The Veggie Burger

Back when I had State Street Cafe, I wanted to put a vegetarian burger on the menu, but back then, all of the commercially sold products were bound with gums and other goop. They were also rather thin and dull. I wanted to make something in house that would be vegan, nutritional, completely natural, filling, and....taste good. Those are a whole lot of expectations to heap on a little burger dontcha think?
So, I experimented with different bases, veggies, seasonings, etc. This is what I came up with. Low calorie, fat free and chocked full of protein. They are kind of a tribute to carbs, but hey, you can't have it all.

5 cups cooked lentils, pureed
3 cups of mixed raw vegetables, pulsed in the food processor until almost finely chopped (this can be a combo of carrot, celery, onion, peppers, broccoli, zucchini, etc.)
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 TB nutritional yeast
1 TB mixed fresh herbs (parsley, dill, thyme)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 TB soy sauce
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Let stand about 10 minutes. Form into burger patties. Spray a pan with nonstick spray and place burgers on. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Cool thoroughly. To serve, you can heat on a well oiled grill, brown in a pan, or just heat in the oven.

Ok, let's talk about Nutritional Yeast. Have you ever heard of it? Basically, it is a form of deactivated yeast. That means it won't make your burgers rise.You can get it in health food stores. It looks like yellow, flaky fish food. It's chocked full of B Complex vitamins, and is a complete source of protein.
Nutritional yeast has sort of a nutty, cheesy flavor to it. I added it to this recipe to bang up the protein content, but I like the flavor it imparts.

You can play around with what you put in the burgers. Add corn. Try cooked quinoa instead of rice, or black bean puree instead of lentils. They are not the most colorful of things (mostly brown) but the veggies do help with that. They are good over a salad, or on a wheat bun.

I think I'll go  make some now....