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Chickpea Burgers with Tomato Cucumber Salsa
These burgers are SO good! Seriously, the creamy chickpeas, the warmth of cumin, tang of lemon, and the crispy edges are so delicious, AND it's healthy! Topped with a cooling, tangy, crunchy salsa and these babies don't even need a bun. I served them up with a salad and I was full all night.
Start by making the salsa. You can do this up to a day ahead - the flavors will only get better as it sits. Quarter or halve half a pint of cherry tomatoes (These beautiful yellow ones were on sale). Peel and remove the seeds from a cucumber, then dice it into small pieces.
Toss the tomatoes and cucumber with rice wine (or white wine) vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. Set aside.
For the burgers, start by mincing a white onion, a clove of garlic, zesting a lemon, and squeezing the juice of half the lemon.
Sauté the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil for 5-7 minutes, until the onion starts to caramelize. Add the garlic and a teaspoon of cumin to the onion and cook for another minute. Set aside to cool.
While the onion mixture is cooking, drain and rinse two cans of chickpeas. Place them into a large bowl, and use a potato masher to mash them up. You can also use a food processor, but I like the texture you get from coarsely mashing them - they get creamy but there are still some bigger pieces of chickpeas.
In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice with an egg, panko breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, the lemon zest, Dijon mustard, and fresh parsley.
Add the onion mixture and the egg mixture to the chickpeas and stir to combine. If the onion mixture is still hot, add it first and stir, then add the egg mixture so you avoid scrambling the egg.
Use a half cup measure to scoop out portions of the chickpea mixture and shape them into patties. The consistency should be like play-doh and clay - moldable but not too wet or sticky. If they are too soft, add a touch more panko to the mixture.
Coat the burgers in more panko if you like an extra crispy crust, and then sauté in olive oil over medium high heat until browned on both sides and heated through. Serve topped with the salsa and enjoy.
Recipe:
Total time: 45 minutes | Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, and diced
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
Kosher Salt & Pepper
1/2 cup fresh parlsey, chopped and divided in half
1 white onion, minced
Olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 egg
2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs plus more, for breading
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1. Combine the tomatoes, cucumbers, vinegar, honey and 1/4 cup parsley in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Saute the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil for 5-7 minutes until it starts to caramelize. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for one more minute, then remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Mash the chickpeas with a potato masher until they are creamy with some chunks left.
4. In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, juice, Dijon mustard, egg, 1/4 cup parsley, and 2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs.
5. Combine the onion mixture and the egg mixture with the chickpeas, as well as 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.
6. Use a 1/2 cup measure to scoop out the chickpea mixture, then form it into patties.
7. Coat the patties on both sides with more panko.
8. Heat a skillet with 2 tbs olive oil to medium high heat. Carefully place the patties into the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes per side, until golden brown.
9. Serve topped with the salsa.