Chili Burgers Revisted

Here's a picture of the veggie chili burgers I wrote about on 4.23.2006. I gave them a go this evening. This is my 3rd time making them. The first time, I used drained kidney beans. I found that draining the kidney beans was not enough and found the mixture a bit soupy. The second time, it was drained and rinsed pinto beans, and the patties firmed up but weren't juicy. For this go, I went back to kidney beans, both rinsed and drained. This time I cut the oats a bit from 1 1/2 cups to 1 cup to see if this would increase the juiciness. It didn't exactly increase the juiciness but did make the burger more tender.

The only other difference is that I added 2 tsp cumin (the original calls for 1 tsp) to kick up the flavor a bit. That extra 1 tsp did the trick -- the flavor improved greatly. In my first entry about this entree, I said that I preferred the pinto beans to the kidney beans. I take it back -- I like the kidney bean burgers much much better. The flavor is fuller and richer and it enhanced my eating experience this evening.

I like serving these with Beckmann's Francese Rolls. They're nice and light, and they toast well.