BLACK BEAN BARLEY VEGGIE BURGERS

When I visited my cousin Sally she prepared delicious homemade veggie burgers. I was inspired. Since then I have been trying to come up with a good recipe. She gave me some helpful pointers and after a few trials I came up with this recipe that formed really tasty and nicely held together burgers and it was a great excuse to use my new food processor. Since I was using black beans I wanted them to have a latin flavor so I used cumin, cayenne, paprika, fresh cilantro and roasted peppers. I used barley because its very glutenous and helped the patties stick together, but brown rice would do fine as well. And I just love mushrooms and thought the celery and carrots would pack the burgers with nutrients. Markus' roasted garlic mayonnaise was the perfect topping. And these babies are great to freeze and a perfect lunchy food!

Barley Black Bean Veggie Burgers

1 C. dry black beans, soaked for 8 hours then boiled for 3o minutes or 2 C. canned black beans

3/4 C. uncooked barley

2 roasted peppers (red or green), seeded and peeled

1 package of mushrooms

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1.5 onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 eggs (optional)

Cumin

Turmeric

Paprika

Cayenne Pepper

Soy Sauce

Salt

Pepper

1/2 C. fresh cilantro leaves

Presoak and cook the black beans. Set aside.

Prepare barley. Combine 3/4 C. uncooked barley with 1.5 C water in a rice cooker or on stove top with salt pepper and olive oil. Set aside.

Under broiler carefully roast 2 peppers until skins are black. Cool, peel and remove seeds then roughly chop. Set aside.

Clean and stem 1 package of mushrooms and sautee in olive and 1/2 onion until soft. Season with salt and pepper at the end. Set aside.

In a large skillet sautee celery, carrots, onions and garlic with turmeric, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Add the mushrooms, roasted peppers, barley and beans. Sautee until all flavors are combined. Turn off heat and add cilantro. Add some soy sauce to taste.

Let mixture cool slightly then pulse in a food processor. Do not pulverize. Transfer to a bowl and mix eggs into mixture. (optional)

Heat oil for frying. Form patties and fry until golden on each side. Serve with salad and roasted garlic mayonnaise.