Homemade Veggie Burger

noob.in.the.kitchen's Note:

Made up this recipe to try to replicate a veggie burger from a local restaurant in Richmond. Very healthy, and can easily be part of a totally vegan meal. My extremely non-vegetarian fiancee loves these too. Can be made to order, or made ahead of time for later use Very versatile, as you can add veggies you like or whatever you have on hand. (For those who don't know, bulgar wheat looks a lot like rice and is in the organic section of the grocery store. You make be able to replace with rice in the recipe, but I haven't tried it).

• Total Time: 43 mins
• Prep Time: 35 mins
• Cook Time: 8 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 8.0 patties

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1/2 cup Bulgar wheat
• 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup carrot, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup mushroom, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• black pepper

optional

• bell pepper, garlic, cayenne, garlic powder, cumin (I usually do 1t each (or more)

Directions:

1. Boil lentils in a pot for about 30 minutes until tender.
2. In a separate pot, cook bulgur wheat by package directions (1/2c wheat in 1c water according to my package).
3. In a medium sized pan, heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add all chopped veggies and spices.
5. Cook about 15 minutes, until all veggies are soft.
6. Put all ingredients to a big mixing bowl.
7. Add enough bread crumbs to be able to form patties. (You can put veggies into a fine-mesh strainer to get out excess liquid first if you want to use less bread crumbs.).
8. To cook, pre-heat pan on stove to medium and spray with non-stick spray. Cover with a lid. Brown each side (about 3-4min per side).
9. I cut wax paper to fit into a tupperware container to separate the patties.
10. If freezing, I wrap individually with plastic wrap, cool in refrigerator then transfer to the freezer.

Reviews

[magpie diner]

I really like all of the ingredients in this burger. I didn't see the need to use 2 pots for the boiling, so as bulghur & lentils take about the same amount of time, I cooked them together (in 3 cups of water so there was no draining necessary). I also used red lentils as it didn't specify (I don't think it matters much although green would have held together more). I like the sauteed veg for flavour and crunch. What wasn't really to my liking was the amount of lentil - they are a great binder, but the burgers are kind of mushy lentil patties. And I had to keep them on the thick side to they would hold together in the frying pan. I think maybe an even ratio of lentils & bulghur might help that. Something to play around with for sure. Thanks for sharing.