Millet – Chickpeas Burger

Pearl Millet, called Cumbu in Tamil. I was lucky to find one this time in India.

Burgers are one of the tastiest ways to incorporate whole grains in our diet. In addition to tasting far better than the rubbery soy patties served at the burger joints, they are nutritionally rich too. Adding a handful of legumes or lentils ensures that the patties hold their shape well. With few shreds of vegetables and a sprinkle of fresh herbs, you have one winning formula for a delicious vegetarian/vegan burger.

I have been wanting to make burgers using millet for a long time now. I have successfully used chickpeas many times in burgers before. This time I sprouted ‘em before pairing with millet. With a little bit of onion, carrot and cilantro for color, and sunflower seeds for crunch, this is one of the best burgers I have had. To my surprise, they held their shape extremely well, froze beautifully and most of all, tasted delicious. I have already made these burgers twice and there are many more to come.

Millet burgers specked with sunflower seeds, served with mint-yogurt.

Millet – Chickpeas Burger
(makes about 11 medium sized patties)

Ingredients

Millet – ¾ cup
Chickpeas – 1 cup, cooked till soft, sprouted if desired
Carrot – 1 cup
Onion – ¼ cup
Sunflower seeds – ½ cup
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
Cilantro – ¼ cup
Corn flour – 2 to 3 tbsp, dissolved in little water
Salt
Pepper
Oil – to spray on the pan

Hamburger buns – as needed, split and toasted
Onion, tomato, pickles, lettuce and other desired condiments
Yogurt mixed with chopped mint - to spread on the bun

Method

Pressure cook millet with 1½ cups of water for 2 whistles. Or cook the grains over stovetop till soft. Cool, fluff and transfer into a big bowl. In a food processor, grind the cooked chickpeas along with garlic, cilantro and red chilli powder. Add this to the millet bowl. In the same food processor, shred carrot and onion. Add the vegetables along with sunflower seeds into the bowl. Season with salt, pepper and mix everything together. Add corn flour+water mixture to the patty ingredients, one tbsp at a time. Mix thoroughly and try forming a ball. If it holds its shape, proceed to forming patties, else add more of the corn flour mixture.

Take about 1/4 cup of the mixture, form into a patty and cook on a flat pan/griddle sprayed with olive oil. When the patty develop charred spots on both sides, remove and serve with burger buns and condiments.

Millet-Chickpeas burger served with onion, tomato, lettuce and pickles.

Wrap the leftover patties in double foil, put them in a zip top bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

This is my third and final entry to JFI – Whole Grains, which is closing today. As announced earlier, I am on vacation and will post the roundup only during mid-October. Meanwhile you are welcome to send your entries till first week of October, in case you have missed sending 'em by now. Srivalli at Cooking 4 All Seasons is hosting the next edition of JFI, inviting Festival Treats.

23 comments:

Nirmala said...

Hey sug, are u doing this in u're shortest ever vacation ? Whoa...whata commitment ! Pls answer my mail.

Shreya said...

Wow! 3 entries, and each and every one a winner. Love this, and I am not sure I've ever had it before. Also , cumbu term is new to me. Healthy, filling comfort food in the form of a burger, more appealing, which is the best part:-)

Sangeeth said...

wow! lovely pic and great recipe :)

Deepa Kuber said...

thats an interesting recipe.. hopefully i will find pearl millet somewhere :)

sra said...

The first picture reminds me of my childhood - often when we travelled by car, these millet ears would be spread over the road - maybe the idea was to thresh it.

Unknown said...

Looks just perfect with the goodness of whole grains..

Swati Raman Garg said...

as always.. such amazing pics... those gherkins in the burger gets me so tempted ya...

Anonymous said...

Wow, those look AMAZING. Can't wait to try.

Bhawana said...

This is very tempting and mouthwatering Suganya. made a note of it.

Lisa Turner said...

Just my kind of recipe! A must try.

I sent my entry in for your event. Hope you got it.

Mrs.Kannan said...

A very different dish to try...the patty itself is satisfying i guess....we can serve it as cutlet also....yummy one

Johanna GGG said...

These look delicious - I have millet in my pantry that is needing to be used and I am already dreaming of the day I can try these and use up my millet

Rachna said...

woah, that is one yummy looking millet burger...wow, nice...

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

You have so many good looking recipes on your blog, I don't know where to start. I love the pictures also.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

looks gr8 Suganya..

Kay said...

Wow! those burgers look so great!!

Sunshinemom said...

Beautiful picture again!! Such a luscious looking burger there - when can I come over?

Usha said...

Wonderful use of millet,looks awesome :-)

Anonymous said...

looks like one of the best "veggie burgers" (as in, something not meat to stick in a bun) I've seen in a long time. i'll definitely be trying this one out. thanks!

Mansi said...

these look great, and are on the top of my to-make list! as soon as I can convince my hubby to try Millet!:)

Anonymous said...

Suganya,

I love your blog - you have the most beautiful pictures and always such lovely sounding recipes. These burgers have been on my to-do list forever!! I finally made em today. I have never cooked or eaten millet before, so it was a nice intro.

I made a mistake with the millet - should have let it cool completely before mixing with chickpeas or else its like porridge and made my batter too thin. Also, 3/4 cup millet was too much for my batter - probably coz it had the porridge texture! The burgers came out pretty good - I roasted the millet before cooking which gave it a nice flavor, added some cumin, oregano and lemon juice in addition to ur seasoning. My husband loved them! I have 8 frozen burgers now - great for later. Not sure if I'll make these again, but I LOVED the millet and definitely will be cooking more of it! Thank you!

Suganya said...

I am glad you liked these burgers, Priya. These burgers freeze well, that I always seem to have a few on hand :)

If your millet is of porridge consistency, may be you should adjust your water ratio.

Ms. Avarice said...

I realize I am late to this post, but I just wanted to mention that these burgers baked very nicely for one hour in a 350F oven. I carefully turned them halfway through, and pan fried them in just a couple of tablespoons of olive oil so they would be crispy. I was specifically looking for a millet-chickpea burger recipe because I knew it would be a perfect combination, and we (3 adults) devoured ten patties in under 30 minutes. It was a glorious gastronomic finale to our day.

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