Chickpea Veggie Burger

Yesterday was one of those days where I just wanted old-style comfort food.  Though, I should add, that even when I ate meat I hated hamburgers.  I used to crave the Boca Vegan burgers, but I have moved on from the frozen aisle and will be attempting more veggie and bean burgers in the coming months.  This particular burger was a little softer than I would've liked, but it tasted excellent! I highly recommend some plain old yellow mustard on this burger.  It just goes perfectly.  Though, you can do whatever you want.  I ate mine with a healthy dose of mustard, some Vegenaise, romaine lettuce and red onion and served on a vegan onion bun.  SO good! And they go perfectly with my Baked Onion Rings!  
Two suggestions:

• Add some bread crumbs for a bit more texture.
• Don't puree the bean/veg mix.  I pureed mine accidentally because I wasn't paying attention. Oops.

My recipe makes 2 normal-sized patties or maybe 4 mini burgers.  You could pan-fry them, I suppose, but I baked mine in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 3-4 TB yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 1/3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 3 TB wheat gluten
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/8-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with some cooking spray.
2. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and bell pepper and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then add the garlic and red pepper.  Cook another 2-3 minutes.  Then remove from pan and let cool somewhat.  I put mine in the freezer about 5 minutes. 
3. While the onion/peppers are cooling, get your food processor out.  Add the chickpeas, salt and pepper.  When the onions/peppers are cooled a bit, add them to the food processor.  Whir a few times to chop the goods.
4. Add in the wheat gluten and whir a bit more.  If you're adding breadcrumbs do it now.  You can puree if you want, though I won't be doing that next time because I'd like a bit more texture.  
5. Remove half of the mixture from the processor and shape into a patty.  Then do the other half, duh.
6. Put the patties on the prepared baking sheet and cook on the middle rack for about 12 minutes.  Then flip and cook another 6-8 minutes. The patty should be browned and somewhat firm.  Serve on a nice tasty bun with some fixins!  Enjoy :)