The cookies have a dry, crumbly bite that quickly melts in your mouth, leaving tasty bits of grain for you to chew for the rest of the day.

Do check your smile before getting on post-tea Zoom calls.

My culinary challenge was to veganize the sweetmeal biscuits. And because I love all things oat, I decided to make the cookies with oat flour rather than wheat.

I used a King Arthur English Digestive recipe as a springboard, swapping Miyoko’s vegan butter and oat milk for the dairy varieties.

To maintain peak melt-in-your-mouth texture, be careful not to over- bake the biscuits. I reduced the recommended 15-minute bake time to 10-12 minutes.

Oat Digestive Biscuits Recipe

2 cups oat flour; buy the flour or grind your own, see below.
2/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Miyoko’s butter or other vegan butter slightly softened
1-2 tablespoons oat milk or other vegan milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. If grinding your own flour, pour 2 1/2 cups rolled oats into a blender or food processor and process on high until oats have a mealy, floury consistency. You may need to use slightly more or less oats to yield 2 cups of flour. Set aside a couple of tablespoons.
3. In a medium sized bowl, blend oat flour, confectioner’s sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. Using a pastry cutter, whisk or your fingers, cut in the butter, blending until its incorporated and crumbly. Note: to soften Miyoko’s butter, leave at room temperature for half an hour. I try not to nuke the butter as it melts in a flash.
5. Toss in just enough oat milk to make a stiff dough—I tested this recipe twice, using one tablespoon the first time and two tablespoons the second time.
6. Dump dough onto a surface lightly sprinkled with reserved oat flour and knead briefly until smooth.
7. Roll out dough between two sheets of waxed paper, shaping it into a 1/4″-thick rectangle. Cut into 3″ rounds and slide the rounds onto a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.
8. Using a fork, prick the biscuits to keep them from buckling as they bake. Note: the fork pricks disappeared as I baked the biscuits and I re-pierced them after I slid them out of the oven to cool.

Yields 2 dozen biscuits.

Photography by raleigh322

These days people prize originality. We laud individuality. We’re secretly disappointed if ours kids color inside the lines.

But before the 20th century, originality was not expected of students, writers and artists.

Copy work is craft

People learned by imitating masters. Virgil copied Homer. Michaelangelo copied Donatello. Manet copied Raimondi.

And now I’m copying Irving Penn.

It all started last spring with a photography class I took at NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

My Copycat Photo Assignment

The instructor asked students to choose a famous photographer and shoot a series of photos in the manner of the master. I wanted to learn food photography I so chose Penn.

As a kid in the 70s, I’d stumbled on his food still lifes in Vogue. Nestled between glossy spreads of body-painted models and Kent cigarette ads, the photos were oddities–but clearly Art. Penn’s colorblock frozen food had more in common with Ellsworth Kelly than the Jolly Green Giant.

Irving Penn’s Modernist Still Life Photos

Penn’s work spans fashion, formal portraiture, advertising, ethnography and still life photography. His photos use the composition, light and subject matter of older art works such as Dutch still life painting, modernist hard-edge painting and 18th century portraiture.

Looking at them is a layered experience. There’s a whiff of something you recognize as ancient but the works are unmistakably modern. And they remain contemporary 50 years later.

I chose six of Irving Penn’s still life images, copied them as closely as possible and didn’t come close.

Penn makes it look so easy and effortless. The harmonious composition. The perfect natural lighting. The perfect studio lighting. The masterful use of color. And his easy way of communicating with his subject, whether it’s a Peruvian shepherd or a stack of quick-thawing frozen corn.

Here are the master’s work and my copies…

But they make a great addition to your cocktail tray.

Tossed in sesame oil, sesame seeds and  turmeric, the rich, crunchy, salty tidbits are the perfect foil to rummy Mai Tais, cognac-heavy Sidecars and other boozy classic cocktails.

The nuts have teetotaling efficacy as well. I bring a little jarful to work as a protein-rich antidote to the blood sugar drop and torpor that set in long about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

The only downside to Turmeric Sesame Cashews is, well, the turmeric.  It has a way  of  perniciously staining your fingertips when you fish the nut bowl for errant turmeric-powdered sesame seeds. Which you will.

The recipe below, a tweak of Heidi Swanson’s original, minimizes the problem.

The idea came from a Copywriters’ Kitchen Test Chef (one of my kids). “Try coating the cashews with egg white before you toss them with the sesame seeds, Ma.”

Genius.

My vegan hack is a flax “egg.” You know–a mix of water and ground flax.  You coat the cashews first with this flavorless goo, then toss with the seed and spice mixture. Presto. The seeds stick to the nuts.

After a lazy roast in a slow oven, you’re rewarded with a huge pan of sesame-studded, paisley-shaped nuts.

And they’re beautifully golden.

