Edamame Burgers with Brown Rice and Apple

From Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, Lukas Volger, Wakefield Press, 2010.

I have two vegetarian cookbooks based entirely on making burgers. This one is by far the better of the two. The recipes are just of themselves whereas in the other book the recipes seem to be trying too hard to be something else—like in vegetarian restaurants where they have meals that are trying to be meat.

This burger began with sautéing some pumpkin seeds in a dry pan until they had become golden. They were put aside and the pan was used now for doing the same with some sesame seed. They have a shorter cooking time so needed to be done separately.

They went into a blender and a cup of defrosted edamame seeds and a tablespoon ground flax seeds (linseeds) were added. The mixture was pureed, though still leaving some texture to it. This was now placed into a bowl and the following ingredients added: two tablespoons rice flour, 1½ cups cooked brown rice, a tablespoon molasses, 2 teaspoons soya sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and one apple peeled and cut up finely. The mixture was now complete and only needed cooking.

When I looked at the burger mix I had some doubts about whether this was going to hold together but the instructions warned that it should hold together if cooked correctly. The method described was to have a very hot pan, place the burger in and cook it for 2 minutes then turn down the pan to medium heat and continue the cooking. I tried this; the burgers fell apart somewhat, especially at the turning them over stage.

They were served with potato casserole and baked zucchini. The burgers—or burger crumble—were very tasty, so much so that I didn’t mind that they had fallen apart. They had a crunchy chewiness from the brown rice while the savoury edamames were enhanced by the sweetness of the molasses and apple.

These are worth trying again, possibly taking the pureeing a step further although I did enjoy the texture as it was. I had thoughts of using an egg but that would quite alter the flavour. A possibility would be to add a little more rice flour to bind it.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