Kidney Bean Burgers

I have always watched Rachael Ray make her gazillion recipes for burgers, but never thought I could actually make a vegetarian version at home. First of all, I have never heard of anyone try it out before. Second, why try it at home when you can get the ready made burgers in the frozen section of the market, right? Well, I came upon this recipe and had to experiment with it for myself. So, here goes ...


4 burger buns/8 slices of whole wheat bread
1 tomato, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Cheese, sliced
Mustard/Ketchup

For the burgers, you will need:

3 cups cooked rajma beans/kidney beans (or use canned, drained beans)
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp ginger-green chili paste
1.5 tsp Tabasco hot sauce
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp oregano seasoning
3 tbsp besan/lightly roasted chickpea flour * (See note below)
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

1. Since I did not soak the rajma beans overnight, I soaked them in the morning and it took a little longer than usual to cook in the pressure cooker. After cooked, drain the rajma beans and keep aside.
2. Blend all of the above ingredients for the burger in a food processor.
3. Then, form patties out of the mixture.
4. Brush the griddle down with a teaspoon of olive oil and toast the burgers until brown and crisp on both sides. Keep burgers aside.
5. Butter your buns/bread slices if you prefer and toast on griddle.
6. Finally, assemble your burger as follows:
[Layer bottom bun with burger, then cheese, tomato, onion; then top it off with ketchup and/or mustard. Then close with top bun and serve.]

* Note: I originally thought this burger was going to turn out tobe a fiasco until Bhavnesh came and added his touch and helped me finish what I started. The original recipe that I found calls for 1/4 cup oats and 2 tbsp of besan flour. I nixed the oats because why put oats in your burgers?! After adding the 2 tbsp besan flour, the mixture was too wet, so we added 1 more tbsp. The burgers ended up tasting a little floury (maybe because I did not lightly roast as the directions said .. Oops my bad!)

Final Verdict: The burgers came out better than we thought. Next time I will replace the besan flour with 1 tbsp of whole wheat flour instead and add breadcrumbs from 2 bread slices to the mixture. Secondly, we blended a bit too much so next time, we will blend coarsely. All in all, we will definitely make these again until we get it just right! Why not .. they are way healthier than anything you will find in the frozen aisle or at the restaurant.

The picture above is from the burger we ate for brunch the next day. Amazingly enough, the actual mixture is easier to work with the next day after being refrigerated. So, I shallow fried with 1 tbsp of EVOO and cooked both sides. Topped the burger with mustard, ketchup, and that green stuff is cilantro chutney on top. Tasted absolutely delicious like that; I did not really even need the cheese and veggies. I still cannot get over how well it turned out. Another note ... next time we will maybe refrigerate for an hour or two to help the mixture thicken up a bit so it is easier to work with. I'm already imagining the possibilities of making a black bean, paw bhaji and chickpea version of this ... I cannot wait! I do not think I have been this excited about cooking! =)