The Bean Burger.

I thought it was easy.  Mash a bunch of beans together, throw in some tofu, and heat em up just like you would a hunk a beef.

NOPES.

As most vegans already know, that ain’t how it works.  As detailed here (by one of my favorite food gurus on the interwebs), the problem with most homemade bean burgers is that they either fall apart as soon as you breathe on it, OR, they turn into mashed potato burgers.

So, I took a leaf out of the Chef Kenji’s playbook, modified it to make it vegan and Korean-y, and voila.  Your gochujang black bean burger was born.

And it didn’t fall apart.

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Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Intermediate
Servings Amount: 3

Recipe Lead: Sit down. Crack open a can of beans. Eat a burger. Without it falling onto your pants.

Ingredients.

• 1 can black beans
• 1/3 cup cooked brown rice
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup + 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp aquafaba (juice from can of black beans)
• 1 tsp Korean pepper powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tsp garlic (minced)
• 1/4 onion (diced)
• 1/2 jalapeno (chopped)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup very ripe kimchi
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp + 1/4 cup potato starch

Instructions.

1.  Roast black beans by placing in one layer on baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Put in 375° often for approximately 10-15 minutes, until beans are splitting apart.  Remove from oven and let cool.
2. In sauté pan, saute onions, kimchi + kimchi juice, jalapeno in sesame oil.  Place in large bowl.
3. Place beans in food processor and chop–not into a mash, just until crumble-y.  Add beans to bowl with onions.
4. Place sunflower seeds in food processor and chop into small pebbles.  Add to bowl with beans.
5. Add rice, breadcrumbs, aquafaba, spices, 1 tbsp potato starch, gochujang to bean/onion mixture.  Mold into patties (I made about three).
6. Coat patties with a very thin coating of potato starch and the submerge in aquafaba.  Then coat with breadcrumbs.
7. Fry in skillet, grill on grill, or bake in the oven–whatever your pleasure.  Serve with toasted bun (I used pretzel buns!) and top with whatever you like.  I topped it with my avocado cashew pesto, some roasted golden beets, and warm peaches.  So.