02 March 2011

Chickpea "burgers" with quick tomato chutney and yogurt mint sauce


Living in a country that doesn't have delicious readymade veggie burger patties as is the case in the States and other places is a blessing of sorts in that this forces me to make my own. When I stumbled onto Rachael Ray's recipe for burgers made with chickpea patties last night, I just knew that I had discovered a perfect new veggie burger. Already spiced up with these delicious patties, I decided to jazz up these "burgers" with even more of an Indian touch with my quick tomato chutney and a zesty yogurt mint sauce. The result was amazing!

CHICKPEA "BURGERS" WITH QUICK TOMATO CHUTNEY AND YOGURT MINT SAUCE
Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray
Makes 4 burgers

4 hamburger buns (note - I didn't have any so used a loaf of ciabatta bread instead!)
Chickpea patties, recipe follows
Quick tomato chutney, recipe follows
Yogurt mint sauce, recipe follows
1/2 red onion, sliced into slivers

For chickpea patties
1 can (15 ounces or 400 grams) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup chopped parsley
1 green chili, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin powder
A few drops hot sauce
2/3 cup bread crumbs
Salt, to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Mix the chickpeas, parsley, green chili, cumin powder and hot sauce in a food processor, adding a tiny bit of water if necessary, until smooth.

2. Place the mixture in a large bowl and add bread crumbs and salt. Mix well. Add egg and mix well again.

3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Form large patties of 2/3 inch thickness and cook one by one in the skillet. Each patty will need to cook about 4-5 minutes on each side.

4. While the patties are cooking, make the tomato chutney and the yogurt mint sauce. As each patty is done, place on a place and cover to keep the patties warm.

Instead of the standard lettuce, tomato and mustard, I decided to give these "burgers" an Indian touch with my own quick tomato chutney and a yogurt mint sauce. These were perfect on the green chili and cumin seasoned chickpea patties. Topped with some red onion slivers, the "burgers" were out of this world! Even my meat-eating husband agreed, saying that he might start preferring veggie burgers if I making ones like this. Watch out now!


QUICK TOMATO CHUTNEY
Makes 1 cup

A little note about this tomato chutney: it makes a great topping for these "burgers" but is also great with any number of Indian snacks. You can also replace it for the tomato in your standard grilled cheese & tomato sandwich, or spread it on top of some brie before wrapping in puff pastry and popping in the oven for an Indian version of brie en croute. The possibilities with this chutney are truly endless!

1 teaspoon olive  oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger paste
3 medium-small tomatoes, chopped (keep the seeds and pulp)
1 tablespoon ketchup (the secret ingredient...adds a great sweetness!)
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
Salt to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan. Once it warms, add the mustard seeds.

2. Once the seeds start popping, add the onion and ginger paste. Saute for 3-4 minutes until onion is softened.

3. Add the tomatoes and ketchup. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes are very soft. Add cumin and coriander powders, garam masala and salt to taste. Stir well and saute for 2-3 minutes more to blend the flavors.


YOGURT MINT SAUCE
Makes 1 cup
 
Handful (about 1 cup loosely packed) fresh mint leaves
1 green chili, chopped
A bit of water
250 grams Greek or Bulgarian yogurt
Salt and sugar to taste

1. Mix the mint leaves and green chili in a food processor with just enough water to form a coarse paste.

2. Put the mixture into a small bowl and mix in the yogurt. Add salt and sugar to taste.


To assemble, top the patties with a generous portion of the tomato chutney, a few slivers of red onion and some yogurt mint sauce and serve on the buns.

21 comments:

  1. This looks so beautiful and yummy! I will definitely be trying this for all my meat loving ways.

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  2. Oh how yummy that looks! I love your amazing photos..I am totally drooling now:)))

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  3. That looks like an awesome meal..I love these chickpea burgers n am drooling all over it..YUM!!


    US Masala

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  4. Is that ciabatta!?!? Looks amazing! And the sound of a chickpea burger is just heavenly!

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  5. Sounds delicious! But should you ever want to go the lazy route, I've seen something that looks very like veggie burgers in the refrigerated section of natural food and organic stores like Naturalia or Biocoop. Now, if only we could do something about the bun situation...

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  6. Excellent! Really a nice way to eat a delicious BOCADILLO.

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  7. Excellent! Really a nice way to eat a delicious BOCADILLO.
    Sorry the other went as anonymous.

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  8. This recipe looks fantastic all the way around, but I am particularly interest in the Quick Tomato Chutney. Do you think this can be canned?!

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  9. Looks and sounds wonderful! I can almost smell it from here =) Do you have any pics of the patty? I'm curious to see what it looks like. cheers.

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  10. that's some nice juicy bite! love the yogurt dip you made..

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  11. Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

    Camille - I've had those veggie burger lookalikes from Naturalia. They are OK but just seem to be missing something, don't you think?

    Elizabeth - I've made bigger batches of this chutney and kept it for a couple of weeks in my fridge with no problems. I really don't know anything about canning but I'm sure that it would can well as well. If you can point me to some good resources on canning please do, as I would love to learn more!

    Veggietestkitchen - No...can you believe I forgot to take pictures of the patties!? But I'll probably be making these again soon since they were a hit with my hubby too...so I'll post some pics of the patties next time!

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  12. this sounds delicious and refreshing! ...And filling. :)

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  13. Enough inspiration to convert me back to being a vegetarian in Paris!

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  14. The burger look scrumptious, but was searching for the patties that goes inside these burger! Mint sauce is refreshing and flavorful.

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  15. this veg burger is really tempting, like the yogurt dip. btw what bread it is?

    first time here and loved your space

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  16. Looks delicious and tempting!

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  17. recette bien gourmande
    bon mercredi
    val de familyblog

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  18. I am imagining the flavors in my mind and I am drooling! Absolutely loove this!!

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  19. I know these were delicious! I love the use of tomato chutney!

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  20. One word: Yum! Love how you gave the chick peas patty your own flavor and it appears to be a might good one to. Once again I'm clicking "save."

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  21. I love this recipe! So many of my favourite ingredients and such a nice combination. I had lentil burgers before, but never thought you could do something similar with chickpeas. Can't wait to try this.

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