Despite what you might think, I try and use pretty common ingredients in my cooking. (And now you're thinking- "Kefir? Whey? Kammut? I can't believe you just said that!" I know.) What I mean is- if it resides in my cupboard- it needs to be used frequently. None of this buying a special ingredient for one recipe and then letting it sit for a year.
Quinoa is a grain. If you are not familiar with it- in very general terms it's like rice. (You boil it like rice- you could interchange it with rice...) It is gluten free and has a fair amount of protein. It's pretty awesome. I use it a lot- therefore- I don't think it's weird.
And the following recipe calls for coriander. I don't have that on hand- so I leave it out- or use cilantro if I have it. (Coriander is the fruit of the plant (seed) cilantro is the leaves of said plant.)
And now I present to you:
The Quinoa Black Bean Burger.
FYI: if you make this expecting it to taste just like a hamburger- you will be disappointed. It's really good all of it's own accord- but it's not a beefy burger. Although they look similar- they are different. Each good in their own right.
Quinoa Black Bean Burger
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Quinoa
- Sea salt & cayenne
- 1 Tbsp. paprika (smoked is best to get that “meaty” flavor)
- 1 Tbsp. cumin
- 1 Tbsp. coriander (I use cilantro if I have it)
- *just a dash* cinnamon (secret ingredient)
- 1 Cup chopped pecans (I’ve used walnuts too, if I’m out of pecans)
- 1 Cup organic ketchup
- 1 15 oz.Can black beans (rinsed)
- 1/2 Cup panko breadcrumbs (I’ll just stick a piece of bread in the food processor and make my own bread crumbs…)
1A. (optional step) Put quinoa in pot with 2 cups water and 2 T acidic medium (kefir, lemon juice, whey…) Soak for 8-24 hours. Then add 2 more cups of water, bring to a boil- and then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed (about 20 min.)
1B. (If you didn’t do 1A) Bring to boil 4 cups of water. Add 2 c. Quinoa. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed.
The next steps depend on the size of your food processor. A blender would work too. Basically, you blend up the rest of the ingredients and then mix it together in a bowl.
My food processor requires multiple blending batches. I blend up ½ of cooked quinoa with ketchup, blend it- bowl it. Rest of quinoa and spices- kind of blend- bowl it. Nuts- blend- bowl. Beans- blend- Bowl. Slice of bread- blend- bowl. That sound kind of hard- but it’s not. I don’t wash the food processor bowl in-between blends. It takes maybe 5 min. to do it all.
Then form patties and cook it on skillet on med-high about 4 min. on each side.
(Or you could cook in a 400 degree oven for 12 min- flipping half way through.)
Makes 12-16 patties (depending on size)
Serve on a bun like a burger or all by itself with some veggies. Every member of our household likes these.
