middle eastern chickpea (mini)burgers

After three nights of making macaroni and cheese, Morning Star grillers and leftovers, I finally mustered up the motivation to cook last night. This recipe is adapted from a Middle Eastern Chickpea Miniburger recipe from Cooking Light. It's not on the web site, just the magazine. I used regular buns, and the patties were the perfect size.

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) red potato

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic (I used crushed garlic paste)

1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas

1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind (I omitted this from the recipe since I didn't have a lemon)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

I tasted the mixture and it was a little bland. I added 1/4 cup feta, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/4 cup chopped onions and 2 tablespoons of parmigiano-romano.

Preparation

Boil potato (this should take around 25 minutes). Peel and coarsely chop, mash in bowl with chickpeas, add all remaining ingredients. Divide mixture into six patties. In a large non-stick skillet heat olive oil. Add patties and cook until bottoms are golden brown. Serve on whole-grain slider bun with desired condiments.

This meal was actually very easy to prepare (took me under 30 minutes) and was very tasty after I made adjustments. It's making the cut into the recipe box, and it's a relatively healthy recipe. (Or atleast it was until I added the cheese.)  You can use mayonnaise for the sauce or mix up some low-fat sour cream with mint flakes.  This would also taste really good in a pita with cucumber yogurt sauce, and I think next time that's how I'll be serving it.

I tried to take a picture, but my camera just isn't cut out for food photography. I'm working on this, but I probably won't have a decent camera until the end of November.