Veggie Burgers

I made veggie burgers this week for a client of mine. They were delicious and so easy to make. I've made a variety of veggie burgers before and so I went into it with no real recipe. My plan was to saute aromatic veggies, add in chickpeas and a grain as well as an egg to bind and some raw cheese for flavor.
Well, I did just that. I finely chopped aromatic veggies: carrot, celery, garlic and onion and sauteed them in coconut oil over medium heat. I also added in some dried thyme....
I let that cool a bit and I put them into the food processor to process. I had already made some quinoa for a quinoa salad, so I added some of that into the processor as well as some chickpeas and some chopped parsley.
After the quinoa, chickpeas and veggies were pureed, I added in an egg as the binder and also some raw milk cheeses for flavor. I added in a small bit of raw milk Parmigiano-Reggiano as well as another raw milk cheese, similar to Fontina, which melts well and has a subtle flavor (I'm forgetting what it is called at this moment, so sorry!!).
At this point I realized that the mix was a bit too moist. I didn't plan to add in a component to grab the moisture, such as bread crumbs, as I thought the quinoa would be enough of a buffer. So I hadn't purchased any bread crumbs. I knew my client didn't have any bread crumbs, so in a bit of a panic, I looked for something to add to the mix.....and viola, I found the brown rice cereal!
I put some of the cereal into a bag and crushed it up into a coarse crumb. I added those crumbs into the mix and made the burgers. I cooked one of the burgers in coconut oil and I was curious if I was going to need to give them a coating of crumbs....well, the answer was yes. So, I crushed more cereal and then coated the burgers in the crumbs before cooking them off.
I have to say, the cereal worked out great!!! The burgers were crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. The chickpeas gave the burger a real meaty flavor, and the cheese rounded the taste out. I highly recommend that you try this recipe out at home.
Veggie Burgers
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
3 garlic cloves
1 small onion
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
3/4 cup chickpeas (from a 15 oz can, drained and rinsed)
2 TBS chopped parsley
1 egg
1/4 cup raw milk Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1/4 cup raw milk Fontina cheese, grated
1 - 1.5 cups breadcrumbs or crushed brown rice cereal, divided
Coconut oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Saute the carrots, celery, garlic, onion and thyme in a couple tablespoons of coconut oil or your fat of choice, over medium heat, until softened 6-8 minutes (be sure to season with S+P).
2. Remove from heat, let cool and place in food processor with S blade.
3. Add the chickpeas, parsley and quinoa to food processor and process to blend together then add the cheeses and blend together; taste for seasoning and adjust S+P as necessary. Add in the egg and process once more.
4. Remove mix from the food processor and move to a bowl then add in the breadcrumbs or cereal. Start with 1/2 cup and see how it feels. Press some of the mix together, feel how moist it is and assess if you need to add more.
5. Form your burgers, then press one side into the crumbs or cereal. Flip and press the other side in and pan fry over medium to medium-high heat, in coconut oil.

Please email me if you have questions about the recipe or process of making the burger...
:)