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Chickpea Burger

These handy chickpea patties are based on Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Chickpea Cutlets in her cookbook Veganomicon. Her originial recipe uses oil and breadcrumbs which I've replaced here with avocado and hemp to improve the nutritional profile. The originals are fantastic and worth checking out.

For a long time I resisted using vital wheat gluten in my cooking but this is the recipe that changed my mind. It delivers a satisfying and kid friendly veg patty that has great texture and really high protein levels. Vital wheat gluten is made by processing wheat flour to wash away the starches and retain only the high protein gluten. Usually dishes made from vital wheat gluten are called seitan ("say-tahn") and are alternative to soy based vegan proteins. Vital wheat gluten is deficient in the amino acid lysine so it doesn't meet all of your body's needs, which is why is a good idea to pair it with ingredients like chickpeas and avocados which can help address that shortcoming.

Most seitan recipes involve steaming or boiling in stock and then a second frying step. This recipe is so attractive because you skip all this mucking around and hot oil by baking them while you clean up and get the rest of dinner ready.

Ingredients

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained (or 1.5 C cooked chickpeas)
• ¼ avocado (approx. 75g)
• 1 C vital wheat gluten*
• 2 T psyllium husk*
• 2 T hemp seeds*
• 3 T savoury/nutritional yeast*
• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 t ground coriander
• 1 t onion powder
• ½ t dried thyme
• ground pepper
• ½ C water

+ buns or bread and your favourite burger ingredients

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (355 F) and prepare a lined baking tray.
2. Mash the chickpeas with the avocado in a medium sized bowl.
3. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix through.
4. Add the water, a bit at a time, and mix until it forms a dough. You may not need all the water.
5. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes, until you see the gluten begin to form 'strings' and the dough takes on a smooth, firm appearance.
6. Tear the dough into 12 equal portions and flatten each piece into a flat patty about 1cm thick. Position the patties on the baking tray.
7. Bake for about 18 minutes and then flip them over and cook for a further 5 minutes.
8. Serve warm on buns with burger ingredients, or store in the fridge for up to a week.

Nutrition

Makes 6 serves of 2 patties (12 patties total), 195 kcal per serve

Macros Per Serve - 21g protein, 5g fat, 19g carbohydates

Key Nutrition Per Serve - high in B Group Vitamins, the exact amount depends on the brand of nutritional yeast

Notes

* Unless you've been cooking vegan food for a while you may not have vital wheat gluten laying around, but there is no substiture for it in this recipe, its integral to how these come together. You might also not have psyllium husk (great source of soluble fibre), hemp seeds (protein, omega-3s) or nutritional yeast (savoury flavour, B Group Vitamins) but you can sub these out by looking up the original Veganomicon recipe.

Vegan, Soy-Free, Oil-Free