Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Bean and Vegetable Burger

It is convenient, comfortable, no fuming, no swearing, could catch some zzzs or two, read a book, listen to music or even watch a movie. Even with so many plusses, public transportation is not the preferred mode of commute for a lot of people in the US. I am not talking about people who have to jump through hoops to take the bus or train but about people for whom it would be an added convenience. I was talking to someone who wrote it off without even a thought.

This sudden light did not dawn on me in a moment of lucidity one fine morning but one I had known all along. Public transportation is just not chic. When I told people at my (ex)office I take the bus and metro to get to work, the question that popped up was "You take the bus?" in that incredulous voice. Taking public transportation for some reason brings with it a negative connatation. When the gas hit $4/gallon the negative was overcome and a lot more people readily took the bus making it difficult for regulars to find parking spots. Unlike in European countries I know of no high level official (barring the VP who used to take the Amtrak), takes public transportation and hence lack of powerful voices to fight for these services. There was a huge uproar about a year back when it came to light that none of the officals who sit on the metro board have ever been on the DC metro. Fixing transportation should be on top of the list if there is some hope of doing something about the emissions. Public transportation to get popular should become cool and irresistible.

I have not posted a bean recipe in quite a while and wanted to set it right. I have been cooking a lot of beans but nothing new. I wanted to make something similar to those bean burgers that we find in the frozen section and they do make a decent meal.
I started out pan frying and then put them in the oven as impatientce took over. But the pan fried ones are much more moist and tastier than the baked ones.

Photobucket


Black Bean Vegetable Burger
1. 2 cups black beans soaked overnight
2. 2 potatoes
3. 1 cup green beans
4. 2 carrots peeled and diced
5. a handful of green peas
6. 4 green chilies chopped fine
7. 4 garlic pods chopped
8. 2 tsp chili powder (suit to taste)
9. salt to taste
10. garlic 2 inch piece (half grated, half pounded)

Method
1. Pressure cook the black beans with the pounded ginger till soft
2. Steam the potatoes and other veggies
3. Fish out the ginger and mash the beans gently and mixed with the mashed veggies (press the water out)
4. Mash the potatoes and mix with the chopped chilies, garlic, grated ginger
5. Now shape them into patties of desired size
6. Spray on both sides and bake at 325F for 7 minutes on both sides. Remove from the oven and let it rest outside. (if left in the oven for too long they get too dry)


Serve on sandwich buns. I use cream cheese instead of mayo and they tasted great with some sliced tomatoes, onions and relish.

29 comments:

  1. I love indian version of patties... looks very appetizing.

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  2. Bean burger looks delicious, like the cream cheese on top and relish looks lipsmacking.

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  3. Bean cutlet looks scrumptious ..Will give this a shot :)

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  4. Beab burger looks yummy delicious.

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  5. I always feel guilty when I come here.. :) I am one of those who ignore public transportaion for the freedom of a car. :( I really want to start using the company bus, in summer.

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  6. Hey never tried this one,but the recipe sounds soooo delicious,i am so tempted to try this out.In absence of burger bun,i can even relish it with softbun(pav).Wht say huh??

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  7. I love bus rides but here in US, there are so limited number of buses and then they are not at convenient stops either here in this small town.We can save so much if we didn't have to have cars for each one of us, insu, gas, maintenance and smoke test etc costs a fortune on each car!

    Love the bean burgers, delicious. In UK, they have a fast food chain called Vimpy's, their spicy Bean burgers are so yummy. We don't have one such veg. burger here.

    On the third day today, schools are open but running 2 hrs late. They lost 2 1/2 days of school, I am not very pleased.

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  8. I like homemade vegetarian burgers than the fast food ones any day..!
    yours look great...this is perfect for fussy kids too!

    cheers,trupti
    the spice who loved me

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  9. It's been ages since i made bean burgers.. used to experiment with different varieties of beans quite a lot earlier on.

    I agree with you... Singapore has an awesome public transportation system and it just keeps getting better each time i visit... so coming from there I was very disappointed with what i saw in atlanta and dc. But atleast these cities have it when compared to so many that don't.

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  10. Looks delicious! Nice try.. Yummy!

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  11. You are so right about Public Trasportation, I mean I don't know about negative connotation but public transport is woefully lacking in the suburbs.

