I adapted this from a recipe from fatfreevegan – despite ‘fat free’ and ‘vegan’ both being high up on my list of dangerous approaches to nutrition.  (I’m not a nutritional extremist, and I don’t use the word ‘dangerous’ casually.)    Though it’s not a site that I would turn to for nutritional guidance, they do have interesting ways to combine beans and grains.

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 -4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 c. cooked black beans
• 1/2 c. dry quinoa (cook in chicken broth)
• 1/2 baked sweet potato (use only the inside part)
• 1/4 c. arrowroot powder, crumbs, or flour (this is the binder)
• 1 T. caraway seeds
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1 t. balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and garlic in lots of good fat – I used coconut oil, but you can use rendered chicken fat or tallow.  (Using a generous amounts Add the carrot when the onion and garlic are translucent, and cook until soft.  Add the beans and mash it all together.  Then add the remaining ingredients and mix well. You might need to increase the amount of binder to make the consistency firm enough to form into burgers.  Use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop onto a greased baking sheet.  Gently press down with a fork to make the size of an average burger. Bake at 350 degrees until done.

I had baked sweet potatoes ready to go when preparing this, but decided to leave it out because the kids like eating them as is.  I used cooked carrots I had in the fridge, and mashed them in with the beans.  I decided to leave out the binder and serve this as a stew instead of a burger.  The taste is basically the same, but the preparation time is less and my kids don’t need it served in a burger form to be able to enjoy it.

If you want this to be gluten free, use arrowroot powder as your binder instead of something else.

Avivah