Fats, Vitamins and Minerals

The falafel is one of Lebanon’s (and in the rest of the Middle East) most popular dishes, also very widely known in many parts of the world. I found a recipe for felafel in a Lebanese cookbook, and also found a similar recipe for a dish using chicken and pistachio nuts.

Since Trevor is quite fond of cooking beans in the slow cooker (with some meats and vegetables), I decided to make something with the left-over beans that he boiled earlier. Following the logic of the felafel and chicken/pistachio balls recipes, I used the beans in Trevor’s cooking: split peas, garbanzos (chick peas), black-eyed beans, yellow mung beans.

It turned out really nice, and I presume also healthier than meat burgers. So, here I’d like to share the recipe with anyone interested in trying it out.

Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

Finely ground beans: split peas, garbanzos (chick peas), black-eyed beans, yellow mung beans
Rice flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Finely chopped cabbage
2 tablespoons olive oil or sesame oil
A bit of salt

Soak the beans in water overnight to make them softer. Use a mortar and pestle to grind up the beans. Or you can use any food processor/blender/etc.

Place the ground beans, egg, rice flour, chopped cabbage and spices in a bowl and stir well to combine.

Shape spoonfuls of the mixture into balls or flat burgers, and roll slightly in flour.

Heat oil in heavy-based pan. Cook mixture in batches over medium-high heat, turning to brown all sides. Drain well on absorbent paper.

Serve with relish.

Relish:

Finely chopped cucumber, green chillies, onion springs, tomato, etc. with a bit of sesame, olive or peanut oil mixed with calamansi (lime) juice

The really nice taste comes from the ground cinnamon and coriander, so don’t substitute it. Also, the mixture will hold together better if the egg is only lightly beaten, so don’t over-beat it. I also like a softer burger, and I think the finely chopped vegetable (in this case, cabbage, although I suppose you can also use finely chopped onions, carrots) gives this soft and juicy texture. With regards to the amount of flour and chopped vegetable, I usually just estimate depending on the desired texture of the mixture.

Vegans may also omit the egg. I guess the mixture will hold together better with a bit more flour instead.

EMail This Post This entry was posted by Fats on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 10:17 pm and is filed under Fats, Vitamins & Minerals > Takaw at Sursur!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.