Bulgur Veggie Burger

Submitted by blucoat

"This recipe is a modified version from this month's Gourmet Magazine (June 2008). The burgers can be prepared on the grill or in a skillet. If you don't want to use a food processor, you can simply chop the onions finely and mash the beans and walnuts together before mixing in everything else by hand. Uncooked patties can be chilled, covered, up to 4 hours."

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Ready In:: 50mins
Ingredients:: 11
Yields:: 4 burgers

ingredients

¹⁄₂ cup chopped onion, divided in two
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional for brushing
¹⁄₂ cup bulgur
1 cup water
1 - 1 ¹⁄₂ cup canned pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons soy sauce
³⁄₄ cup walnuts (2 1/2 oz)
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
¹⁄₂ cup packed cilantro
³⁄₄ teaspoon ground cumin
¹⁄₄ teaspoon cayenne

directions

Cook half of onion with 1/4 teaspoon salt in oil in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Add bulgur and water and cook, covered, over low heat until water is absorbed, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir in beans and soy sauce.
Pulse bulgur mixture, walnuts, garlic, cilantro, cumin, cayenne, a rounded 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and remaining onion in a food processor until finely chopped.
Form rounded 1/2 cups of mixture into 4 (3 1/2-inch-diameter) patties. Chill at least 10 minutes.
While patties chill, stir together mayonnaise, zest, and juice.
GRILL DIRECTIONS: Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium heat for gas). Put perforated grill sheet on grill and preheat 10 minutes. Brush patties all over with oil. Oil grill sheet, then grill burgers on grill sheet, covered only if using a gas grill, carefully turning once, until golden brown, about 8 minutes total.
STOVETOP DIRECTIONS: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook patties, carefully turning once, until golden brown, about 8 minutes total.

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Reviews

this was pretty good. I sub'd black beans for the pinto and pine nuts for the walnuts. Had a good flavor but was SUPER crumbly. I think next time I'll chill them longer. Also, it doesn't list the amounts for the mayo., or lime juice/zest. but it's 1/4 C. Mayo, 1/4 tsp. zest, and 1 tsp. lime juice (per the magazine). They wouldn't have been as good without the lime-mayo IMO. Good!!

jl_browning
Very near five stars. I agree with the reviewer who said they were crumbly. BUT, that said, I made a meatloaf of it, and with BBQ sauce, fantastic! Then, I used the surplus (I made a double recipe) in a cabbage/beef soup recipe w great success again. I made one alteration, using a half bag of Fresh and Easy's sweet and spicy nut mix in place of the walnuts and cayenne, and highly recommend that. I also tried the crumbly meatloaf mixture w some picante, and am sure it would make fantastic tacos. Know what? I'm going w 5 stars! Great recipe to cut down on meat consumption.

Gianni 23
These are delicious... so tasty and easy to toss together in the food processor. I'm kicking myself for not following the step of chilling the formed burgers before cooking because mine fell apart. I'm sure that chilling is designed to avoid that! I might also adjust slightly and add in an egg to help bind things together next time. Otherwise, the tastes blended really well, and were lovely when paired with avocado, tomato, and mayo on fresh Italian rolls. I can easily see variations of this with different beans (e.g., chick peas) and different herbs/spices. Yum! Thanks for posting.

Heather U.
most frustrating recipe I ever tried. no matter what I did they all fell apart, were just mush. and, the taste was mediocre at best. do not recommend.

Donna K.
Great recipe! I agree that they were pretty crumbly, but not too bad. I'd like to find a way to make them ho,d together a bit better -- on the other hand, I really liked the texture, so maybe we'll just live with the fact they fall apart. Loved the flavor. Will definitely make again.

KLHquilts

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Tweaks

Great recipe, I'm a home brewer and substituted spent grain for the bulgur & water concoction in step one. I can't imagine a grill working, we cooked on stove-top with plenty of olive oil. I've substituted white beans for kidney beans, almonds for walnuts, parsley for cilantro - very forgiving and all wonderfully tasty.

Mewnshine