Petite Madeleine : THE Quinoa Burger

For some odd reason I was sure I posted this recipe a while ago, apparently I didn't, for that I am sorry because if I may say so myself, this burger is Gold. This recipe was born about two months ago when I was food talking with my cousin in NYC (Alexa, she's awesome, but that's besides the point) when she randomly asked if I had any good Quinoa Burger recipes. To be honest at that point I've heard of and made many different types of burgers/patties but never imagined that Quinoa can be made into a Burger. It would be like making a pony tail with 30,000 fly aways. Unless of course you make a nice cement with flour and eggs to hold everything together, thank you but no thank you. That's not how we roll, right? So, I did what I very often do. Put my hair up into a rubber band, sweatshirt, waltzed into the kitchen and picked up one or my main ingredient and for the rest of the time just listened to my gut. If a flour and egg cement will hold my 30,000 tiny ballies all together....What's better than beans and boiled/steamed sweet potato? Beans contain starch which make them a great substitute for flour, sweet potato's have the great ability of being the "glue"and mind me, also act as Flavor + VITAMINS. So there you go.

What You'll Need:
Serves 5-6 Generously.

2 Cups Dry Quinoa
1 Can Black Eyed Peas
1 Sweet Potato (Medium Sized)
1 Tsp Cumin
1 Tsp Crushed Garlic
Salt+Pepper to Taste
1 Tbsp Olive Oil (for baking)

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.

Follow the instructions on the box to cook two cups of dry Quinoa, simultaneously boil/steam your Sweet Potato so that all your ingredients will be ready at the same time. Beans, we need our beans to be nice and smooth, they can have some texture but a nice unified blend is what we're looking for. You can use your food processor, I used my hand blender that comes with a tall cup like bowl that makes blending super easy and mind you, less dishes, less mess.

Once your Sweet Potato is boiled/steamed, put them on a plate or in a bowl (without any water) and give them a nice "smoosh" with a fork. I don't advise blending the Sweet Potato's because we actually want them to have some body. Blending would turn them into puree.

Incorporate your Sweet Potato's, Beans, cooked Quinoa, Salt and Spices in a bowl. (In the picture below its just the beans and sweet potato)

Drizzle some Olive Oil on your baking sheet. (For easier clean-up Parchment Paper to the rescue) Using your hands (hence the gloves) form generous sized patties/burgers, place onto sheet.