Black Bean Burgers

While gardening this afternoon I felt a random pang of hunger, which didn't make much sense considering my big lunch, but I ate this anyways:


Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat.

Then for dinner I schemed up an enticing combo. Rice-tomato soup and black bean burgers. The soup was simple; I came up with the recipe as I went along. First I sauteed onions in olive oil; added carrots; added canned tomato sauce; stirred in a little over a cup of rice; then blended up some tomatoes and poured that in (that was about 3 cups' worth). I let that simmer on low heat for almost a half an hour while I made my burgers. Then right before it was finished, I added a gastrique- equal parts caramelized sugar and apple cider vinegar- and let it boil for a couple more seconds.

The burger recipe I got from a friend a while ago, and had yet to try it. They turned out so much better than expected taste-wise! Texture-wise, they were dry, but that was my fault for using carrots rather than roasted peppers, not using enough oil, etc. But the flavor! Wow!

Here's the recipe:

Black Bean Burgers
1/4 cup plain flour (I used whole wheat)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 small hot or jalapeno chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium red pepper, diced
1 1/3 cups cooked or canned black beans, mashed
1/3 cup sweetcorn kernels (I used chopped chickpeas instead- no corn in the cupboard!)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chilli powder
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped


In a medium saucepan, saute the onion, garlic, oregano and hot chilli in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the peppers and saute another 2 mins until the pepper is tender. Set aside. Stir in the onion mixture, sweetcorn, breadcrumbs, cumin, salt, chilli powder, and parsley. Mix well. Divide and shape into patties. Lay down eat patty in the flour, coating each side. Cook in a lightly oiled frying pan on medium-high heat for 5-10mins or until browned on both sides. I made each patty about the size of my palm and it made about 5 patties.

I served my burger on a small bed of spicy rice (the same rice I used for my soup). These two dishes, the soup and burger, went together splendidly! After dinner, I was still hungry, so I crumbled up a burger into another bowl of soup, and that tasted fine, too!


I wish I had another picture of the soup, but here's a picture of the finished burgers:


Oh, and before I go, the "bags and bags" of apples and pears I promised to show you (they're set out on a table to ripen):


Yes, I'm going to be eating a lot of apples and pears very soon.

I'll see you all in the morning; I'm sensing a sweet breakfast after two savory meals in a row!