mild cheese works well, blue cheese or feta is a delicious alternative, vegans can use soy or almond cheese, or leave this out. It helps bind when it melts)
1/4 c. chopped yellow onion (red onion is a georgous alternative, or just use green and add a littel extra)
(You could add more veggies like cooked grated carrot, edemame beans, cooked peas, finely chopped bell peppers - any colors)
2 T. chopped green onion (If you have chives growing in your garden, this is a good alternative)
1 T. parsley (cilantro is a delicious option, or basil, or fennel tops, but those 3 have strong assertive flavors and don't combine easily)
2 T. Almond flour (Potato or rice flour works)
garlic powder (other seasoning ideas, paprika, chipolte powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, mexican seasonings, saffron, a T. of barbecue sauce, tomato sauce, or spagghetti sauce)
1 egg white (alternative is to add some nut butter by grinding some walnuts, etc. to the butter stage. Add a couple tablespoons of nutbutter or peanut butter plus one tablespoon of water)
salt & pepper