Beet Burger
The veggie burger is ubiquitous – it's a reliable vegetarian option at many restaurants nowadays. Adam and I love them so much, we try them everywhere we go, and we've come to understand their notorious reputation of being “blah,” “meh,” or “yuck.” They are often mushy, strange, or resemble hockey pucks pulled out of a freezer and fried to death. (You can basically judge every restaurant by its veggie burger).
Today, I'm going to convince you that veggie burgers can actually taste good. As a Junk Food Vegetarian, you don't have to eat meat to enjoy junk food.
The best veggie burgers are nutritious, have a good texture, look appealing and, of course, taste really good. Here's how we achieve these goals in this recipe for Beet Burgers:
Nutrition – Pinto beans and walnuts for protein and healthy fats
Texture – Bulgur wheat to add chew
Color – Beets to make it look like a hamburger
Flavor – Mustard, basil, carrot puree and garlic to bring out a satisfying, meaty flavor
You're going to create the foundation of this burger with pinto beans. You can use canned or dried pinto beans, but I like to use dried beans because they're less processed and have a more natural flavor. The secret to giving dried beans a good flavor and texture is a good brine. Brining sounds complicated, but it just means putting the beans in salt and water.
The next important element is the bulgur, which is a wheat-based whole grain with a light, nutty flavor. There are a surprising number of ingredients that you've never heard of until you start trying different vegetarian and vegan recipes, and for me, bulgur was one of them. It's delicious, and I'm surprised no one else seems to eat it except vegetarians. In this recipe, the bulgur helps hold the burger together and gives it a nice chew, to keep it from being mushy.
Bulgur comes in a bag. You rinse it before cooking it. To cook it, you boil it, and a trick to cooling it down really quick is spreading it out on a sheet pan in one layer.
On to the beets. They say you eat with your eyes first, so by adding beets to this recipe, your burgers look like burgers, with an appealing red color. Adam says beets are really good for you, too, with a lot of dietary fiber, vitamins and even a little protein. I just like them because they make my burgers look good.
If you've never prepared beets, be careful, because OMG they make a mess. Always wash and peel them over the sink, and away from anything you do not want permanently stained magenta. Normally I throw caution to the wind when I cook and don't worry about making a mess, but when using beets, I would be extra careful. In other words, wear white at your own risk.
Your food processor will do double duty in this recipe, so get a good one. I use a Cuisinart, which works well, but if they ever have another blade recall, prepare to wait almost a year for them to send you a replacement blade – but I digress. First you'll use it to grate the beets and then you'll use it to combine all of the ingredients later. And now for some beautiful beet pictures.
Now it's time to make these burgers taste amazing by adding mustard, basil, walnuts, garlic, and carrot puree. This last ingredient is a bit controversial with Adam, as I like to use baby food, which I admit sounds weird at first, but it's really just a shortcut - the only ingredient is carrots. So you could puree your own carrots if you're weirded out by this, but if you want to save time, just stop being a baby and hit the baby aisle. The pureed carrot adds moisture and sweetness, and helps hold the burger together. A lot of veggie burger recipes require an egg, but this does not – this could be a vegan meal.
Another good shortcut you can try is buying pre-peeled garlic and freezing it. It comes in a bag in the produce section. When you get it home, transfer it to a freezer bag, and throw it in the freezer. Whenever you cook, you can pull out however many cloves of garlic you need, let them sit on the counter to thaw for 10 minutes, and use as normal – no peeling necessary! If anyone in your house finds garlic to be too strong, freezing it takes the edge off.
As for the walnuts, when you're cooking with these – or any kind of nut – you'll want to toast them first to bring out the flavor. There is no mystery to toasting them – just throw them in any pan with no oil, turn the heat on medium heat, and when you see the oil from the nuts sweat out onto the surface of the pan, you're done! Throw them in a bowl.
You may have only seen mustard in the familiar yellow bottle, but it actually comes from a seed, and you can buy it that way. It is delicious. You'll want to find this kind of mustard, aka whole grain, for this recipe.
Behold: the mise en place (or the fancy French way of saying, 'all the junk you need to cook with')!
Now throw everything (except the bulgur) into your food processor, and you'll end up with this beautiful burger mix.
After you transfer this into a bowl and mix in the bulgur, it's time to get your hands dirty and shape some burger patties by hand. Grab a handful, make a ball, and squish it down as thick or thin as you like it. Adam likes these really thin. I like them thicker.
Excuse me while I marvel at just how real ground beefy this burger looks.
My favorite part about burgers are ample toppings and a good bun. This day I opted for real cheese, and Adam is trying Chao brand vegan cheese. We're also going with kaiser rolls, but if you want to make this junk food good AF, nothing beats a regular old hamburger bun fried in butter. We're going with classic lettuce and tomato, but you can use anything you like – be creative. Also, pro-tip: salt and pepper your tomatoes to bring out their tomatoeyness.
To get your burgers ready, heat up olive oil in a non-stick skillet. If you're like me, you'll also add some butter to the mix, but you can skip the butter and make this vegan, too. After the oil is hot enough to where you can't hold your hand over the pan for more than a few seconds, add the burger patties. Let them sit undisturbed so they get a nice golden brown sear, about 4-6 minutes. Flip em, do the same thing. If you're adding cheese, put the cheese on, put a lid on the pan, let it melt, and boom, you've got burgers.
Assemble, add more toppings - ketchup, mayonaise, mustard, pickles, fake bacon – the world is your veggie burger. This goes really well with a home-made cole slaw or check out my blog entry about how you can make oven fried french fries.
That's it! If you're not already a fan of the veggie burger, this one will definitely convert you.
The beauty of the veggie burger lies in its diversity, so if you like this one, there are endless varieties of other ways to veggie a burger.
Beet Burger, The Recipe
Ingredients:
2/3 cup bulgur
1 beet
¾ cup walnuts
handful of fresh basil
2 garlic cloves
1 cup dried pinto beans or 1 15oz. can
1 jar carrot baby food
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs
vegetable oil
salt and pepper
Toppings:
good rolls
cheese or vegan cheese
lettuce
tomato
mayo, ketchup, mustard
If using dried beans start here. You’ll need to do this the day before, but it’s worth it! If using the canned beans, skip this step. Take your cup of dried beans and rinse them real well. You can use a wire strainer or your trusty spaghetti colander will work real well. Place the dried beans in a big bowl and toss in 3 tablespoons of salt. Fill the bowl up with water and stir real well. Cover the bowl and let sit for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Rinse your brined beans again and place in a big pot on the stove. Fill with water and crank the heat to high. Bring the beans and water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Check the beans at this point by tasting to see if they are cooked through. You want them to be soft and tender. If they seem ok try 3 more beans. Always check at least 4 beans. If they are still tough let them simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Once they are cooked through strain them and lay them on a sheet pan so they will cool real fast for you.
You can do this step while you are preparing your dried beans. Bring 1 ½ cups water and ½ teaspoon salt to a boil in a small saucepan. While the water is heating, rinse your bulgur just like you did with the beans. Once water is boiling, take the pot off the heat and stir in the bulgur. Leave this pot alone for 15-20 minutes. Then drain the bulgur like you did with the beans place on a sheet pan like you did with the beans.
Peel your beet, cut it in half and shred the halves in your food processor. You can use a cheese grater instead but you should probably wear gloves. Throw your walnuts in a skillet, turn the heat on medium and move the nuts around in the pan. Once they start to sweat into the pan and smell toasty, take them out of the pan and place in a bowl. Mince your garlic cloves or grate them using a microplane.
Place the shredded beet, walnuts, basil, and garlic in your food processor with the metal blade. Pulse the mixture and take breaks to scrape down the sides. About 12-15 pulses. Now add your beans, 2 tablespoons of water, mustard, 1-2 teaspoons of salt and 2-3 cranks of pepper from your pepper mill. Pulse a few more times until everything is combined nicely.
Transfer your mixture to a big bowl and stir in the panko bread crumbs and bulgur. Use your hands! Divide this mixture into about eight patties, more if you like them thinner.
Take out your non-stick skillet and heat 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil on medium high heat. (let it heat up for 1-2 minutes). Place up to 4 patties in the skillet at a time and cook each side until it gets a nice brown color. (about 4-5 minutes each side).
Finish the burgers how you like, melt some cheese on top and add your toppings!
