The amazing thing about these veggie burgers is not that they imitate meat, in fact they don’t really taste like meat at all. However, they go very well with normal burger toppings, they taste great (even meat lovers agree!), and they freeze well for later use. This recipe was received from my friend Jessie Pomeroy around the time I became vegetarian, and although I am now back to eating some chicken this is still my favourite burger-type meal.

Ingredients:

• 19-oz can black beans
• 1 small onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp barbecue sauce or ketchup
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire or 1 1/2 tsp HP sauce
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs/cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup shredded nippy cheddar

Directions:

*If you make this in a food processor and you don’t have pre-made bread crumbs, make some with 2 slices of bread and then put them aside in a bowl. If you aren’t using a food processor, cracker crumbs are easily made by smashing a package of crackers. This can also be cathartic.*

For food processor:

Peel and chop onion in half. Place in food processor with garlic and chop until desired size of small chunks. Drain and rinse beans in a colander or sieve. Pour into food processor along with egg, ketchup, Worcestershire, vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Pulse a few times to mix everything together. Don’t puree. Turn mixture into a large bowl.

Add flour. Stir in with spatula until evenly mixed. Mix in bread crumbs/ground up crackers.  Mixture will be fairly thin.  Scatter with cheese and work in with your hands (or the spatula if you don’t like getting your hands messy).

Put about 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan and heat to medium-high.  Use a spoon to scoop a large spoonful onto the (already hot) pan and flatten to burger shape. You should be able to fit 3-4 burgers in a normal frying pan, making about 8-12 burgers total. Cook them for 8-10 min, flipping once.

Serve on buns with your favourite burger toppings.

Note: You can freeze the cooked burgers and reheat them later. They taste great even cold on a lunch sandwich.

Without food processor:

Chop the onion and garlic finely. Put into a bowl along with the beans, egg, ketchup, Worcestershire, vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Mash with a masher or even with egg beaters. Go to the step where the flour is added and follow the same instructions from there on.

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