Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burger

I am always looking for something nice to eat that is quick and tasty. After eating a variety of frozen and prepacked vegetable burgers, I have been testing a few of the veggie and vegan versions. Some of the recipes I have tried have been to bready and others just fell apart. I found a perfect version on FatFreeVegan that I adapted with less ingredients that worked for me. What I love is how the flavors come together and how quick the burger took to assemble and cook. Even better is how the batter is when you let it sit over night or taking the batter and making frozen patties of your own. Much better than what I've eaten in the store or bought on the fly at a fast food place.  My sweet potato cost 75 each, the black beans were .99 at the store; and the spinach is .50 per serving! I think that's a little more cheaper than the regular fast food combo meal. The fiber count is also good because of the black beans! It's a win win in my opinion.

Ingredients 

• 1 baked sweet potato 
• 1/2 cup of black beans, rinsed and drained 
• 1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter 
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder 
• 1 inch minced ginger root 
• 1 teaspoon of jamaican curry powder 
• 1 teaspoon of ground paprika 
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper 
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper 
• 1/3 cup of minced onion 
• 1/3 cup of orange pepper 
• 1/3 of rolled oats or old fashioned oats 
• 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten 

Instructions 

1. Boil or bake your sweet potato for 8-10 minutes. You can also microwave if you like. 
2. Take sweet potato and place in blender or food processor cup with the peanut butter, garlic, and all spices. Process for 50 seconds to 1 minute. (You can also mash with a potato masher in a bowl if you do not have a food processor/blender.) 
3. Take potato mix and place in bowl, add black beans, yellow or orange pepper, onions, and oats. Mix thoroughly then add the vital wheat gluten. It will be doughy not wet. If your dough is not set yet, add more wheat gluten (more or less to your liking). 
4. Set the oven to 425 degrees. Place parchment paper in the oven, so that you can lay down your patties and cook til the desired amount. 
5. Scoop and form patties (mines generated 10 nice sized ones). Bake for 30 minutes until brown and burgers are set. You should check in the middle of cooking time to flip burgers so that they are evenly cooked. 

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Servings : 8-10 patties


Post cooking note: 
You can serve on a bun or on vegetables (like collard greens or spinach like I did). Works well both ways! Also, the flavor from the spices are so good and the burger is not heavy but really nice and light. Very healthy!

(c) 2013 by Pam Osbey
All Rights Reserved