Chickpea Burgers

The best part of veggie burgers is that there are so many ways to make them. There are soy burgers, which are I guess are trying to be like real hamburgers (try Lick's Nature Burgers!), lentil burgers (which Caitlin made pre-blog), chickpea burgers, actual veggie burgers made with real vegetables, falafel burgers (at O'Burger, omg go try them) and I'm sure other varieties which I have not yet experienced.

Past experiences with veggie burgers have not been that great. PC Blue Label makes a veggie burger with is kind of like a hash brown with vegetables in it and it tastes good but always falls apart on the BBQ and I'm fairly certain cooking them for me makes my mom despise my vegetarianism. I personally love Lick's Nature Burgers but one time my (drunk) friend tried some of mine and spit it out because she thought it was gross. Veggie burgers have a bad rep with non-vegetarians so I decided to try to make my own.

My chickpea burgers turned out to be delicious, although I have yet to have a non-vegetarian to try them because Daniele had a midterm. They were a bit time-consuming to make but not that difficult. Plus the recipe made about 15 mini-patties so I'll have lots to eat during exams!

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten *the burgers were a bit difficult to stick together and I ran into that falling apart problem, if I made them again I would try two eggs to help the mixture stick together
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp. peanut butter
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
English muffins or other buns

Directions
1. In a large bowl mash chickpeas with a potato masher.
2. Stir in rice, onion, carrot, zucchini, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, peanut butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

3. Shape into patties. The original recipe says to make six 3/4 inch patties, I made mine a lot smaller but I guess it all depends on the size of your buns.
4. Place on a greased grill and cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

5. Serve to your vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends and get creative with toppings. Since the main ingredients are chickpeas and vegetables you can definitely go beyond the standard mustard and ketchup.

Caitlin got artsy :)

This recipe was delicious, I totally recommend it. And I plan on making it again when I go home to show my mom and my drunk friend that veggie burgers are not the worst thing in the world.