Veggie Burger

Like many vegetarians, I'm always searching for a delicious veggie burger. I recently had one at a restaurant, that made me start the search again. My husband and I were pretty sure that it included garbonzo flour, rice, sesame seeds, hickory and broccolli. I've been searching for another burger recipe with some of these ingredients and found this one. I'm not vegan, so I might add eggs for binding and switch ground up broccoli for the tomato paste. I'll probably fry them up in olive oil or grill them instead of baking them. It's from www.all-creatures.org, and below find the description from there. This recipe will make 12 thick veggie burgers. They are great when eaten fresh out of the oven or after being frozen and reheated. Freezing the veggie burgers is a great way to have quickie meals when the need arises.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 12 burgers

Ingredients

• 1  cup brown rice
• 1  cup lentils
• 1  cup chickpea flour
• 1  cup  oat flour or 1  cup quick oats
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 3  carrots, medium size, shredded
• 1  potato, medium size, shredded
• 1  onion, medium size, finely chopped
• 4  garlic cloves
• 1  tablespoon oregano, dry
•  cornmeal (for dusting the baking pan)
• 2  chipotle chiles, finely chopped or 1  teaspoon liquid smoke
•  hot pepper sauce, to taste

Directions

1. Begin by placing 4-1/2 cups of water in an 8-cup covered pot on the stovetop.
2. When the water comes to a boil, add the brown rice and lentils, and place the cover on the pot. Reduce the heat to simmer and let cook until all the water is absorbed.
3. While the rice and lentils are cooking, wash and peel the carrots, potato, onion, and garlic. We use our food processor to finely shred the veggies, but a hand grater can also be used. If using a food processor, the garlic and chipotle peppers can be chopped in it, too.
4. When the brown rice and lentils have absorbed all the water, remove from the stovetop and empty the pot contents into a large mixing bowl. Add the tomato paste and thoroughly mash the ingredients together with a potato masher. Add the shredded and chopped veggies and continue mashing the ingredients together.
5. Add a little of the chick pea flour and oat flour or quick oats and continue mashing. [We grind our own chick pea flour and oat flour together in the dry container of our Vita-Mix. (Do not use cooked chick peas or the burgers will be too soft.) Chick pea flour can be purchased in a health food store.].
6. Continue to add more of the flour in 1/4 to 1/2 cup portions until all of the ingredients are thoroughly mashed and blended together.
7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
8. Thoroughly dust the surface of a large baking pan with corn meal. Form the veggie burger mix into the desired size using a mixing spoon and a smaller spoon, or by forming them in your hands.
9. Place the veggie burgers on the baking sheet and flatten to the desired thickness, making sure that the burgers stay circular.
10. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, if you like the outsides of the burgers slightly crispy, or for a shorter time if you want the surface of the burgers to remain softer.
11. When the burgers are baked to the desired consistency, remove from the oven and enjoy.
12. We freeze the leftover burgers in individual plastic sandwich bags for enjoying at another time. It takes about 1 minute in a microwave oven at "high" to heat a frozen burger (plastic bag removed) for a sandwich.