Monday, February 1, 2010

Black Bean and Millet Burgers



I mentioned a little while ago that I'd like to find a good go-to vegetarian/vegan burger recipe before this summer. Beth, of C. Beth Blog, nominated a burger from her sister's blog, The Vegan(ish) Experiment.

One factor decided me in making this the first one I'd try: the millet. A few months ago, I read a book extolling the virtues of whole grains, and went on an absolute shopping binge in the bulk bun aisle at Whole Foods. Some of the grains have become staples in our house (like quinoa), and others have languished in my pantry. Millet is among them. So few recipes call for millet, so I was psyched to have a recipe that actually used millet!



Folks, these were good. Like, goooood. I had frozen some of the black beans that were cooked up with cilantro and scallions from the Beans and Quinoa with Beets recipe, so I used those in place of plain black beans. I also didn't have a bell pepper on hand, nor did I have the motivation to go out and procure one, so I used a small amount of carrot and celery instead.

The Pros:

Excellent flavor!
Easy to put together!


The Con:

Fell apart - I tried to cut them up for the kids, and they were not thrilled to be presented with a pile of mush. They did, however, eat them when I smooshed them in a flatbread.

I ended up eating these in a flatbread wrap, and they were like a really yummy sandwich that way. I don't know if these will become my go-to for vegetarians attending barbeques at my house, but they will certainly stay in rotation for a yummy lunch/dinner!

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Got a vegetarian/vegan burger recipe you think I should try, either your own or some funky thing you saw on-line? I love being a guinea pig! Email me at kara at ittybittybistro dot com!

4 comments:

jenna said...

yea! you found a way for her to eat beans! so glad you posted this. i made a black bean burger flop a couple weeks ago, mine also crumbled. great idea to serve them as a wrap. i'll try this one next time, but i'm almost ready to give up on the veggie burger idea.

C. Beth said...

Yay, I'm so glad you tried & liked these! I know Becki will be happy!

MaryAnne said...

I'm very intrigued by these. I wonder if there's a way to get them to stick together better...

Kara said...

@ Jenna - yes! Abby ate a bean! Now if I can get her to accept them in unsmooshed form...

@ Beth - thanks for the recommendation! :-)

@ MaryAnne - I hesitated to put this in the post, as it goes against the spirit of a recipe I got from a vegan blog, but I wondered if an egg would help them hold together. I really enjoyed the flavor and have more millet to use up, so I'll try to revisit these soon with an egg thrown in and see if that helps.