12 New Things - Black Bean Burgers

A couple of weeks ago I let you all know about a challenge that I'm participating in to learn or do 12 new things between August 2010 and July 2011 (my list can be found here). The first thing on my list was to make my own black bean burgers. I'm not entirely sure why I wanted to learn how to do this; my guess is that while eating a frozen one (Morningstar Farms makes a delicious southwestern variety) I was inspired. Regardless, I got the ingredients I needed and got to work.

When I went searching for a recipe, I could not find one that had all the elements of what I wanted flavor-wise in my burger. This of course meant that I had to incorporate several things that I wanted from all of them, study the recipes to get a general idea on how to make the burgers, and come up with my own. The recipe passed the "Steve Taste Test", which means that I can not only post pictures of the burgers... I can share my recipe with you!

Southwestern Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

• 2 15-ounce cans or 1 29-ounce can black beans (rinsed, drained, and slightly dry)
• 1 tsp. crushed garlic (the kind found in a jar) or 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed.
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup frozen corn
• 2 eggs (or the equivalent in whatever egg substitute you use)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup whole grain bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp each: cilantro, chili powder, ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Method:

• Put the black beans into a large bowl and mash them until they look... uh... mashed.
• Add the garlic, onion, pepper, and corn and combine.
• Add the egg (or substitute) and the flour - combine until well incorporated
• Add the bread crumbs and combine until well incorporated and sticky (mine kind of made its own loaf once it was all combined... so I could have made black bean loaf if I *really* wanted to)
• Make into 8 patties of equal size
• Cook 8-minutes per side on a grill or grill pan (use non-stick spray if your surface tends to stick)
• Serve with your favorite veggie burger cheese and/or condiments.

Here are the photos I took of the process... I forgot to get a picture of the mashed up beans, but I think you'll get the basic idea.

Here are the burgers in their uncooked pattie state

8 patties cooking on the grill pan

Patties served naked with a side of couscous. We like 'em with melted cheddar and gouda as well.