Meatless Monday - Black Bean Burgers

So have you heard of Meatless Monday?   It's a national movement to help people eat less meat and improve their own health and the health of the planet.  Most of us eat too much meat and would be healthier if we would cut back and enjoy more veggies and grains.  I've been interested in this for some time now and we usually eat meatless three or four days a week.  I've been gathering some great recipes and thought I would begin to share some on the blog and help spread the message of Meatless Monday.

There are a ton of recipes for veggie burgers.  Some good, some not so good.  But this one is extra good if you are a fan of tex-mex food.  And I am.  I adapted this recipe for Black Bean Cakes from a Cuisine at Home magazine and serve them with mexican rice and slaw.  It's a tasty combination.  We don't eat them on a bun, but you could if you wanted it to be more like a burger.

I make the rice first and cook it in my ricer cooker.  Of course this can be done on the stove top, but I love my rice cooker.   Start off with chopped carrots, onions, celery and garlic. 

These are sauteed with tomato paste, a bay leaf and cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper.

While this is sauteing, I take the rest of the tomato paste in tablespoon measurements and put them in an ice cube tray.  I've found if I freeze these little cubes, it's easy to pop out one or two as needed and defrost in the microwave.  It's rare that a recipe calls for an entire can of tomato paste and if I put the remainder in the refrigerator, when I pull it out to use later, it's often growing fuzzy stuff.  Yuck!  I hate to waste food, so frozen cubes of tomato paste work much better.  I also keep pesto, lemon juice and chicken broth in the freezer in the same way.  Works great when I need just a little for a recipe.

I transfer the sauteed veggies to the rice cooker and add the rice, chicken broth and spices.  The reason I love my rice cooker is because at this point, I can totally forget about it while I make the cakes and slaw. Be careful to remember to take out the bay leaf before you serve it.  I am bad about forgetting that, and it would be okay if I were the one who ended up with it on my plate, but usually someone else gets that gift, and biting into a bay leaf isn't a nice surprise.

Into a bowl, I put the beans first and mash half of them with a potato masher or fork, leaving some beans whole.  This makes for a nicely textured burger.

I grind up tortilla chips in the food processor and use that as the binder to hold the cakes together.

To this I grate a little onion,  and add chopped red pepper, an egg and spices.

Shape into patties and fry in a skillet until they are heated through and lightly browned on each side.

 While they are browning, I make the slaw, by shredding the cabbage. 

The sauce for the slaw is made in the food processor with scallions, cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice and

sour cream. This combination of flavors screams mexican!  I wouldn't be interested in eating this slaw on

it's own, but it's really good with the rice and bean cakes.  

With a few slices of avocado on the side, it makes a great meal and no one will be missing the meat!

Black Bean Cakes with Mexican Rice and Slaw

For the Rice:

1/3 cup each of onion, carrot and celery, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. tomato paste

1/2 t. each of salt, ground cumin and paprika

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup white rice ( I use brown - it takes longer to cook)

1 cup chicken broth or water

Saute veggies, garlic, tomato paste, spices and bay leaf in 1 T. olive oil in a saucepan for 2 minutes.

Stir in the rice and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from

heat and let stand, covered until ready to serve.  Fluff rice and remove bay leaf.

For the black bean cakes:

1 can black beans, drained, rinsed and divided

1 egg

1/4 cup corn tortilla chips, ground fine

1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced

2 T. onion, grated

1/2 t. each of salt, cumin and chili powder

Mash 1/2 cup beans and egg in a bowl.  Add remaining beans, chips, bell pepper, onion and seasonings.

Refrigerate mixture for 10 minutes if needed to firm up the consistency. ( I didn't have to do this)

Form into round cakes and fry in 2 T. oil in nonstick skillet over medium heat until heated through and 

browned on each side.  

For the slaw:

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced ( I used a little less than this)

10 sprigs of fresh cilantro

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

juice of 1 lemon

2 cups cabbage, shredded

salt to taste

Puree the first 5 ingredients for the slaw in the food processor; toss with cabbage and then season with

salt.