Hi! Hello!
Today I’m going to share something that always can be found in my freezer, a veggie patties. And I always need to. While I was away for India trip for a month and I made a lots of frozen goodies with a huge batch of 2 different types of veggie patties for him. Because I know when he come late from work and tired to cook something, he would whip up 2 burgers in no time. If there is something he is not satisfied with meal or hungry he would ask me for a simple burger, a veggie burger pressed between two breads. If I’m not in mood of cooking (which is rare!) he would ask me to prepare a healthy burger with 2 10 minutes Maggie noodles. I could survive on just simple oats + milk only. I urge you try this and you’ll be hooked with these patties forever.
I have almost stopped to buy ready-made oily patties from supermarkets. We all know it loaded with all fats and very greasy. I was very concerned to make it at home that can freeze well. I found it at PPK site and didn’t disappoint. I tried it couple of times and finally sharing with you too. I made some changes to original recipe and adjusted to our liking. I made it a bit spicier and tastier adding red chili powder and cumin powder.
Only brown rice will work perfectly because it has nutty and chewy texture. I’m not sure how other types of rice will go. I suggest you to use brown rice only as it tastes very beautiful when patties are bit charred. Plus, the original recipe used brown lentils but I used even healthier choice. A cup of sprouted beans! It’s just my experiment and a bag of sprouted beans needed to be used from my freezer. It definitely adds extra nutrition and flavour too.
**If you are using sprouted beans, no need to cook. Just add as it is.
Lightly tweaked from PPK
- 2 cups cooked & cooled brown rice
- 1 cup sprouted beans (any) or [brown/green lentils, cooked, cooled, drained well)
- 2 small beets, shredded
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper or red chili powder, less or more
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves, crushed in fingers
- ½ tsp fresh black pepper
- a tiny onion, very finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- about 1 cup breadcrumbs, add as per needed
- salt to taste
- oil for the cooking the patties
- In food processor bowl pulse down the cooked brown rice, shredded beets and sprouted beans (or lentils) few times until well combined. You should still see a texture of rice and beets. Transfer to a wide mixing bowl and add in all other ingredients. Mix well and taste. Adjust the seasoning.
- If your mixture is still wet and difficult to form a patty put it in fridge for ½ hour or so.
- A non-stick baking paper or parchment paper or silicon baking mat is very helpful here. Line a baking sheet or large tray with non-stick baking paper or silicon mat. I used 3 inch cookie cutter for uniform patties. Use anything like ring mold or round cookie cutter. Or shape them with hands. Form all mixture into patties.
- My patties were still wet and difficult to handle. I put them all in freezer with tray for ½ hour or so. This way they firmed up nicely and handled easily.
- I used my favourite Dosa tawa (griddle) but use any non-stick or cast-iron flat pan or griddle whatever you have on hand. Cook patties with a little oil for 5-7 minutes each side on medium heat.
- Using Dosa tawa I was able to cook 5-6 patties at the same time without crowding them. They came out nicely charred and perfect.
- These patties goes well in sandwich or burger. Serve immediately with your choice of toppings and sauce. We enjoyed our burgers with sliced avocado (not in picture), green salad mix and hot chili sauce.
