Mung Bean Veggie Patties Recipe

Kayleigh here. In our quest for quick, easy, and inexpensive gluten-free weekday dinners, we've found it nearly impossible to just buy something pre-made off the shelf to heat and eat. Canned soups? Nope. Noodle cups? Absolutely not. Frozen entrees? If you pay an arm and a leg. How about something that's not all-in-one, but easy to heat and throw together, like veggie burgers? Even convenience foods that should be safe always seem to have wheat or barley snuck in somewhere.

Our solution? Make more than enough on the days we have more time, then freeze the leftovers for quick dinners when we need them. Big pots of soup, loaves of bread or hamburger buns, casseroles, all pre-portioned into one or two meal packages, so we can just thaw them as needed. So when we found ourselves with a bowl full of leftover mung beans after a session of crepe making, rather than just freezing them for crepes in the future, we tried making an almost falafel-style burger patty. The patties themselves were extremely quick and easy to make, and were just as easy to heat up and serve during the week as any store-bought veggie burger!

Mung Bean Veggie Patties (makes 4-5 burgers)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup Mung Beans, boiled in water until soft

1-2 cloves Garlic

Water (around ½ cup)

¼ cup Garbanzo Flour

½ ts Salt

¼ ts Pepper

½ ts Lemon Juice

Optional: additional herbs, such as fresh Cilantro or Parsley, to taste

Directions:

1. Take the mung beans (make sure they are soft enough to squish!) and garlic, and put in a blender or food processor with enough water to cover them. Pulse until it starts coming together, but not enough to make it a fine paste- you want some texture! Add more water if it is not blending well.
2. Place Mung Bean mixture in a large bowl, then add spices and lemon juice. Add half of the Garbanzo Flour and mix well. Keep mixing and adding more garbanzo flour until it is sturdy enough to form into shapes- you may need more than ¼ cups, maybe less, depending on how much water was added before.
3. Form into 4-5 fairly flat patties. At this point, you can either stack them with butcher paper in-between, or oil up a pan and cook them on medium-high heat, flipping once so both sides get browned.
4. Serve on a bun with fresh veggies and a yogurt based sauce (plain yogurt with lemon-pepper seasoning is my favorite!). Alternately, you can serve wrapped in a lettuce leaf, with a Vietnamese fish sauce-based dressing to dip it in. The patties are a tad dry on their own, so feel free to be creative and generous when saucing them up!

If the mung beans by themselves seem a little boring, you can always add up to 2/3 cups finely diced vegetables, such as sauteed mushrooms, spinach, onions, or carrots. If you find a favorite combination, leave a comment and let us know!

Jason here. These reheat easily in the toaster oven, or even the microwave. While they taste just fine on their own, I prefer to eat the m with a little sauce. Sometimes ketchup and mustard, but I will add pretty much whatever is at hand. If you have a diverse group to feed, my recommendation is to cook them fairly light on spices, then add a bunch to taste just before you reheat them. My favorite part of these patties, is the lightly crunchy outside they get when you heat them right.

All in all, these make for a great quick reheated meal, which can be easily fixed up to meet specific individuals tastes.