Teriyaki Black Bean Burgers

I am new to this whole not-eating-meat gig. I've only been at it for a month or so. But when I imagined not being able to have hamburgers during the summer holidays? It made me sad.

This is my first time eating a vegetarian burger. For the past week, I have been contemplating what ingredients and flavors that I wanted to put into this recipe, and the results were fantastic! Inspiration for this recipe comes from here and here. These burgers go beautifully with my recipe for Hawaiian Buns.

I honestly did not miss the beef. #truestory 

Teriyaki Black Bean Burgers

INGREDIENTS:

4 cans (14.5 Each) Black Beans

2 cups frozen tater tots, heated up and broken apart

3 green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons unsweetened crushed pineapple

2 whole Eggs

Salt

Pepper

1 cup cornmeal (you may need more if the mix is too wet)

Hamburger Buns

Pineapple Rings, grilled (optional, but this really MAKES the burger extra special!)

Sauce:

1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened crushed pineapple
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

HOW TO PREPARE:

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple, ginger, garlic and sesame oil; set aside. 

Drain, but do not rinse, the black beans. Place them in a bowl and use a fork to mash them. Keep mashing until they're mostly broken up, but still have some whole beans visible. Add the tater tots, green onion, crushed pineapple, eggs, salt, pepper and 3 tablespoons of the ketchup mixture. Stir until everything is combined, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. At this point, my teriyaki black bean burger mix was too soft. It wouldn’t hold its shape. So I sprinkled in some cornmeal – probably close to 1 cup – until it was thicker and didn’t fall apart.

Form the bean mixture into patties slightly larger than the buns you're using (the patties will not shrink when they cook.) I didn’t’ actually form my patties, I just scooped up a spoonful and put it right on the griddle. My patties weren’t perfectly round – but they don’t really need to be a circle, right? Cook on a griddle or skillet, with some oil until the bottom is nicely browned. Flip over and then baste with remaining ketchup mixture.

Yield: 11 servings – yes, it was an odd amount of servings, but I imagine that I could have made the patties smaller or bigger. It’s up to you!