Ultimate Veggie Burgers

[Tesseract]

Ultimate Veggie Burgers
Category: Sandiwches/Burgers

Suitable for a: vegan diet


Ingredients:
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3/4 cup lentils
3/4 cup bulghur wheat
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 large celery rib, chopped fine
1 small leek, white and pale parts only, chopped fine
2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed
1 pound cremini or white button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup raw unsalted cashews
1/3 cup mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise
2 cups panko (flaky Japanese bread crumbs) (regular dry bread crumbs aren't as good but will do)
Salt and pepper


Instructions:
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Cook the ingredients:
Cook the lentils in 3 cups salted water (~25 minutes) and then spread on a baking sheet lined with several layers of paper towels. Cover with more paper towels and pat dry.

Soak the bulghur wheat in 2 cups boiling salted water (~15-20 minutes), drain in a sieve, and press out as much moisture as you can.

Saute the onion, celery, and leek in 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil until caremlized and dry, about 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic at the end and let it cook for abut 1 more minute. Set aside, and repeat with the mushrooms and another 1 Tbsp of oil. Cool everything to room temperature.

Make the burgers:
Process the cashews in a food processor, then turn out into a bowl. Mix in the cooked bulghur wheat, cooked lentils, cooked vegetables and mushrooms, and mayo. Put half of this back into the food processor and give it several quick pulses to chop. You want it to form cohesive lumps but still be well-textured. Then repeat with the other half of the mixture. Put the whole mess back in a bowl, add the panko/breadcrumbs and salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Form into 12 patties and set out on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Let them rest a few minutes for even more moisture to be absorbed into the paper towels. You can cover them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or immediately freeze them.

Cook the burgers:
You can cook them on a well-oiled grill over a medium-hot fire, or on a non-stick skillet with a moderate amount of oil over medium-high heat. Cook about 4-5 minutes per side or until well-browned.


Additional comments:
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Adapted with minimal changes and rewritten instructions from Cook's Illustrated.

You can adjust the vegetable oil and mayo down for a lower fat burger, but resist the urge to use a wetter alternative such as sauteing the vegetables in water or using soymilk instead of the mayo. And don't skip the paper towel steps. Getting everything as dry as possible is critical to the texture of the final product.

These are kind of a pain to make, but they are so awesome! They're worth the trouble to me because I always freeze some, and we get burgers for a while. Fab on onion buns with seasoned mayo!

Seasoned mayo:
A big spoonful of mayo
A small spoon of Dijon mustard
A dash of salt and pepper
A pressed garlic clove
A squeeze of lemon juice
Mix well. Great on burgers, sandwiches, and as a dip for artichokes.

[Verdant]

Nice! Thanks for the recipe! I've noticed that all the best veggie burger recipes use panko. I need to remember to grab some the next time I'm at the Japanese grocery.

[Tesseract]

Nutrition info (calculated using www.NutritionData.com)
For 1 burger:
221 calories
Calories from fat 90
Total fat 10 g
Sat fat 1 g
Cholesterol 0 (assuming vegan mayo)
Sodium 412 mg (using 2.5 tsp salt as specified in original recipe)
Potassium 609 mg
Total carb 28 g
Fiber 4 g
Protein 7.3 g
Vit A 1%
Vit C 5%
Calcium 6%
Iron 12%
Vit E 6%
Thiamin 18%
Riboflavin 16%
Niacin 18%
Folate 15%
Vit B-6 8%
Phosphorus 16%
Magnesium 12%
Zinc 8%
Copper 21%

[Tesseract]

Nice! Thanks for the recipe! I've noticed that all the best veggie burger recipes use panko. I need to remember to grab some the next time I'm at the Japanese grocery.

Hey Verdant, I'm glad to see you back around! I think I've seen panko at my Whole Foods. So far, I've only made it with regular breadcrumbs and it's fine, but the patties are a little soft and tend to fall apart easily as you eat the burger. I think the panko may help this.

[orapunzel]

Is Panko made from wheat flour? (or what kind do they normall use?) What aisle in WF did you find it... as in category of aisle. TIA!

[Tesseract]

AFAIK, it IS made from wheat flour, so no go for you and your GF baby. I can't remember whether it was in the baking aisle or the next aisle over where they have the section of Asian foods. I think it may have been with the Asian foods. At my WF, they're with the condiments and stuff.

PS: But why not try it with crushed rice crackers?

[orapunzel]

Tess,

I made it... and made it GF!

Instead of the panko, I used paho (Indian Parched Rice Flakes) and also threw in an extra cup of GF rice bread crumbs. B/t the two, that did the trick. Nice and dry.

Bulgur wheat is also a no-no for us. So, I used quinoa which worked out nicely.

I, also, followed the recipe directions for making things nice and dry [great tips, btw], only needing to tweak the directions slightly to accomodate my GF choices.

And yes, lots of work and many a pan and bowl dirtied. But I will definitely make these again.

Next time, I'm going to play a bit more with some flavor boosts and maybe add some other veggies in there like roasted red pepper and carrot and perhaps some tomato powder... who knows... whatever strikes me at the time!

Thanks for the recipe!!! When I eventually start my vegan allergy blog, I'll post my GF version on there with honorable mention to you. (Did you come up with this recipe? Oh duh... I just re-read your original post. Answered my own question. )

[idalupino]

The panko is a very cool addition - can't wait to try this.

This would be a good candidate in the "burgers" category of the Chef to the Rescue contest I've talked about on here before:

http://cheftotherescue.msn.com/?cn=rc

the contest is nearly over - ends Sunday

[Fleurdelz]

Hi Orapunzel,

Did you start your vegan allergy blog yet? If so, I am VERY interested. I am allergic to so many foods, that sometimes I don't know what to eat I also have a child with food allergies, and he is on a very restricted diet. So I basically cook all day long trying to come up with nutritious meal full of vegetables, especially greens, for him. And he is one picky eater! We are not vegan/vegetarians per se, but I make vegan/vegetarian meals most days of the week. And unless it's truly delicious, I am out of luck trying to feed it to my son and my husband.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your twicking the original Ultimate Veggie Burgers recipe. You just saved me a lot of work, as we cannot have gluten either. Thank you so much.

[jenna]

Hi Orapunzel,

Did you start your vegan allergy blog yet? If so, I am VERY interested. I am allergic to so many foods, that sometimes I don't know what to eat I also have a child with food allergies, and he is on a very restricted diet. So I basically cook all day long trying to come up with nutritious meal full of vegetables, especially greens, for him. And he is one picky eater! We are not vegan/vegetarians per se, but I make vegan/vegetarian meals most days of the week. And unless it's truly delicious, I am out of luck trying to feed it to my son and my husband.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your twicking the original Ultimate Veggie Burgers recipe. You just saved me a lot of work, as we cannot have gluten either. Thank you so much.

orapunzel hasn't been on here in over a year so maybe you could try sending her an email to see if she'll get it.