Baked Eggplant & Bean Burgers

I’ve found some great recipes from The Tolerant Vegan, but I almost peed my pants when I stumbled upon their recipe for baked eggplant burgers. Eggplants, for me, are usually the hardest to get creative with-that thick, tough skin and the slimy center, can be very finicky and I’ve been stuck on using them for parmigiana only and lasagna only. These veggie burgers are uber healthy and stay together extremely well, which always pleases me when it comes to homemade patties. I tweaked the original quite a bit and I loved the results.

1/2 large eggplant, sliced into rounds

1 1/2 cups cannellini beans, cooked (we are IN LOVE with pre-cooked, organic beans in a BOX from Fig Food Company)

1 1/4 cups whole wheat bread crumbs

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup raw cashews, soaked for 1 hour

1/3 cup veggie broth

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp tahini

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp white wine

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp dried marjoram

1/4 tsp paprika

1 cayenne pepper, minced

Chickpea flour for coating

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Line a cookie sheet with foil and brush eggplant slices with 1 tbsp of olive oil, coating each side
• Roast at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, turning over half way through
• Meanwhile, cook the other 1 tbsp of olive oil with the cayenne pepper, garlic and onions in a frying pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
• When cooked, stir together eggplant and onion mix with all other ingredients, and lower oven temperature to 400 degrees
• Pour into food processor and pulse for a few minutes, until creamy
• Mold mixture into patties and dust with chickpea flour on both sides if very sticky
• Lay patties onto a greased baking sheet at bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, turning over half way through