Chickpea burgers

It's almost barbecue season! This weekend was the first real spring-like taste we've had so far in 2011. The snow is slowly retreating from my backyard, revealing some pretty nasty looking grass. I hope the lawn elves come by soon to rake everything up. But since it'll be several weeks before I actually haul my barbecue out of the garage and fire it up, I thought I would give these burgers a try. In truth, I wanted to make something with chickpeas again and this seemed like a nice compromise. As far as veggie burgers go, these ones are okay, but didn't knock my socks off. They're nicely spiced, but if I were to make them again, I'd increse the amount of spices and garlic. I also found them a bit too sweet with the carrot and red pepper. Maybe a little grated horseradish would provide a much-needed kick? Anyway, start by blending up the chickpeas, pepper and carrots in the food processor. You'll likely have to scrape down the sides several times to get everything the same consistency.

Blend until you end up with something like this. The result was much redder than I had anticipated, due to the pepper and carrot.

Then scrape the puree into a bowl and add in the oninons you sauteed earlier. The recipe says specifically not to brown them, so kindly ignore the brown flecks on mine. Note the spices in the right hand corner. Also, I didn't have bread crumbs, so I substituted in oats, the quick cooking kind. Oh, and you'll have to imagine half a cup of parsley, because I didn't have any of that either.

Shape into patties and set to bake on a pan drizzled with olive oil. The recipe says to make 10-12 patties, but I settled on seven. If you did go for a dozen, the burgers would be more slider size than a regular patty.

And here's what the final product looks like. I had to cook them a bit longer than stated, and I flipped them over part way through to get even browning on both sides. I didn't eat these burger style (e.g. on a bun with fixings) but you definitely could. For the leftovers, I'm going to whip up some kind of yogurt sauce for these. They need a little "something".

Chickpea burgers Adapted from The Three Greek Sisters and as seen on Cityline Preheat oven to 400F Makes 10-12 patties 2 tssp olive oil 1 yellow onion, diced 2 cups chickpeas, cooked 1 red pepper, deseeded and quartered 2 cloves garlic, sliced 1 carrot, chopped 1 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cumin, group 1/4 tsp corriander, ground 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced olive oil for coating 1) Heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool. 2) Place the chickpeas, red pepper, garlic, and carrot in a food processor and pulse until all of the ingredients are blended. Transfer to the large bowl with the onions. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and use your hands to combine the ingredients. 3) Shape the mixture into patties and use a brush to lightly grease both sides of the patties with olive oil. 4) Transfer the patties to a baking sheet and place in the middle of a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the patties are golden-brown on both sides. 5) Use a spatula to remove the patties from the baking sheet. Serve on a bun with your favourite garnishes: pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, red onions, the possibilities are endless! NOTE … The chickpea mixture can be prepared on the morning of serving day and stored in the refrigerator until ready to shape into patties.