Last week for dinner we thought we'd give our local Veggie Grill a chance and see what all the hype was about. They recently opened a location here in Long Beach and I had always heard good things about them.
I ordered a tempeh burger topped with a portabello cap, and a side of onion rings and loved every bite. It tasted fresh and clean and I can't wait to start experimenting with tempeh.
Actually I loved it so much I vowed to try and create my own veggie burger. I've made a few before and some were amazing like this one from 101 Cookbooks, where the burger is actually the bun.
Others though, have been kinda disappointing. After a few fails I decided to follow the style of using a grain to be the "meat" of the burger.
If you ever shop in Trader Joe's, a well known grocery store chain here in the U.S. look out for their little one pound bags of Harvest Grains Blend. Its a mixture of Israeli couscous (mostly), orzo, baby garbanzo beans and red quinoa.
Boil it up with some stock and it gives a great base for a healthy meal. I wanted to use it in my burger though, so I cooked it with a little vegetable stock and added some baby portabello's and some other essential flavors.
If you can't get this mixture regular couscous would probably work or maybe half couscous and half quinoa.. Not to toot my own horn but I'm gonna, It was bang on! It held up well and was easy to work with.
I made a simple chili mayonnaise spread, and I used Parmesan discs, sliced avocado and micro greens for my toppings. A toasted pretzel bun was the home for all of these clean, fresh flavors.
You could adapt this burger to your own tastes easily and if you wanted to make it vegan, switch the egg for a juicy tomato and use a vegan cheese such as Daiya. When you come to from the mixture into patties make sure to have plenty of flour nearby as things can get sticky but using the flour on your hands will let you mold some fine looking burgers.
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