Recipe: Bean Burgers

As I’m learning new skills in Tanzania, like cooking, I thought it would be fun to share a recipe now and then for some of the food I’ve successfully pulled off.  This also might be something good for future Tanzanian volunteers to use, too.

One of my favorite meals so far that I’ve made are Bean Burgers.  They’re pretty simple, and really delicious.  As a good hamburger is one of my favorite foods back home, it’s a great recipe that is not only delicious, but also a good cure for culinary homesickness from time to time.  Also, since it’s difficult to get beef (especially ground beef), it’s a pretty tasty substitute if you add enough flavor to the recipe.

I’ve pulled this recipe from the Peace Corps cookbook I’ve been using frequently, but decided to put some of my own touches on it, after a few times experimenting with the recipe (It serves about 4 people).

What you will need are the following ingredients:

1 Cup of cooked beans

½ Cup of cooked rice

¼ Cup of flour

1 egg

¼ teaspoon of salt

Pepper to taste

Onion

Garlic

Other spices or diced veggies, as desired

After you cook the beans and the rice (make sure they cool off after cooking, so as not to burn your hands), add all of the ingredients in a bowl and mush them together with your hands to form a sticky pile of burger batter.

Bean Burger Batter

Let it sit for 30 min to one hour.  Then form into patties.  Don’t make the patties too big, since it will be difficult to fry them up if they’re too large.

Patties ready to fry

You should be able to make about 4 decent sized burgers.  Heat up some oil and once it’s pretty hot, fry up the burgers until they’re nice and browned on either side (I like them a little on the crispy side).

Frying the burger

Serve on a bun with any of your favorite burger fixings (ketchup, cheese, veggies, etc) and enjoy!

It's not quite an In-N-Out burger, but it's quite tasty!