Spicy Sweet Potato, Black Bean Burgers with Avocado-Cilantro Crema

by  on  in Main Dish, Recipes, Sandwiches

I love a good veggie burger!

 

As I was trolling the internet for interesting recipes I came across this one from ambitiouskitchen.com.  It looked interesting and wanted to try it out.  I don’t need my veggie patties to look like real hamburger.  I will eat a real hamburger for that.  I love a good Shake Shack, Five Guys or In N Out burger!  But once all these veggies and beans were processed together it kinda looked like hamburger strangely.  Mine were a little wet because I was cautious not to add too much oat flour at the end.  So it almost seemed like a sloppy joe.  It was good.  It didn’t blow my mind.  I am sure I could tweak it to make it better but I will probably move on to an entirely new recipe altogether the next time I want to make veggie burgers from scratch.

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This is a backwards progression of the process.  When you see that thick brown paste you don’t realize how much good healthy stuff is really in there!

Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1/2 cup diced red onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 teaspoons spicy cajun seasoning
  • 1/4 gluten free oat flour (regular oat flour or oat bran will work)
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • olive oil or coconut oil, for cooking
  • 6 whole grain hamburger buns (gluten free, if desired)
  • Sprouts
  • For Avocado-Cilantro Crema:
  • 1/2 large ripe avocado, diced
  • 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream or plain greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon lime juice
  • dash of hot sauce, if desired
  • salt, to taste

Instructions:

    1. To cook quinoa: Rinse quinoa with cold water in mesh strainer. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Add in quinoa and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with fork; place in large bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of quinoa.
    2. Poke sweet potato several times with a fork and place in microwave for about 3-4 minutes or until it is soft and cooked thoroughly. Do not overcook or the sweet potato will harden. Alternatively you can roast the sweet potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes or until fork tender. Remove skin when done cooking and cooled.
    3. In bowl of food processor, add beans, cooked sweet potato, red onion, cilantro, garlic, cumin, cajun seasoning, and pulse until almost smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor when necessary. Transfer mixture to bowl and combine with cooked quinoa. Add salt and pepper to taste – and possibly more cajun seasoning if you’d like. Mix in oat bran/oat flour, but only enough so that you are able to shape patties. (You shouldn’t need more than 1/3 cup).
    4. Divide into 6 patties (about 1/2 cup each) and place on parchment paper on baking sheet; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to help patties bind together.
    5. To make avocado-cilantro crema: In bowl of food processor, place sour cream, diced avocado, cilantro, and lime juice. Process until smooth. Add salt to taste. Place in fridge until ready to serve burgers.
    6. To cook burgers: Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Spray pan with coconut/olive/canola oil cooking spray. Place in skillet and pan-fry about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Serve with buns, sprouts, crema and desired toppings.