BEET BURGERS WITH CUCUMBER, ONION & CHIVE SALAD

Recipe by the Leek and the Carrot

Like with most vegetarian burgers, this burger is still a lot more soft in texture than a meat burger would be. I don’t mind the softer texture but a soft burger on a soft bun can leave you textural feeling a little bored. We mediate this by adding a lot of crunchy toppings– typically pickles, sliced cucumber and raw onion.

Makes 6*

Takes 1 hour, 15 minutes (most of it inactive)


Ingredients:

2 medium to large beets, about 3 cups

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup pecans

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 tablespoons flax seeds (1/4 cup of sesame seeds is also fine)

2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup white beans

1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce

Burger buns, optional

Mayo, optional

Sliced cucumber (about 1/2), optional

Sliced spring onion (about 1), optional

Cucumber, Onion & Chive Salad:

2 cucumbers, halved and sliced

2-3 spring onions, white parts only, sliced

2 tablespoons chives, minced (or more)

4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, optional


Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. Shred beets using food processer attachment or a hand-held shredder. Dump into a large bowl. Change out food processer blade so that the S-blade is ready to chop. There may be some residual beets in there. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be mixing everything together anyway.

  3. Add oats, pecans, sesame seeds, flax seeds, garlic, salt, and cinnamon to bowl of food processor. Process until the mixture forms a coarse flour. Add beets back in along with beans and tamari. Process until the mixture comes together, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. There will likely be some lumps remaining. This is fine. The mixture will also look wet, more like a thick beet hummus than a burger mixture. This is also correct.

  4. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop beet mixture and turn out onto prepared baking sheet. You should wind up with six patties. Cover the patties with parchment and press down gently with your hand or the flat bottom of the measuring cup. They should be 3/4 to 1-inch thick.

  5. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Flip and bake 20-30 minutes more, based on your preference. The longer you bake them, the firmer/ drier the patties will be.

  6. Serve on a toasted burger bun with mayo, cucumber, and onion.

  7. In a large bowl, combine all cucumber salad ingredients. Toss to combine, let sit for 5-10 minutes and enjoy with the burgers.

Beets, Scallions, CucumberBethanee WrightComment