Tuesday, June 26, 2012

BBQ chickpea burgers



It is so hard to take a flattering photo of a burger, isn't it? I mean, they aren't the prettiest food to begin with, but if, like me, you aren't too skilled in the art of food photography, it's especially tricky to make a burger look appetizing. Anyway... suffice it to say, these were absolutely scrumptious no matter what they look like in my photo ;)

I adapted the recipe from this one for coconut-curry chickpea quinoa pineapple burgers. The only thing I kept the same was the chickpeas, panko flakes and the basic process, but I needed some sort of guide for making burgers from scratch since I've never done it before! I usually go for Morningstar Grillers Originals (which, by the way, are SO tasty!) but I was in the mood for something more home made :)

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup skim milk (or soy milk)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon parsley (I used dried, but fresh would be great!)
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash no-salt onion seasoning
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked
2/3 cup panko flakes
Sweet BBQ sauce
Pineapple slices

Combine chick peas, milk, garlic, parsley and onion seasoning in a food processor until it's all mashed together. Stir in rice and panko, and then form into 6 patties (the original recipe called for 4 but they were too ginormous to fit onto my burger rolls so next time I'm going with 6.)

Oil your pan and then grill until they're nice and brown on both sides. If you've ever had a homemade veggie burger, you probably know that unless they're well-done it can be hard to tell the difference between the burger and the roll, since they're so mushy. So I let mine get nice and crispy before taking them off the grill. I topped it with a slice of grilled pineapple and about a teaspoon of sweet BBQ sauce! Deee-lish!