Black Bean Potato Pancake Burgers

Last night I made a batch of homemade mashed potatoes and today and I had quite a bit leftover. I thought that I would like to mix them with some protein so I grabbed a can a black beans and voila! Delicious and super easy veggie burgers! These can be made vegan or vegetarian by swapping milk and cheese for non-dairy milk or cheese. It also tastes great with a fried egg on top for any those adventurous vegetarians or meat eaters out there.

Ingredients for mashed potatoes:
4 large yukon gold potatoes washed and cut into quarters
1/4 cup butter or vegan butter (I use Earth Balance soy free butter)
1/2 cup boxed coconut milk, soy milk, rice milk or regular milk
1 clove of garlic minced
1 tsp of salt and pepper to taste

Put potatoes in a pot and fill with water enough to cover the potatoes with an extra inch of water. Bring to boil and let simmer until potatoes are tender and ready for mashing about 12-15 minutes. Drain water from the potatoes and return to the pot. Add butter and mash together with a masher. Add milk slowly as you my need more and you may need less. Add garlic, salt and pepper and continue to mash until potatoes are to a desired texture.

Ingredients for Black Bean Pancake Burger:

3 cups mashed potatoes (see above for my recipe)
2 cups whole black beans rinsed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (optional for vegans)
3-4 tbs olive oil
8 leaves of cabbage
1 tomato sliced
1 avocado sliced

In a bowl pour in black beans and mash slightly with a masher. Add mashed potatoes and mix together well. Add parmesan to the potatoes and mix well. Heat up olive oil in a large skillet to medium high. Using your hands make patties out of potato and black bean mixture. Place 3 or 4 patties on heated oil but do not crowd the skillet. Let the patties cook for about 5-7 minutes on medium high until bottom side is dark brown. Then flip and cook the other side for about another 5 minutes. Repeat this process with the rest of the mixture till all patties are cooked. (Remember you want each side of the patty to cook till darkened so that the patties stay together). Place your patty on a cabbage leaf and top with 1 slice of tomato and 1 slice of avocado. You may want to also use your favorite hot sauce on top. Then it ready to serve.

yields: about 8 servings