sweet potato - black bean burgers
Y’all! I’ve got a minor obsession with sweet potatoes. They are so yummy, relatively seasonal and cheap. You can do a trillion things with them. They are rich in fiber and antioxidants. They contain Vitamin A, which is good for sight and for the immune system, but they are also rich in vitamins C and D, not to mention potassium and beta-carotene. In short, sweet potatoes are a superfood for the winter months.
This recipe was born out of my minor obsession, but also because I was looking for a ‘burger’, which is to say a patty-like food, that did contain rice. I have never expected a veggie burger to taste like a hamburger. And in the case of this ‘burger’, it has no resemblance to a hamburger whatsoever. It’s really soft, almost creamy, but will hold its shape. So if you make these and put them in a bun and try to eat them like a traditional hamburger, chances are they are going to mush out the sides of the bun. I’m just warning you, so you won’t be sore at me if it happens. But make no mistake, these are delicious and so worth the inconvenience of the bun challenge.
I suggest you serve these sans-bun or bread of any kind. I served them on top of a tomato slice. Granted, it’s winter so it was an anemic tomato, but oh well. Another alternative would be to serve topped with a thick slice of mozzarella (or mozzarella + tomato) or on top of grilled eggplant slices.
A note about some of the ingredients. If you don’t like cilantro, substitute flat-leaf parsley. If you don’t have coconut flour, use almond flour or chickpea flour, or basically any flour. The reason I used coconut was because I thought it would impart a slight sweetness that would go well with the sweet potatoes and cinnamon. The flaxseeds are somewhat optional, but I do believe they aide in helping the patties hold their shape. I think you could add 3 more Tbs of flour instead of the flaxseeds if you want to.
As with all my recipes, I encourage you to play with this. Since all of the elements are safe, you could taste your ‘batter’ before adding the egg to make sure you like it. I have this weird ability to know what something tastes like before I put it together, so I just throw stuff in a bowl and hope for the best. My goal is to ‘teach’ y’all how to do this by encouraging you to make substitutions to my recipes to suit your taste.
If you try this and have questions, please reach out to me at amelia@thehelpfulplate.com
Ingredients:
2 small-medium sweet potatoes
1, 14-oz. can organic black beans
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil
Cilantro leaves, 1/4 cup chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs flaxseeds
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut flour
Bake or boil the sweet potatoes until they are tender. Let potatoes cool enough to handle. Peel them and mash them up with a fork. They need to be soft enough to easily mix with the rest of the ingredients.
Saute the chopped onion in the olive oil. Let cool. Add all ingredients, including the cooked onion into a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly - I use my hands. Form patties by taking about 1/3 cup of the mixture and rolling it around in your hands. Remember that this is going to be soft and mushy so you have to be gentle. When forming the patties, roll the mixture into a ball and gently mash it to form a 1-2-in. thick patty. The proportions in this recipe yield 7-8 patties.
Bake in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 min. I bake mine on a pizza stone, but you could use a cookie sheet.
Note: I thought about pan-searing these in a skillet with 1 tsp of olive oil so that they would crisp on the outside, but decided to bake them instead. I was worried that if I had to flip the patties in the skillet, that they would fall apart. If you try this method of cooking, let me know how it works.