Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers

This recipe is by request (which I always appreciate, so definitely send any and all recipe requests my way in the comments!).  As you already know, I love sweet potatoes and I love caramelized onions.  This simple burger marries the two together, along with black beans (another personal favorite) into one simple patty-shaped deliciousness delivery system.

If you have never made your own burgers before, I promise you that once you do you will never go back to frozen pre-packaged patties.   Home made burgers pack a punch of fresh flavor and textures that the little cardboard hockey pucks simply can’t imitate.  These guys are fairly easy to make, especially if you “bake” your potatoes in the microwave (to do this I poke holes in medium sized sweet potatoes with a fork, wrap them in damp paper towels, and bake them in the microwave for about seven minutes or until soft) and have some caramelized onions in your refrigerator ready to go.  I especially like the addition of chipotle pepper to these – they add a nice smoky flavor that compliments the sweetness of the potatoes.

The best part about eating burgers is, of course, the fixins.

We top ours with lettuce, tomato, avocado, caramelized onions, mustard, ketchup, and cilantro-lime mayo (see recipe below).

Enjoy!

 

 

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers

1 cup mashed sweet potato
1 15oz can black beans
1 ½ cups bread crumbs (I like whole wheat)
½ onion, caramelized (or, depending upon how you like your onion flavor, use a smaller amount of raw onion or still use ½ onion that has been sautéed for 10 or so minutes)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 small chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Oil for frying

1.    Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix/mash together until well blended.  (The black beans will lose some of their texture, but I like to make sure that there are always some whole beans left to make the burgers more interesting)
2.    Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat (a few tablespoons to cover the bottom will do, but be sure to continue to add oil if needed because these burgers can easily stick to the pan).    Shape the burger mixture into eight patties.  
3.    Cook four burgers at a time (or fewer depending upon the size of your pan – the goal is to not crowd the pan), for about 4-5 minutes per side or until crispy brown on each side.  
4.    Serve with lots of fixins!

Cilantro-Lime Mayo

½ cup vegan mayonnaise
½ -1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (amount depends upon how spicy you like it)
2 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 tbsp lime juice

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.

 

 

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Raw Burgers with Mango Salsa

I have often extolled the virtues and benefits of eating as many foods in as close to their natural state as possible. Avoid processed foods, eat whole foods, eat organic, eat local, yada yada … you’ve heard it all before, probably from people who have put it more compellingly than I ever could, so I’ll just proceed as if we already all agree on this point 🙂

We eat a lot of raw food here at the Outpost, through no concerted efforts other than we really love fruits and vegetables, and we happen to be fortunate enough to live in a place where terrific produce is available year round. The thing, is, though, that most of our raw cuisine consists of smoothies, salads, nuts, and crudités. Not exactly blog worthy cuisine, eh?

From time to time, however, I do like to concoct more elaborate raw dishes. I have a few favorite raw recipe books that I turn to when the urge to go all-out raw strikes:

Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis
Rawvolution by Matt Amsden
Living Cuisine by Renee Loux Underkoffler
I am Grateful by Terces Engelhart

There are also some really great raw food blogs out there.

I happen to have a few of the items that make the more involved raw food recipes easier to prepare: a food processor, a blender, and a food dehydrator. (If you do not have a dehydrator, you can still make lots of the recipes that require one by using your oven on a low temperature. I would not recommend this for the recipes that require long hours in the dehydrator, but for shorter drying times – such as the burger recipe below – I think it would be just fine.) I do not have the other appliance that would round out the-well stocked raw kitchen: a juicer. When necessary, I get around that by purchasing fresh juice from one of our island natural food stores when a recipe requires it.

Earlier this week I was reading The Sunny Raw Kitchen and was intrigued by Carmella’s post about some jalapeño burgers she recently made. The recipe was originally posted here. I made some modifications to the recipe and my modifications to the recipe are posted below. She had paired her burgers with these avocado fries and I did not see reason to mess with a formula that seemed pretty sure-fire (and I happen to love avocado), so I made those, as well, and followed the recipe with no modifications.

To top off the burgers and avo fries, I made a simple mango salsa, which was absolutely delicious, and the recipe is also posted below.

Raw food is fresh, delicious, and great for you. I am impressed by raw foodists and chefs who do it so well because I think they exhibit a wonderful creativity and imagination in the kitchen. I am not going to be giving up my baked cupcakes or tofu anytime soon, but it’s all about a healthy balance, no?

For those of you who need further convincing on this whole raw food thing, just scroll down to see the raw carrot cake I made from Living Cuisine … absolutely divine, I tell you …..

Raw Burgers

2 cup walnuts, soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup smoky sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until very soft, reserve 1/8 cup soaking water
1 small poblano pepper, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp Tandoori seasonings
Salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until you achieve a thick, paste-like consistency. Be sure to scrape down the sides during processing to ensure that all ingredients are well incorporated. Remove from processor.

Shape into small patties. Place patties onto a teflex-lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate at 115F for 2 hours. Flip the patties onto the dehydrator screen for an additional 2 hours.

Salsa

2 tomatoes, diced
1 mango, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
¼ cup cilantro

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

And dessert … delicious carrot cake:

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