Chickpea Burgers

You know how every season is synonymous with something? That feeling you get when you notice the first sign of spring, or almost smell the winter when it’s just around the corner? Well in my case all I can smell right now is the long, hot and sticky summer we have ahead of us here in Gurgaon. The scorching heat, humidity, water scarcity, power cuts – oh the list of everything you do not want to talk about or experience just goes on and on.

Anyway, so apart from trying to conserve water and trying to keep my cool (most importantly!), I come back to my original point of every season being synonymous with something. In the time that I spent in England (the best years of my life!!), summer has become synonymous with barbeques! We’d spend hours barbeque-ing out by the lake, in our backyards, in the park – just anywhere we could get some sun! And while there is no chance in hell that I’m going to go anywhere near a barbeque in this mental heat, ain’t noone stopping us from eating anything with barbeque sauce on it, is there?

I had these chickpea burgers at this vegan food joint in London once, and I hate myself for not remembering the name, but it was love at first bite. I could not stop thinking about them and I have been making them for the longest time now. There are many variations of this recipe – a lot of people like to make them with chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, or a mix of all of these. While I keep experimenting, these chickpea burgers with some veggies and crazy amounts of barbeque sauce is my favourite.

Though I mentioned that I first tried this at a vegan joint, this particular recipe is not really vegan, but look for my tips below if you wish to turn this into a vegan delight!

Chickpea Burgers:

Serves 2 | Prep time: 20 min | Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients : 

For the burgers-

Chickpeas – 100 gms, soaked for atleast 7-8 hours
Garlic cloves – 8-10 large cloves, blended into a paste
Spinach  – 10-15 leaves (or more if you love your greens), chopped
Carrot – 1/2 cup , grated
Parsley – 1/2 cup , chopped
Onion – 1/2 cup , chopped
Cumin powder– 1/2 tsp
Salt and pepper – to taste
Breadcrumbs – 1/2 cup (if you need to adjust the consistency)

Other ingredients-

4 wholemeal buns – buttered and toasted
Onion – 2, cut into rings
Tomato – 2, cut into roundels
Lettuce – 4-5 leaves
Mayonnaise – 1 cup (or as much as you like)
Cheese – , 1 cup, Shredded mature cheddar
Lettuce – 4-5 leaves
Oil – 1/2 cup
Mustard – 2-3 tbsps

Tips to make this vegan-

Instead of mayonnaise, you can use a tofu spread – add about 50 gms of medium firm tofu to the blender, and add olive oil to this as it keeps blending. Once imulsified, you will get a nice, smooth texture to which you can add salt, pepper and some lemon juice et voila!

Steps:

Cook the soaked chickpeas till soft. I use a pressure cooker, but you can very well boil them – I personally feel that takes much longer. If you’re lazy (no shame! I don’t judge! 🙂 ), just used canned chickpeas for this recipe.

Whiz the chickpeas in the food processor, till you get a coarse mixture. Make sure you don’t run the food processor till this turns into a fine paste, that will simply make your patties dense. Once you achieve the coarseness, transfer to a large bowl and mix all the other burger ingredients to this. Mix it all together and season. Add breadcrumbs if you think the mixture is not dry enough to hold the patty shape. The breadcrumbs will act as the binding agent.

Once you’re done mixing, shape the mixture into round patties. In a flat bottom shallow fry pan, add some oil on medium flame. When the oil is hot, place your patties in the pan. Give each side about 4-5 minutes on low flame. This of course depends on the kind of stove you have, don’t flip till you get a nice golden brown colour on the patty. Cook the other side and get off the heat once all your patties are done. It’s a good idea to add your cheese when you’re cooking the second side of your patty, put a clear lid on it so you can see the cheese melting.

On a clean dry surface, place the buttered and toasted buns. On the lower bun, spread some mustard and place some lettuce leaves. Then add a spoonful of mayo and place the patty on top of it. Now place the onion rings and the tomato followed by the top part of the bun.

I know it looks really pretty but don’t waste too long looking at it – dig in!! 🙂