Vegan Bean and Beet Protein Patty

I had a vegan burger the other day at Red Robin (Keep It Simple: ancient grain and quinoa), and while I haven't tried to replicate the ingredients of this one, I tried another bean/beet centered recipe. As a carnivore who loves digging into a slab of grilled bovine, I have to say that this alone is probably not going to convert me from giving up my greenhouse-gas producing meat sources. After putting it on a bun slathered with deli mustard and homemade ketchup, and frying up the vegetarian patty with Tillamook Colby Jack cheese and plating it with some dill pickles, neither the taste nor texture even comes close to a real beef burger. Sad, I know.

As for cost, it's about the same as beef; unless you factor in the labor it takes to make these. Bringing the entire batch together took well over an hour of prep time. How I made this is not entirely vegan, since I used chicken broth to cook the dry lentils. And while I have all the ingredients on hand to make a vegan cheese sauce, the whole process seems daunting. My first foray into making vegan cheese with coconut cream as its base turned out disastrous and I hadn't thought about it for several years since then. Each patty is roughly 200 calories. After plating it as a "burger" like object, calorie count rises to around 500 from the dairy-based cheese and bun.

Makes 8 vegetarian patties.

The Foodening Blog: vegan bean and beet patties

Ingredients

1 can organic garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
1 c cooked lentils, drained
1.5 c organic old fashioned oats
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 large portbello mushroom cap and stem, chopped
olive oil, for cooking

Directions

1. Chop the mushroom into 1/2" pieces, including the stem, and fry over medium heat in a pan with olive oil. Remove from heat and drain.

2. Blend half of all the ingredients together in a food processor. I have a 7-cup food processor and I had to pulse in batches. You should probably add the nutritional yeast early in because the blended stuff will be rather dry-ish.

2.5. Use a patty mould to press into patties. Place each patty onto a square of parchment paper or waxed paper.

3. Heat a frying pan with olive oil and add the patty. Once you flip the patty, you can add a slice of cheese (dairy or vegan), cover the pan and let the cheese melt. Total cooking time is less than 5 minutes after the pan initially heats up.

4. Serve with mustard, ketchup, dill pickles, and bun if desired. Personally, I would not eat these things as is. 

Pickled Beets

For this batch of beets, I seem to have undercooked them by just a bit. They boiled for an hour too, but apparently it wasn't long enough. These were small to medium sized beets. Despite some being "fork tender", others still had some crunch. I suppose beets can be eaten raw. I just haven't eaten it that way. I also boiled these whole without removing the stems or roots. Just scrub them clean before cooking.

I've read that the only difference between kosher salt and pickling salt is what else is in it. Table salt cannot be used since it is usually laced with iodine, which can make a cloudy brine. Pickling salt has no added iodine; sea salt has minimal iodine and is an acceptable substitute; and kosher salt has added yellow prussiate of soda (at least the Morton's brand does) which also discolors the brine.  

The pickling liquid is enough for 5 pints of beets and can be doubled.

Pickling Liquid

3-5 lbs of raw whole beets
1 c organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp sea salt
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 c distilled white vinegar
whole cloves, 4 per jar
whole peeled garlic cloves, 2 per jar
1 c beet water (water that the beets cooked in)

Directions

1. In a large pot, add raw beets and fill with enough water to cover them. Boil for at least an hour or until the beets are fork tender. Remove from heat and add whole beets to a large bowl filled with ice water. This will help cool the beets down. With the faucet running cold water, peel the beets with a paring knife and trim the stem and root off. Set aside until all the beets are peeled.

2. Using a sharp knife and cutting board, thinly slice the beets.

3. Sterilize jars in the oven (washed and air dried in a 225 degrees F oven for 15 minutes) or boiled for 10 minutes; sterilize lids and jar bands in boiling water.

4. Add to each jar: two peeled garlic cloves and four whole cloves. Add beet slices and fill to the top with pickling liquid with a 1/4" headspace at the top. Secure lid and band to the jar.

5. Process jars in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Remove jars from water and set onto wood racks or a wood cutting board. As the jars cool down, the lids should each make a loud "pop" noise as the pressure sucks in the lid and seals the jar. Let the jars stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

This batch made 5 pints.