Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Black Bean Burgers and Lisa's Cantina Potato Salad

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Black Bean Burgers and Lisa's Cantina Potato Salad

We had these last Saturday, May 31st as our send off to avocados for a month. I've just been busy with work, and then came down with a cold, so have been slow to getting around to posting about them.
They were really good, and I was particularly happy to find a 'new' black bean burger. You see, Main Squeeze, the vegetarian restaurant here in town, used to serve a black bean burger, topped with vegan chipotle mayo, avocado, red onion, the works. It was so good. It had actually made it's way to my top favorite foods, then Main Squeeze stopped serving them. I was crushed, and haven't had a black bean burger since, which is such a shame. I think I did a fairly good job replicating my old favorite and I'm happy it's back in my meal routine! I adapted this recipe from a Vegetarian Time's recipe which can be found here.

Lisa (the Show Me Vegan) posted about a chipotle potato salad awhile back which she dubbed 'Cantina Potato Salad'. It seemed like the perfect accompaniment to the burgers so we whipped up a batch. This potato salad was AWESOME. Seriously good stuff. I will definitely take this to the next potluck I attend, you couldn't even tell it was vegan! Brett really liked the dressing for the potato salad and thought, if toned down in spiciness a bit, it would be an awesome salad dressing too. Lisa, you rock, thanks for the recipe.















J-Style Black Bean Burgers
Makes 3 MEGA burgers

1 1/2 cups black beans, cooked
1 cup long grain brown rice, cooked
1/4 cup sweet corn, cooked
1/2 cup Matzoh meal
2 serrano peppers, seeded and minced
1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
juice of one lime
1 tbsp ketchup (I use organic, no sugar added)
chili powder
cumin
ground coriander
onion powder
dash white pepper
salt
1/4-1/2 cup water, as needed to get desired consistency

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers and garlic and cook for 10 minutes.

Transfer all ingredients in a food processor and blend. Add the water a little bit at a time until you get the desired consistency.

Form batter into three large patties and refrigerate for an hour.

Heat just a tiny bit of coconut oil in a medium skillet. Add the burger and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.

We topped our burgers with vegan chipotle mayo, lettuce from our CSA, red onion, and avocado.

Really, really good, we will be having these often!

I apologize that I've gotten a bit behind reading everyone's blogs, I am hoping to get caught up soon. And this cold better split pronto, I am taking a four day weekend this weekend.

'Til next time.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks really good. I need to try both the burger and the salad! And don't feel bad about missing my blog--I haven't written anything! I was in South Carolina for a week, so I put the blog on hold.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your avocado fast! It must be tough for something you love so much. Mmm, that potato salad looks like th perfect accompaniment, it just spells "summer!"

jessy said...

oh happy day! dan and i have been looking for a tasty black bean burger recipe! w00t! now i'm going to have to work this one in. and yes, Lisa's potato salad did look awesome - glad it tastes awesome, too! i might just have to replicate your whole meal. it looks divine! and just perfect for summer!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Ahh, those black-bean burgers sound AMAZING - yum!! Best of luck with your avocado-free month!

Danielle said...

Good luck with your avocado fast... I don't know if I could handle it, more power to ya!

Anonymous said...

Those burgers look and sound amazing! I am making them this weekend...I wonder if they would freeze well? I think I will give it a try--I like having easy things to heat and eat when I get home from work starving and ready for dinner!

Thanks for the recipe! I am sorry that the burgers are no longer being served, but it looks like you came up with a delicious substitute!

Courtney

Bianca said...

Good luck on the avocado thing! You guys are brave! I know how ya'll love guac....the burgers sound great and I love potato salad.

Anonymous said...

I just love black bean burgers and in fact, have some beans boiling for burgers tonight! (could there be more B's in my comment???)
Good luck for the avacados. I love love love them, but since they aren't local, don't eat them very often. I do miss them, though!

Erin said...

Those burgers sound great, I love a good black bean burger with the works.

J said...

Ve*ganChick - Thank you. I would highly recommend them both, especially that potato salad - man that was good!

I'm glad I haven't missed anything. I hope you had a lot of fun in South Carolina!

Romina - I think it might be harder than I thought it was going to be, but I still think I'll survive. ;-)

It does spell summer - even better, it was HOT the day we made these!

Jessy - These were really good and easy to make. I LOVE food processors. The burger and the potato salad make a nice, rounded out meal, and I bet the burgers would be awesome fresh off the grill!

Veggie Girl - Thank you and thank you. :-)

Courtney - I think they would freeze wonderfully, just form them into patties, place the patties between pieces of wax paper, pop 'em in a freezer baggy and you'll be good to go.

I agree, having almost ready made meals in the freezer rocks any time, especially when it's hot outside and the last thing you want to do is turn the oven on.

No problem, I was really sad, but at least I have something close!

Bianca - It's tough, but it will prove a lot about my will power. I love potato salad too, and oddly, it's something I kind of figured I would never eat again as a vegan. How wrong was I?!

Shellyfish - Hahaha, I enjoyed your 'b' laden comment. Try to say beans boiling for burgers five times fast! ;-)

That is the point I am trying to reach. Right now, well, before the beginning of June that is, we ate them very regularly, and they are one of the only things I would buy from Mexico during the winter. I got to thinking about how often I ate them and thought it would be really nice if I could learn to treat avocados as more of a 'treat'. If that doesn't work, I'm moving to California or Mexico!

Erin - Thank you. Me too!

Lizzy said...

Oh my god I want that plate and everything that's on it!!
I haven't had potato salad in ages. Guess I'll have to buy a jar of veganaise and make this one =)

I made black bean burgers and only ate a spoonful of one, wanting to freeze them. When I came back my dad had left one over and said "These were gooood!" ha ha. I'll have to make a version with brown rice soon though, because I think it'd really increase the texture.

And your chipotle mayo... me wannnnts! Please start selling your dips and sauces already, I'm desperate ha ha!

KB said...

These look great! I have a quick & easy black bean burger recipe, but it's a little lacking sometimes. I'll have to try yours.

One quick question -- when you say, for instance, "1 c. brown rice, cooked", are you measuring it dry and then cooking? Or is that 1 c. of cooked brown rice? Normally I would interpret it as the former, but that seems like the burgers would be even bigger than mega.

Good luck with your avocado fast! At least it is summer, so there are plenty of good local things to replace it with.

Alicia said...

This meal looks so comforting... I could have it right now (and it's 9 in the morning, hehe)

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

I'm just getting around to checking out my usual blogs too, and discovered that you tried the potato salad! Glad you liked it. It's one of our favorites.

J said...

Lizzy - :-)

It had been a long time since I had potato salad myself, it's really good.

The rice does add to the texture.

You are making me blush!

kb - I am referring to 1 cup cooked brown rice. I generally cook up a batch of rice to use throughout the week and just measure a cup out of that.

Thank you. I am lucky in that respect, the farmer's market is starting to get really plentiful.

Alice - :-) It's never too early for a black bean burger. Hehehehe.

Lisa - No worries, thanks again for sharing the recipe, it's amazing. I can see why it is one of your favorites.