Chickpea Burgers with Cucumber Sauce-Vegan Mofo Day 11

We recently got a slab of chickpeas from costco, so was looking for some new and different ways to use them. I quickly stumbled across this recipe from vegan mouse for chickpea and fava bean burgers which solved our dilemma of what to eat for dinner on Monday night. We decided to ditch the fava beans all together and used a combination of masa harina with some buckwheat flour. Because masa harina is considered sacred in this house.  We also skipped the baking part because it was hot, which I don't recommend.

The result was easy to make tasty g/f vegan burgers that didn't fall apart. The only downside was that the onion and garlic in the middle felt a little raw because we failed to bake them, so make sure you bake them or skip the onion and garlic. The cucumber sauce was nice and refreshing on a warm day, yes finally we have warm weather in Melbourne! We will certainly make them again.

Chickpea & Fava Bean Burgers (or in our case just chickpea burgers) from Vegan Mouse
1 15 oz. can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can foul mudammas (cooked fava beans), drained and rinsed
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
handful cilantro, chopped
1 TB nutritional yeast (totally optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Trader Joe's 21 salute seasoning (or any salt free all purpose seasoning blend- we used a but it stock powder)
1/2 tsp salt
freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 cup corn flour (masa harina) or all purpose flour for binding
canola oil for frying

Cucumber sauce:
3 TB vegan mayo (or more if you like)
1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Stir to combine all ingredients and chill.

Drain and rinse beans. Put them into a large bowl and with a potato masher or fork, mash the beans until there are no whole beans left. Add the remaining ingredients and using your hands, mix the ingredients until they are all combined. If you find the mixture a little wet or sticky, use a little more flour to bind it together. Form into 6 or 7 medium sized patties and place them on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
On the stove, heat a shallow layer of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Fry the patties about 2 minutes on each side, just until they are browned. Then transfer patties onto the baking sheet and finish cooking them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Serve with cucumber sauce as is or as a sandwich inside of a pita pocket with lettuce and tomato.