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Seeing that we are in the Middle East where chickpeas, cumin, and coriander flow like water, salt water that is, I expect chickpea burgers will become a staple in the van Camp household. While, Rene was at one time completely against the general idea of veggie anything, I am slowly, but surely making progress. Part of that is personal growth on his part (hehe, I hope he doesn’t read this post), but a lot of it has to do with my newfound understanding of what kind of veggie foods men can actually enjoy. Ladies, the secret is making sufficiently hardy veggie dishes that incorporate some cheese and/or eggs (vegan dishes are a long shot...); oh yes, and casually dropping hints about the long term impacts of saturated fat on the development of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Scare tactics are perhaps considered by some to be a dirty weapon, but I find that they can easily be justified in this case.
So why chickpea burgers? This is the part where I discuss why legumes are a super food. First of all, I have discovered of late that many people nod in agreement when I talk about the importance of eating legumes, when they are actually thinking, “What the heck is she talking about?” Let me clear up any misconceptions. Legumes consist of foods such as peanuts, lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas, and soybeans. We’re talking about beans people… and the occasional peanut, nothing fancy. Technically speaking, these are plants with seed pods that split in two halves. Legumes form a large part of many traditional diets around the world and for good reason: they are inexpensive, nutrient dense, mainly consist of heart healthy saturated fats, are excellent sources of essential minerals, and are loaded with heart healthy fiber.
Time to return to the burger discussion, because this post is going to end with a chickpea burger recipe and I have already exceeded the maximum recommended word limit for blog posts (according to statistics, most of you have stopped reading my now). In an attempt to convince those of you who just can't stand chickpeas, let me emphasize that there are a number of other types of delicious veggie burgers, including ones made from lentils or black beans. If you don’t have time to prep your own, Star Farms offers several great option, which are usually on display in the frozen health food section of your local grocery store.
The recipe I used this weekend was very easy to make and actually, instead on putting it on a bun, I built it over a delicious salad and wrapped it up in a multigrain flat bread. I highly recommend.
Chickpea & Coriander Burgers
Recipe adapted from Good Food magazine, 2011. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1364634/chickpea-and-coriander-burgers
Ingredients:
- 400g cooked chickpeas (can also be from can)
- Zest from one lemon
- 1 TBSP lemon juice
- 1 tsp group cumin
- Small bunch coriander (cilantro) chopped
- 1 egg
- 80g fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
- ½ medium red onion diced
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
- Add chickpeas, lemon zest, cumin, coriander, egg, and S&P to food processor and then blend until texture is fairly consistent. Add to a large bowl and mix in bread crumbs and diced onions.
- Mush and blend with hands and form 6 medium sized patties and then chill until ready to cook (no more than a day, preferably 10 minutes to an hour).
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan to medium heat and cook burger patties for about 4 minutes on each side.
- Voila, you have delicious and healthy burger patties ready to placed in a bun, on top of a salad, or mushed and wrapped up into a pita.
Note: For my salad, I chopped up romaine, green olives, half a tomato, half a cucumber, and sprinkled it with a bit of shredded gouda. I tossed it with a lemon viniagrette and then topped it with the veggie patty and two TBSP of tzaziki sauce.
It's also great on a whole wheat bun as you can see from the pic below!