Veggie Tales: A Quest for Quinoa

It's been a while since Christina and I have cooked together. Between the holidays and cranking up the job search, I've been cooking more Break n' Bake than bouillabaisse. To make sure we actually followed through on a new recipe, we invited our friends over for dinner! Best part was, they even brought the wine! Though for this recipe, we could've used a glass before they got there.

Christina and I are not the most elegant cooks. The kitchen always becomes a mess, the house fills up with smoke, and there inevitably will be blood. We had 2 out of 3 this time.

Since one of our friends is vegetarian, we thought this would be the perfect night to cook some quinoa burgers! Christina found the recipe a while ago, but I've been itchin' to make this one ever since I heard about it. Quinoa is a grain originally domesticated in the Andes, and is closely related to tumbleweed. Mmmmmmmmm tumbleweed. But seriously, quinoa has becoming the "cool" grain in the past decade because of its nutritional value. I mean it is a POWER HOUSE of a carb. According to www.cookingquinoa.net (yes, there is such a website), it has magnesium, copper and phosphorous making it especially good for those who have migraine headaches, atherosclerosis or diabetes. Its a great source of healthy carbs, has 5 grams of fiber, and 8 grams of protein per serving. And its gluten-free! Hurrah for sufferers of celiacs! But onto the recipe...

If you have a food processor, these "burgers" are a cinch to make. Since we had never used the food processor before, this was our first challenge (I'm still amazed there wasn't more blood). Once conquering that, this recipe only took 35 minutes from start to finish! We decided to make these burgers more like patties so they were easier to put in the whole grain pita we'd purchased. The taste was similar to falafel, but much more moist. It's so healthy and delicious that I know I'll be making these burgers again soon!

Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers
Adapted from Whole Living

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

1 cup Dry quinoa
2 Medium carrots, cut in chunks
10-11 Scallions, thinly sliced
15 oz Great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Plain dried breadcrumbs (we used Panko Original)
2 Large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp Ground cumin
Coarse salt
Ground pepper
2 tbsp Canola oil
1 cup Plain nonfat Greek yogurt, such as Fage
2 tbsp Fresh lemon juice
4-6 Pitas (each 6-inches)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid is absorbed, about 12-14 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a food processor, pulse carrot until finely chopped. Add cooked quinoa, half the scallions, beans, breadcrumbs, eggs, cumin, 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Pulse until combined but still slightly chunky.
3. Form mixture into 3/4 inch patties, however large you want (be sure to dip hands in cold water to prevent sticking). If you'd like the patties burger sized, the mixture will make about 5. However, if you make smaller ones for easy pita-stuffing or hors d'oeuvres, the mixture should yield approximately 10-15 patties.
4. If too soft, refrigerate patties for 10 minutes to firm. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook burgers until browned and cooked through (smaller patties 2-3 minutes per side; burgers 8-10 minutes per side).

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, and remaining scallions. Season with salt and pepper. Serve burgers in pita topped with yogurt sauce and lettuce or cucumbers.