MAKES 6.
TIME: 30 MINUTES.
Here's a nice, wholesome Southwestern black bean burger. Everything's been kept fairly simple so that you can top it with all sorts of things-cilantro sour cream (page 209), tropical salsa, guacamole, or all of the above. Plain old ketchup is fine, too. Also include your good friends lettuce, tomato, and red onion. Did we mention that these freeze well, too? Once cooked, pack them in a resealable plastic bag with sheets of waxed paper to separate them, then reheat in the oven at 350F for about 25 to 30 minutes.
2 cups cooked or 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
cup vital wheat gluten
cup plain whole wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon chile powder
teaspoon cumin
cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or ketchup)
cup finely chopped cilantro (optional)
2 cloves garlic
small onion
About 2 tablespoons olive oil plus olive oil spray
Whole wheat buns
MASH THE beans with a fork in a mixing bowl. You don't want to puree them; just get them mashed so that no whole beans are left, but you should leave some half beans.
Add the wheat gluten, bread crumbs, chile powder, cumin, water, and tomato paste (and cilantro, if using), but don't mix yet. Use a microplane grater to grate the garlic in. (A garlic press or very well minced garlic works, too.) Use the large holes on a box grater to grate in the onion.
Mix everything together with a fork, and then proceed to knead with your hands, until the mixture is firm and uniformly mixed (about a minute).
Preheat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Divide the burger mixture into six equal pieces. Roll each piece into a firm ball. Use your palm to press the ball down on a clean surface to form a patty that is about 1 inch thick. Press so that the patty is flat on both sides. Make six patties.
Pour a thin layer of olive oil into the pan. Cook the patties three at a time for 5 minutes on each side, gently but firmly pressing down on them with a spatula. Spray with olive oil before turning over, for uniform browning. Once cooked, the patties should be very firm when you press down on them.
Serve warm on burger buns.
SNOBBY JOES.
SERVES 4 TO 6.
TIME: 60 MINUTES.
Every vegan cookbook needs a sloppy joe recipe with the name changed around a bit, right? Well, this is ours: those sloppy joes we loved as a child, but made with lentils. Snobby Joe thinks he's better than all the other Joes because he doesn't have any meat.
1 cup uncooked lentils
4 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, cut into small dice
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chile powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
cup tomato paste
2-3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
4-6 kaiser rolls or sesame buns, sliced in half
horizontally
POUR THE lentils and water into a small saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are soft. Drain and set aside.