falafel veggie burgers

Veggie burger + falafel = a party in my mouth. Kid you not, this is one of the best veggie burgers I have made to date. Crunchy on the outside and just right on the inside (aka not dry) and holds together incredibly well without the need for any fillers such as rice, oats or bread crumbs. This is a straight bean and veggie burger with flavors of falafel and the middle east- I can't say enough about how good this veggie burger is.

I am willing to bet these would hold up well on the grill but have yet to experiment on an open grate grill. only a tabletop outside grill griddle and they cooked up perfectly. 

Chickpeas soaked overnight along with broad beans/fava beans are the core of this burger- add in a good handful of oregano, sun-dried tomatoes, carrots and a touch of zaatar and you are on your way to veggie burger bliss. These do not require any set time in the fridge to firm up, just process, form and bake for 20 minutes in the oven. 

Zaatar is a spice mix of sumac, thyme and sesame that is used often in middle eastern cooking. If you cannot get your hands on Zaatar, simply omit. 

As I mentioned in a previous post the greens in the garden are doing amazingly well- the gorgeous greens you see above are from a mesculin mix that grew to size within 2 weeks. If you are a novice gardener greens are the way to go, all you really need to do is throw some seeds in a bit of soil, water once in a while and watch them grow!

Pesto makes yet another appearance, mixed into a bit of veganaise it was the perfect topper for the falafel burger- the herb and garlic in the pesto matched so well with the falafel notes that I really wouldn't go any other way in terms of toppers for this burger...unless you whip a vegan tzatziki .

Sometimes simple is best- fresh garden greens and herb pesto veganaise was all this burger needed. Can we talk about how awkwardly larger the bottom of that bun is- I was trying to pretend it wasn't so bad and hoped you wouldn't notice, but really, there is no hiding the fact the bottom of that burger bun is crazy off scale to the top.

If you make one thing this summer make this! It is sure to please all your guests at your next summer event - pair it with an awesome glass of vegan white wine or beer, fresh lemonade would also be pretty amazing.

Falafel Veggie Burgers

makes 6 burgers

you will need:

2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in 4 cups of water

2 1/2 cups (20oz can) Fava Beans (also known as broad beans) 

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes

1 medium carrot cut into chunks

1 cup fresh herbs (I used oregano)

2 Flax Eggs or other vegan egg substitute

1 tsp zaatar

1 tsp kosher salt

assembly:

*pre heat oven to 425 degrees F

Combine chickpeas (discard the soaking water), fava beans, sun dried tomatoes, carrot & herbs in processor. Run processor until you start to form a mix- small pieces are okay. Add flax eggs while the processor is running, then transfer half the mix to a medium bowl. Continue processing the remaining ingredients until finely processed (it should be paste like, no large pieces remaining), pulse in zaatar and salt. Transfer the mix into the bowl and stir into the chunky mix. 

A generous 1/2 cup at a time form mixture into burger shaped patties, place formed patties on a parchment lined baking sheet and continue until all 6 burger patties are formed.

Bake in pre heated oven for 10 minutes, flip burgers and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve.

Can be re heated using a griddle, stove or grill.

Store in the fridge for up to a week or wrap individually and freeze.

Enjoy!