Baked Chickpea Burgers

These burgers are packed with things that I love to eat with chickpeas, including garlic, ginger, carrot, coriander and parsley. As a change from frying, I baked these on an oiled tray which, I have to say, worked out pretty well. Like their deep-fried falafel cousins, these little burgers are lovely stuffed into pita breads and eaten with salads, yoghurt and tahini.

You can, of course, used tinned chickpeas here if you don’t have time, or can’t be bothered with the endless cooking required for the dried variety. If you are cooking dried chickpeas, though, do save the chickpea cooking liquid and freeze it – it makes a nice base for soups.

You’ll need:

150g dried chickpeas (or used tinned – you’ll need about 375g chickpeas once drained)
1 tblsp olive oil plus more for greasing the baking sheet
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 baby leeks or 5-6 spring onions, green and white parts finely sliced
0.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tblsp grated root ginger
1 medium carrot (about 125g), coarsely grated
2 tblsp chopped fresh coriander
4-5 tblsp chopped parsley (either flat leaf or curly)
1 tblsp lemon juice
6 tblsp rolled oats / porridge oats (or use wholewheat breadcrumbs)
1 tsp salt or to taste

You’ll also need:

A large baking sheet – mine was about 20cm by 30cm – or a couple of smaller ones.

The Steps:

If using dried chickpeas and you haven’t had time enough to soak them overnight, you can quick-soak them as follows: cover with several inches of cold water, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for about 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to soak for at least an hour in the heated water.
Drain the soaked chickpeas, put into a heavy saucepan with about 1 litre of fresh water. Bring up to the boil, then simmer, partially covered, for about 1.5 – 2 hours or until the chickpeas are tender. Alternatively, if you have a pressure cooker, they’ll only need about 20 minutes of cooking once they’ve been brought up to pressure.
If using tinned chickpeas, just drain and rinse them.
Preheat your oven to 200C and brush your baking sheet(s) with olive oil.
Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add the olive oil and swirl it around the pan. Add the garlic and leeks (or spring onions) and stir and fry for about 4 minutes or until the leek whites have become translucent.
Add the cumin, grated ginger and grated carrot to the pan and stir and fry for another couple of minutes, then remove from the heat.
In a large bowl, mash the chickpeas coarsely, either using a potato masher or a fork.
Add the carrot and leek mixture to the mashed chickpeas, along with the chopped coriander and parsley, lemon juice, oats and salt. Mix well to combine – you should end up with a fairly stiff mixture.
To make each burger, scoop out a generous heaped tablespoon of the mixture, flatten and form into a patty around 5cm or so in diameter and around 0.5 cm thick and place on the baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used up all of the mixture.
Bake for about 10 minutes, then flip the patties over and bake for another 7-10 minutes until golden.
Serve with pita bread, yoghurt and/or tahini and salads.

The Variations:

You could easily add some fresh mint here I think – either use it to replace the fresh coriander or use both.

The Results:

This amount make 12-15 burgers and feeds 3-4, along with pita breads and salads.