Sprouted Bean Bulgur Burgers

I do a lot of cooking at home by experimentation and using ingredients or leftovers I have on hand.  We have a bag of sprouted beans in our pantry that come from Costco.  These beans are really handy because they cook up in 20 minutes and can be added to a variety of dishes.  My kids don't really love the sprouted beans just on their own, so I have started to incorporate them into other dishes.  They work really well in vegan chili and as a supplement to an Indian style curry with vegetables.  Recently, I thought they might make a good base for a vegan burger and the burgers turned out quite well. 

 

 

Here is the general recipe that I used for making the burgers, but it can be modified using whatever you have on hand.  First, I boiled about 1 1/2 cups of the sprouted bean mix with about 1/2 cup of bulgur.  This would work with another grain, too, if it needs to be cooked for approximately the amount of time that you are boiling the beans.  I boiled the bean/bulgur mixture together for approximately 30-35 minutes until the water was absorbed in the mixture and it was starting to get a little mushy.  I took the mixture off the stove to cool and added garlic powder, dried onion flakes, and seasoned salt and mixed it well (For just adults, I would add additional spices and or/chili; chipotles in adobo sauce would go really well in the mixture, too.).  Then, I finely chopped half an onion and half a red bell pepper (some corn kernels would taste good in this mixture, too) and added it to the beans.  I dumped in a lot of panko crumbs to the mixture, about 1 cup, and then added water to all of this for moisture and mixed it all together (veggie broth would taste good, too.).  The original batch was a little dry, so when I finished up with the leftover mixture, I added more water before forming the patties.  It shouldn't be so dry that it is crumbling apart and it shouldn't be a mushy mess, either.  It needs enough liquid to stick together and to form patties.  This batch made 12 burger patties.  When I am ready to cook them, I get out a non-stick pan or griddle and spray it lightly with canola or olive oil cooking spray.  Then, I fry them up nicely on each side until both sides are golden brown.  Fix them up just like you would a burger on a bun or bread with all the fixings. 

 

My daughters really like this burger and our middle child that always speaks her mind said, "This is the best vegan burger I've ever had!"