#36 - Black Bean Burger - Third Time is the Charm

I think we have a winner...a minor variation on the recipe that I've been making all along, as it turns out. Tapioca flour seems to have been the secret ingredient that binds the whole mass together, without turning into a big doughy mess like the vital wheat gluten in early recipes.

Black Bean Burger Patties

• 2 cans Black Beans
• 1/2 cup Bulghur
• 5.5 oz Tomato Juice
• 1 Tbsp Bragg's Liquid Amino
• 1 egg (actually egg replacer in this instance)
• 1/2 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
• 3 Tbsp Tapioca Flour
• Canola Oil (or the rendered fat of a clubbed baby seal, whatever works)

Drain and rinse the black beans.  Bring tomato juice, liquid amino and bulghur to a boil in small sauce pan, remove from heat and let sit for about 10 to 15 minutes.   Reserve about 1/4 cup beans and place remaining beans, bulghur mix, egg and bread crumbs in a food processor.  Pulse until all the ingredients are combined.  Begin adding tapioca flour, 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture becomes somewhat firm.  Move the mixture to a bowl and kneed in the remaining beans.  If the mixture is too moist add more tapioca flour, 1 tbsp at a time until the mix is the right texture.

Form into relatively thin patties (maybe 3/8 of an inch thick) and fry in oil over medium heat, about 4 minutes to a side.

Serve as you would any other burger.

In our case, we served...

...Black Bean Burgers with Black Bean/Tempeh Chili.

The black bean/tempeh chili was not on the 101, but since sampling it at Stone Brewery Nick and I have been inspired to rip off the recipe.  The first effort was just this side of horrible, but this time we just about nailed it.

• 8 oz Tempeh, crumbled up
• 2 cans Trader Joe's Black Beans with all that beanie liquid
• 4 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• 1 Tbsp Chili Powder (plain old McCormick or whatever chili powder, nothing special)
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne
• 1/2 tsp Bitter-Sweet Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 tsp Chipotle powder
• 3 cloves Garlic, crushed or finely minced
• Salt and Pepper

Combine all ingredients in an oven-proof container.  Bake, covered, at 325 degrees for about an hour.  With a stick blender (potato masher, whatever) partially blend up the chili, leaving it nice and chunky.

Nicholas and I are apparently not very bright, or at least have a short attention span, because we were taking photos of the entire assembly process and then spaced on the final product.  So no pictures of the Black Bean Tempeh Chili Black Bean Burgers.  Fortunately, we have leftovers of both the burger mix and chili, so maybe we can sneak in photo a wee bit later.

Serve on a burger with cheese, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce and yellow mustard (just like Tommy's) or scoop into a bowl, cover with grated cheese and throw under a broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Tasty!