    It would be so much more nice if they ran more buses at regular intervals around here. Other than NYC you can hardly take the public transport to reach anywhere from my home

    In grad school, I used to walk for 10 mins, and then take two buses (totalling an hour) to reach a destination which was actually just 20 mins from my home !!! I just wish they had better bus services or something at least like autos :)

    Those bean burgers are great, I usually buy Morning star but these look and am sure tastes way better

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  12. I love bean burgers & I like ur bakes version. I always coat a pan with littl oil & cover & cook till lightly browned. I will try in the oven next.

    & I use chutney with it, no mayo:-)

    When I first came to USA, I desperately used to miss the frequency of public transport back in India.

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  13. Well Public transports are very common here in SG...so no much of hassel the only thing is its damn crowded in peak hrs :)...have bookmarked this recipes...looks super cool

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  14. Where I live, there is no public transport to speak of. We have a train station in our town but commuter trains come only early mornings and late evenings and serve only one route. I really feel the pain of a lack of easy public transportation when folks visit from india. They are so dependent on us for every little thing.
    The bean burger looks delicious, ISG! I just may try it for lunch today, since I;m home :)

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  15. I agree with you kind of on your previous blog post

    http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/04/news/economy/guidelines/index.htm?postversion=2009030409

    Making life too easy for people who lived beyond there means, eh ??

    sandeepa

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  16. Bean burger looks delicious and healthy.
    I do understand that public transport is a good choice in many ways. We do take them whenever possible. My husband takes the bus to work. It takes away the stress in the mornings.

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  17. Just as Sandeepa mentioned, when in grad school we had to take a 50-55min bus drive to go to a Walmart 20mi away to get our groceries. There was one just 6mi away but no bus connections. They really need to make them more convenient to use. I hate driving in the winter and would have loved to go by bus instead.

    I made a variation of these burgers sometime last year, but get to lazy to stock them more regularly :D

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  18. I did make a bean & veggie for lunch today! I used the stuff I had in my pantry/fridge and added some Tex-Mex flavoring. Thanks for the inspiration, ISG! :)

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  19. I do so enjoy bean burgers. Tempting blend of flavours in these. Black beans are a good choice.

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  20. Wow, those sound great ISG! I've not been inspired to try my hand at veggie burgers -- but now I think I will. This must taste 100x better than anything from the grocery freezer :)

    Around here mass transit is thought of mostly for students, with the exception of the commuter rail which is all over the area and widely used even by the corporate types.

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  21. just saw Vani made it..This is seriously yummy ..:)

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  22. Your tue on the public transportation. On my recent visit it took almost 1 hr to reach my office which is just 20 min drive from my hotel. In india its lot more better. The black bean patties are looking great and I think I can wrap them in a dosa and eat :)

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  23. Looks too good. I was looking for some new patty recipes. Probably this is the one.

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  24. Toronto is pretty much well connected via public transportation. They have plans to improve it even more in the following years. I take TTC all the time, but then I still haven't got my driving license yet. Hopefully I'll continue to take TTC even after I get my license.

    Bean burgers look so yummy! will give it a try soon. Is there something else that I can use instead of potatoes? Also, I'm curious if pan frying them take more oil than baking? I'm loving that it is more moist than the baked ones.

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  25. Kay, it will use a bit more oil and a lot more time. But if you use a non-stick pan perhaps a bit less oil. For the baked ones I just sprayed on top and that was it. In lieu of potatoes hmmmm, mash some of the beans (I left most of them whole) or add a handful of chickpeas and mash that fine.

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  26. Wow this bean burger looks seriously yum, definitely a must try !

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  27. This look great. will have to try sometime. I am visiting ur blog first time.

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  28. well, not many here also like the idea of travelling public transport. main reason being the cost. it costs much higher(at least where we stay) than travelling in ur own vehicle. since we have introduced shared transport system in our office, we have been saving quite a lot of money and also feel gr8 about our reduced carbon foot print ;) but as much as possible i try to walk to office and bk home as long as it doesn't snow or rain heavily!

    and those burgers look extra delicious! seriously...

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  29. We love black bean burgers. WE had it first at Chilis and loved it. I often wondered how they made it but could not find the correct recipe. Thanks ISG for this, I am bookmarking it.

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