Chick Pea and Walnut Burgers

 I made these burgers on a whim last night, and they turned out great!  They will definitely be made again.  They were great topped with tomato, lettuce, mayo and rhubarb ketchup (a recipe I will post once I perfect it).  They were also excellent when I snitched a piece of one several hours later from the fridge :-)  They would also be great topped with my chipotle mayo recipe.  All around, great veggie burger recipe that didn't take long to assemble.  I used a food processor to mix most of the ingredients, but a plain-old potato masher would do the trick.

Chick Pea and Walnut Burgers

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas)
1 cup walnuts (halves, slightly less if already chopped)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 - 1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayanne
salt and pepper

Directions

Toast walnuts in a skillet until warm and sweet tasting, about 10-15 minutes.  Pulse in food processor (or chop finely).  Add chickpeas and 5-6 times, until everything is uniform and fairly small (alternately, you can use a potato masher to do this).  In a bowl combine onion, garlic, walnuts, chickpeas, parsley, paprika, cumin, cayanne, salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl, crack both eggs and beat slightly.  Add to the chickpea mixture along with the bread crumbs.  Stir, and test the consistancy of the chickpea mixture, adding more bread crumb if necessary.  You want something that will stay sticking together.  Compress into 4-6 patties with your hands.  Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in skillet over medium heat until oil is hot.  Add burgers, and cook ~5-7 minutes each side until cooked thru.  Serve on toasted English muffin with any fixings you desire-- we had it with tomato, lettuce, mayo and rhubarb ketchup (see recipe below).