CUMIN SWEET POTATO & BLACK BEAN BURGER WITH SAFFRON SAUCE, CREATED BY SAMAH DADA

Cumin Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burger with Saffron Sauce, created by Samah Dada image

Categories Bean Sandwich Backyard BBQ Fourth of July Picnic Ramadan Spring Summer Super Bowl Dinner Lunch Sauté Healthy Vegetarian

Number Of Ingredients 16

Ingredients

1/2 red onion, diced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large sweet potato, steamed and then peeled
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 can 15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne
4 burger buns of choice
4-8 romaine lettuce leaves, for assembling
4 slices sliced tomatoes
1/4 cup tahini
1 pinch saffron threads
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 juice of 1/2 lemon

Steps:

To prepare the burger, 1. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. When the oil shimmers, add your red onions and sauté until they start to become tender, translucent, and slightly golden around the edges. 2. Once the onions have started to brown, add the cumin, turmeric, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook the spices with the onions until the "raw" spice smell goes away, and the spices have roasted and darkened in color about 3-4 minutes. Remove the onions from heat and set aside to cool. 3. In a high-speed blender, combined your steamed and mashed sweet potato, black beans, cooked quinoa, cumin sautéed red onions, almond meal, and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Blend the burger on high speed, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed to ensure the mixture is incorporated. Don't worry about completely pulverizing the burger mixture, we like to keep a little bit of texture here. 4. Transfer the mixture into a bowl, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix again to thoroughly combine. 5. Form the mixture into burger patties with your hands - this makes about 4 large burgers, or 6 smaller ones. 6. Heat your pan on medium heat, and add some olive oil. When the oil shimmers, add your burger patties to the hot pan and pan-fry the burger, about 5 minutes each side, until the burger is golden-brown around the tops and edges.
To prepare the sauce, 1. In a small bowl, combine your lemon juice and saffron threads and let sit for about 5 minutes to allow the saffron to infuse into the lemon juice. 2. In a separate bowl, mix the tahini, grated garlic clove, olive oil, and finally the lemon and saffron mixture together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 3. Mix to combine until smooth. Add a tablespoon of water (or more) to get the sauce to your desired consistency.