Burger Cook Off part 1 (Anu)

I have not yet tasted the burgers that I made - that will not happen till after I go for a run this afternoon. I plan on running outside. The weather is beautiful - blue skies dotted with white clouds, in the 50's (I would prefer it to be slightly warmer, but it's good for a run!). V is taking a practice MCAT exam, so he won't eat for a while either. It's about 12.45pm - time for lunch, but we are thinking of eating the burgers at 4pm! Weird!
But, I am excited about how good the 'raw' burgers tasted that I wanted to post the recipe. Before the internet was full of recipes, I discovered (Thanks to V's aunt and cousin V) 'Moosewood' cookbooks. It was always a dream of mine to drive to Ithaca to eat in the restaurant, but it never happened. I have not looked at a recipe in the book in a while, but remembered making a 'Tofu burger' from the book years ago that I really liked. So I took out my 'Moosewood Restaurant New Classics' and made the "Falafel Burgers". The most exciting part of cooking from a Moosewood recipe is that, usually, I make no substitutions. The recipes are perfect as they are described in the book. But, today, I adapted my burger recipe to match what I had at home and our changing tastes.
Here is the recipe I used (with a 'before' photo). I will add the 'after' photo later tonight or with my next post (which I hope will be vegan enchilladas that I am going to try to make!).

Falafel Burgers (Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)

Ingredients:
1 cup diced onions
3 garlic cloves - chopped finely or minced
Olive Oil (1 T)
2 grated carrots
1/2 cup diced peppers (Mix of left over green, red and yellow!)
1t turmeric
1t cumin
Cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 cake firm tofu (15 oz) pressed and crumbled
2 cups cooked chickpeas
Juice from 1 lemon
1 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1/4 cup Tahini
Herbs (I used dried oregano)- 1/4 cup
Salt, to taste
Breadcrumbs, as needed


Saute the garlic and onions in Olive Oil. When onions are golden, add pepper and grated carrot with cumin, cayenne and turmeric (The original recipe calls for coriander in place of cumin. I am sure you can change the spice mix around to your taste). Cook until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally to prevent vegetables from sticking.

As vegetables cook, add tofu, chickpeas, sesame oil, lemon juice and soy sauce into a food processor and pulse. I started with a hand blender, but used my hands to mash the ingredients together (the chick peas were freshly looked and were very soft). A potato masher will also work well. The mix should be combined, but not a paste.

Add vegetables, herbs, tahini and salt (to taste) and mix together with your hands or a masher. Don't use the blender/food processor. If the paste is too sticky, add breadcrumbs. I added about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs at this stage.




Make into 8 burger patties and place on an oiled baking pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.


Verdict - in a few hours. These are the uncooked patties. I think it would be more colorful with all red bell peppers in the recipe (which is what the original recipe included).
Can you tell my spring break has started - a long post!!