Bean-Rice-Vegetable Mixture - For Soup And Burgers

1/2c red adzuki beans

1/2c wild and brown rice

2c water

1c+ celery

1-1/2c organic baby sweet potatoes

2 lg cloves elephant garlic

1/2 - 2/3c water

1t sea salt

1/2t finely ground pepper

2t chili lime seasoning

1t ground cumin

egg - or - oatmeal for the burgers

This is a very time and labor intensive recipe, that would be a good choice on a day you'll be home, doing 'house things' all day.  It's so worth it though for the healthy lunches or dinners it will provide for you, your family and friends.

Put beans and rice in water in a 2qt pot.  Bring to a low boil, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Shut off heat and let stand, in the covered pot, 2 hours.  Meanwhile finely chop vegetables, into a 3qt. pot.  Add a little water and sprinkle with seasonings, stir to blend and coat with the seasoned water.  Bring to a low boil, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Put in refrigerator, or leave on burner, until beans and rice are ready.

After the 2 hour soak is over, drain and rinse the beans and rice.  Add enough cold water to once again cover everything.  Slow-simmer until rice fans out and beans are very tender.  This took another hour.  At this point, the water will be absorbed.  Mash the beans and rice well with a potato masher.  It will resemble loose, refried beans.  Put this into the pot with the vegetables.  Mash all the ingredients together.

Next I put 1/3 of the bean-grain-vegetable mixture back into the 2qt pot.  I added just enough low sodium vegetable broth to turn it from a paste to soup.  If you'd like to smooth this out, it can be blended on medium-high for a minute.  Heat, then serve with a dollop of a Greek yogurt-sour cream mix to which a little fresh lime juice, zest, more chili lime seasoning and sea salt has been added.

For the burgers, add egg - or - some ground flax seed mixed in water, if a binding agent is needed.  You may need to stir in some rolled oats if it's too soupy.  Mine was more loose so I ended up using 1-1/2c rolled oats.  These tend to bland out the flavor so I added another pretty heavy hit of the original spices.  Cover and chill for an hour for the flavors to blend and the consistency to stiffen up so you can form the patties.  They're ready to cook now, or you can put the burgers on a tray, cover and refrigerate another couple hours.  Or freeze on a cookie sheet then double bag in zip-seal type bags, to cook another day.

Cook in a non-stick pan, in a tiny bit of butter if desired, browning on each side, flipping a couple times.  Serve with a sprouted grain bun or without one.  Add a salad, fresh vegetables or fruit to the plate.  Or, Oven-Roasted Potatoes if you'd like.  For the potatoes, scrub and dry them.  Cut them into strips or chunks, drizzle with a little vegetable broth so your seasonings of choice will stick.  Toss, then put potato pieces on a baking sheet.  Bake at 375° until sizzling, browned and done to your liking.

These burgers would be good with usual condiments, or a dollop of the afore mentioned Greek yogurt-sour cream mixture.  What I ended up doing was making a sauce out of sour cream, with a little horseradish-mustard, chopped-jarred olive-oil-marinated garlic, and a drizzle of good dark balsamic vinegar.  I stirred this up while the burger was sizzling.  In total, this recipe created a little over a quart of soup and 5-6 burgers.
Be Creative, Have Fun - and - Happy Cooking! . .Lin