Falafel Burgers

On a recent stay in Santa Barbara, I discovered the joy of falafel burgers at a place called The Habit. With a basket of sweet potato fries on the side, I was in heaven. It was one of those meals that you savor as you eat, and then again in memory.

My brother Doug teaches cooking and healthy lifestyle classes with his wife Patricia. He's always looking for a better veggie burger recipe, and when I heard an NPR interview with a chef who'd devoted a whole cookbook to the topic, I immediately thought of Doug, hopped on Amazon, and ordered a copy for his birthday. I got myself a copy as well, but let it sit on the shelf until that happy meal at The Habit. Suddenly, I was all about digging into Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way.

Sure enough, there was a falafel burger recipe. I've made it twice already in the past week, even though there are so many other enticing burgers that I ought to branch out. However, it's fun to really learn a recipe, go to school on it. The burgers were tasty the first time, but I wanted to improve my results. There are things I like better about my second try, but others that I preferred about my first. I'm definitely giving this recipe a few more rounds along with sampling other burgers from the book. It's not like the recipes are so complicated, but having my best version of something makes me happy.

What made the second try a little more complicated was my inattention at the start--I soaked double the amount of chickpeas, then decided to simply double the whole recipe rather than waste the rehydrated peas. My food processor isn't big enough to handle so much volume, and working in stages got in the way of attaining an ideal texture. However, the ingredients were better. This time, I had cumin seeds--last time I'd settled for ground cumin. The recipe calls for thickening (only if necessary) with a little chickpea flour; so far I haven't located any. The first go round I used whole wheat, this time it was soy flour, just to be different. Next I'll try it without the flour--the mixture seems so loose and wet when forming the patties, but baking dries it out quite a bit, and it should still hold together, not crumble, even without the help of an extra binding agent.

I also tossed in a fat handful each of chia and flax seeds in honor of ultramarathoner (and vegan foodie) Scott Jurek, whose Eat & Run not only offers great nutrition advice but concludes each chapter with an enticing recipe.

Next time I'll be patient and grind the flax seeds first--their crunch was a little too assertive, and the body can't absorb as many nutrients from whole seeds. They aren't all all necessary to the recipe, but it's always good to find ways to incorporate flax into one's diet, particularly for runners (and women--especially peri- or post-menopausal).

Today I stacked the burger with some tzatziki-inspired cucumbers, fresh tomatoes, and lightly wilted purple kale. I thinly sliced the cucumbers and onions, sprinkled them with salt, pepper, dried mint, and lemon juice, and mashed them into plain Greek yogurt.

Even though handling so much falafel mixture was a pain, I'm not sorry to have 11 more burgers stashed in the freezer. My experience with the first batch is that the flavor develops even more over the next 24 hours, and the patties heat up beautifully in the microwave without affecting texture.

Lukas Volger shares many of his recipes on his website: www.lukasvolger.com, although this one isn't there. It's best to just buy his wonderful cookbook, but if you want to try the burger, another blogger did post the recipe, along with her tips: www.madriverkitchen.com/2011/04/baked-falafel-burger-with-tzatziki.html

I'll add to the post as I work on the recipe, but it's all about tweaking my rendition of it, not the recipe itself, which is simply wonderful and easy to produce (so long as you don't double the chickpeas and decide to go ahead and run with it).

Too much of a good thing can be great

Buckwheat and Blueberries and Bananas and Walnuts Oh My! It's a rare event, but for some reason or other I missed breakfast. Lunch hit the spot but by the evening I was a hungry hungry gal. And I still hadn't had breakfast, my favorite meal of the day.

Time for pancakes. I love oatmeal pancakes, but when I'm this hungry, it's all about the buckwheat. Bob's Red Mill mix. They don't make the prettiest cakes--not like the beautiful fluffy circles you see at Denny's or IHOP. Also, by the time I'm done adding all my extras, they're downright lumpy and misshapen--and yummy and healthy and oh, so satisfying. No bacon or sausage on the side necessary.

Most people keep their buckwheat pancakes simple, no add-ins, just a little butter and syrup on top. When you consider how much buckwheat offers all on its own, this is understandable. Buckwheat isn't wheat (it's actually related to rhubard and is gluten-free). It has fewer calories than wheat but more protein and fiber, and is chock full of vitamins and minerals. For most, its rich flavor calls for a straightforward treatment. That way, there's still room on the palate for the traditional sides--a couple of strips of bacon, a little fresh fruit.

I can't leave well enough alone. Any pancake is better with blueberries, or banana, or chopped nuts. And when it's just me eating, I throw it all in. Too much? (nah!) of a good thing is just right.

I always have a stash of these ingredients in the freezer. When fresh bananas are perfect for eating, they're too firm and not sweet enough for cooking. If one manages to stay in the fruit bowl long enough to pass the point of ripeness, I pop it in the freezer; thawed, it becomes fragrant banana puree with barely the touch of a fork. With the buckwheat batter, I probably should stick to half a banana, especially when it's not the only extra. My pancakes would spread out more uniformly on the griddle. But there sits the rest of that banana, begging to be included, and anyway the theme of this recipe is Too Much, so why not?

Because of their fat content, walnuts seem to keep better in the freezer. I love them in everything (cf. my fridgeluck pasta entry from last September) so I make sure never to run low. A generous handful goes in with the banana puree. I don't add the blueberries until right before cooking, otherwise they freeze to one another and pile up when spooned on the griddle. I add them right out of the freezer--if they thaw at all they water down the batter. Some people sprinkle the blueberries onto the batter after it's on the griddle--you get prettier, more uniform shapes, but the berries can burn when the pancakes are flipped since they have no batter to insulate them from the hot surface.

Even though these pancakes, made with extra-flavorful buckwheat flour and crammed with too many add-ins, are already oh-so-flavorful, I'm not done. Maybe it's the German in me, but rather than maple syrup and butter, I've always preferred sour cream and jam on my pancakes. Kind of blintz-ish. It's been a long time since I've kept sour cream in the fridge, however, because what I love even more these days is Fage Greek yogurt. Even the nonfat version is naturally thick and creamy. The flavor is smooth and just the right amount of sour. Add a touch of honey, and it's just the right amount of--well, not sweet, but fragrant and fresh.

Another nice thing about all that yogurt is that it transforms bumpy lumpy pancakes into something a little more artistically appealing. Spoon a little apricot jam on top, and you have yourself quite a Continental supper.

The leftover pancakes keep very well in the fridge, separated by a little wax paper. Pop one or two in the toaster and you have a breakfast that will keep you all morning, or power you through a hilly 10K.

Buckwheat Blueberry Banana Walnut Pancakes--ugly, yummy, low-fat, high fiber, high protein, super-nutritious, super-easy, and downright decadent--too much of a good thing is exactly the right amount of everything.