Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Musical Fruit

Homemade Spicy Black Bean Burgers
After scouring the internet, going through countless pages, blogs and recipes, picking and choosing my favorite ingredients, measurements and cooking techniques, I have perfected a fantastic recipe! In my experimenting, the hubby and I have eaten a lot of black bean burgers this weekend, each time tweaking and tasting along the way.

Let's just say our digestive systems are alive and well.



Along with tasting great, this recipe is super easy when you take advantage of a blender or food processor (you can do it without though, and just mash everything up with a fork). Don't be deterred if you don't like spicy foods either, just omit the peppers all together or sub it for something with flavor like onions or scallions.
Spicy Black Bean Burgers

Black beans, mushrooms, corn, tomato sauce (optional), cumin, garlic, salt, bread crumbs, ground flax meal (or you can use flour), canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (or you can use 1 fresh jalepeno). 

Add garlic cloves and pepper of choice and pulse until diced. (Pictured here are two, whole chipotle peppers out of a can.)

Add 1 can of drained and rinsed black beans, sprinkle salt and cumin. Puree until smooth but a little chunky.

Add 1 Tablespoon of flax meal to 3 Tablespoons of water. Let sit for 5 minutes. This acts as a binder. You can sub an egg or flour/water if you want to.

Scrape mixture out of food processor into a bowl and add bread crumbs, corn, tomato sauce and flax/water mixture. Mix thoroughly. 

Almost done! Add 1/2 can of black beans and chopped mushrooms. Mix together and form patties.

Cook on HIGH heat with olive oil. Don't make them too thick or they will break. To keep them from falling apart make sure you get a good char on each side.
This is optional, but I added a slice of pepper-jack cheese...best idea ever!
Put on a bun with some salsa or fresh avocado slices and enjoy!







Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed (you will only use 1.5 cans)
1 T ground flax + 3 T water
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic
2 T tomato sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp cumin
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup corn 
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
Directions:
Add peppers and garlic cloves to a food processor or blender and pulse. You can chop them yourselves very finely but it’s easier to just throw it all in a food processor.
Add one can of beans to the pepper/garlic mixture as well as cumin and salt, and pulse until mixture smooth with a few chunks.
In a separate bowl, mix together the ground flax and water. Let sit for five minutes.
Scrape the mixture from the food processor to a large bowl and stir in the bread crumbs, tomato sauce, flax and corn. Mix well. Add remaining black beans and mushrooms. Mix well.
Heat olive oil in a skillet on high heat. Form mixture into patties and fry for about 4-5 minutes per side, a good char is key! (Note: I made extra patties and chilled them over night on a cookie sheet and they held their shape much better then when they were freshly formed.)
Serves: 5 big burgers
Time: approx. 20 minutes
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These were so much fun to make and experiment with. The more I made, the spicier they got because I couldn't get enough of the wonderful chipotle flavor. If you are unfamiliar with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (as I was), I highly recommend this ingredient. They are smoky and flavorful, with just the right amount of heat and can be found canned in the Mexican or International aisle at the grocery store. As always, enjoy and remember to eat your beans at every meal!










3 comments:

  1. I'm so trying this recipe this weekend but can I. Use something other than corn?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes! Just leave out the corn and add more beans or mushrooms! Or maybe if you're feeling a little fancy, add another type of bean like pinto. Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete