Vegetarian Burgers
- Cuisine: American
- Course: Main Course
- Features: Fast, Healthy, Meatless
Summary:
While staff writer Jackie Spinner was a correspondent in Baghdad from May 2004 to November 2005, she volunteered to cook for the bureau at least once a week. "My war zone meals were a way to bring everybody together," she wrote, " -- Iraqi guards, translators and Western correspondents. We started each meal with a poem, our love of words uniting us in the midst of suicide bombings, mortar attacks and kidnapping threats."
With no measuring spoons in her Baghdad kitchen, she had to approximate the amount of the ingredients. Here's a more user-friendly version. Also, in Baghdad, she had to use regular yellow mustard. In her kitchen at home, she would opt for Dijon-style.
In Baghdad, Jackie and her colleagues ate these plain, but you can serve them on toasted buns. Leftover patties can be frozen.
4 to 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cans (30 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard (or Dijon-style mustard, may substitute a pinch of mustard powder)
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely grated
Directions:
In a medium pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the cumin, chili powder and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, mash the beans with your hands (it's okay if some of the beans remain whole). Add the mustard, ketchup, oats, carrots and the onion mixture and mix until well combined. Form into about large 6 balls. Do not flatten into patties.
In the same pan over medium heat, melt 1 teaspoon of the butter. Cook 2 balls at a time. After about 2 minutes, flatten each ball slightly with a spatula but do not make them too thin. After another 2 minutes, or when the patties are firm enough to hold together, flip over. Cook an additional 2 minutes until browned and heated through. Repeat with the remaining butter and balls. Serve hot.
Recipe Source:
Adapted from correspondent Jackie Spinner.
E-mail the Food Section with recipe questions.
