Black Bean Burgers with Guacamole

I love veggie burgers.  I love real burgers too, but I consider veggie burgers to be a different food.  My favorite are those that are made with real food, rather than textured soy protein.  EVOS has a nice actual vegetable patty.  I've had some awesome black bean burgers.  I even ate a black bean and (get this, those who know me) mushroom burger once and loved it.  I've tried them before (or was that just lentil burgers) and they turned out a little bland.  So I decided to follow a recipe.  But I changed it.  And I thought they would be a little bland, but they really weren't.  But they are even better with avocado and tomatoes (and spinach and steamed veggies as in the picture).  Or you could top them with barbecue sauce or hot sauce.  To be honest, I tried the little pieces that fell off, and thought they lacked spice, which is probably due to the fact that instead of chipotle peppers in adobo (which I do not like, for some reason).  However, the final product was quite good.  You could add more, or you could leave it as is if you want to eat it with other things and appreciate all the flavors.  For the spice, I planned on using jalepeno, couldn't find my jalepeno, so instead used chipotle and chili powders, quite frankly less than I listed below but I didn't measure, and a little water for moisture.  I'll copy the recipe and change what I did.  But one thing I did do to add more flavor: I used my leftover bread crumbs from the Daring Cooks, which were garlicy and parsley-y.  I didn't have quite enough, so I threw a little wheat bran in to dry the batter a little.  These are probably a little bland to eat bare, but who eats a burger of any sort bare?  They are tasty and a nice canvas that you could dress up, rather than a single entity of goodness. And tomorrow I will serve it with the steamed veggies from last night to make a colorful and healthy lunch.  A few of the faculty members in the Geometry-Topology group restarted weekly lunches of the group, and I'm very excited about this endeavor.  The first one is tomorrow, and I can show off my healthy and delicious lunch.

• 1/2    of a medium avocado, seeded and peeled
• 1  tablespoon  lime juice
•     Salt
•     Ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup garlic bread crumbs
• extra bread crumbs, wheat bran, or oatmeal, enough to make dough hold together
• 3  tsp frozen cilantro cubes
• 2  cloves  garlic
• 1  15-ounce can  black beans, rinsed and drained (or about 1.5 cups cooked from dry, which is what I did)
• 1/8 cup water
• 1/2 tsp chipotle pepper (or really, anything spicy, extra chili powder is fine)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1    egg
• 1  small  plum tomato, chopped

directions

For guacamole, in a small bowl mash avocado. Stir in lime juice; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Place torn bread in a food processor bowl or blender container. Cover and process or blend until bread resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer bread crumbs to a large bowl; set aside.

Place cilantro and garlic in the food processor bowl or blender container. Cover and process or blend until finely chopped. Add the beans, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, and cumin. Cover and process or blend using on/off pulses until beans are coarsely chopped and mixture begins to pull away from side of bowl or container. Taste and add salt and pepper (or any kind) if needed.  Add bean mixture to bread crumbs. Add egg; mix well. Shape into four 1/2-inch-thick patties.

Lightly grease the rack of an saute pan and preheat. Place patties on pan. Grill directly over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until patties are heated through, turning once halfway through grilling.

To serve, top the patties with guacamole and tomato.