PRETTY + TASTY

Turmeric Sesame Cashews

3 cups whole raw cashews
1 heaping tablespoon ground flax + 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, plus more, if needed
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1-2 teaspoon kosher salt (I use the larger amount)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl, mix the ground flax and water and set aside for at least five minutes until mixture gels.
4. In another small bowl—preferably stainless steel or glass to minimize staining—mix the turmeric, sesame seeds, salt and cayenne.
5. Place the cashews in a large, stainless steel bowl. Pour the sesame oil over the cashews and toss to coat. Let them sit for at least ten minutes to absorb the oil.
6. Spoon the flax “egg” over the cashews and toss well until the nuts are evenly coated.
7. Dump the spice and seed mixture over the cashews, tossing gingerly. Don’t over-toss.
8. Gently spoon the nuts onto the parchment-lined pan. Spread cashews in a single layer in the middle of the pan. Stray nuts near the edge of pan roast faster–and burn.
9. Slide the pan into the oven and slow roast for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and use a spatula to turn the nuts. Return them to the oven and continue to roast for another 20 minutes. Check the nuts every 10 minutes thereafter, turning as needed until nuts are toasted and crunchy. (This extended dry roasting time is necessary as the nuts have been moistened and softened a bit by the flax egg).
10. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.  Store in jars with tight lids.

Makes three cups.

North of Zanzibar’s cinnamon plantations and across the sea from the cardamom groves of India and Pakistan’s fields of turmeric, Oman sits at the crossroads of ancient spice routes.

No surprise then that Omani cookery use such an extravagant variety of perfumed, pungent pods, seeds, barks and leaves.

Take this shorbat adas soup adapted from Felicia Campbell’s traditional Omani recipe. While many Middle Eastern bean soups and Southeast Asian dals use two or three spices, this fragrant lentil soup calls for eight. 

Along with coriander, cumin, turmeric and black pepper you’ll find the more unexpected sweetness and bite of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg.

If you’re a culinary hoarder like me–see my spice drawer below–you’ll welcome the opportunity to break out some of your lesser-used spices.

The soup also calls for fresh ginger, garlic, large quantities of purple onion and dried limes. Also known as “black limes,” these brined, dehydrated fruits  are a signature flavor of Omani and Persian cuisines, giving dishes nuanced notes of acridness, smoke and citrus. You’ll find them in Middle Eastern grocery stores or spice shops.

While this soup’s flavor is complex, preparation is simple. Sopped up with yeasty shepherd’s bread or chapati, Omani Lentil Soup makes a terrific and quick weeknight dinner.

Omani 8-Spice Lentil Soup

2 dried limes
1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 medium red onions, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
½” piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 plum tomatoes, cored and diced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¾ teaspoon whole coriander
¾ teaspoon whole cumin
¼ teaspoon whole cardamom
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
5½ cups water
1 cup red lentils, rinsed well
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for serving

1. Scrub the limes, place in a bowl and cover with warm water. Let them soak for a few minutes to soften their skins, then pierce the skins, making several holes in each lime.
2. In medium-sized stockpot, heat the coconut oil over a medium-high flame until the air shimmers above the pan. Toss in the chopped onions, stir and fry the onions. Turn the flame down slightly, if needed, and cook the onions until they are soft, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and ginger and continue to fry the mix for a few minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook for a 2-3 more minutes.
5. In the meantime, grind the whole spices. Place the coriander, cumin and cardamom in a mortar and pestle and grind until they reach a consistency that pleases you. I like a rough grind, rather than a powdery grind. Into the mortar, stir the pre-ground nutmeg, cloves, turmeric, cinnamon and black pepper.
6. Sprinkle the spice mixture into the onion and tomato mixture. Add the tomato paste and dried limes. Bring the mixture to a boil, turn down the flame and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
7. As the mixture cooks, wash the lentils, rinsing them three times or until the rinse water runs clear. Add the lentils, water and salt to the onion/tomato/spice mixture. Turn up the flame, bring the soup to a boil, then turn down the flame,  letting the lentils cook at a low simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes until the lentils are soft.
8. Spoon half the soup into a food processor and puree. Pour the pureed lentils back into the pot, stir to blend and serve.

9. Serves 6

Yada, yada, yada.

Health claims are not why I’m inhaling these All-Seed Crackers.

The toasty, crunchy, nutty, salty, savory, garlicky wafers are jumping into my mouth because they are delicious.

And prep couldn’t be more…elemental.

Seeds. Garlic. Salt. Water.

What holds them together? Magical food chemistry.

When soaked in water, the tiny chia seeds metamorphose from dry solid to sticky gel. And the gelatinous pinhead-sized seeds grab and hold the other seeds together.

You dump everything onto parchment paper, pat into a thin sheet and bake in a slow oven.

Quick note on proportions: Most all-seed cracker recipes you’ll find call for equal measures of each seed.

But that’s too much chia. The the equal-measure formula yields a… slightly slimy cracker.

Try not to think about it.

Quick, go make a batch of crackers and enjoy.

Because they really are gluten free, vegan, keto friendly, paleo approved and high fiber.

All-Seed Crackers Recipe (vegan)

1/2 cup raw hulled pepitos (pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup raw hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup black sesame seeds
1/3 (scant) cup chia seeds
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus extra for sprinkling
1 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl combine the seeds and the salt.
4. In a small bowl, stir the water and crushed garlic together.
5. Pour the water mixture into the seed mixture and stir. Let sit 2-3 minutes.
6. Scoop the congealed seeds onto the parchment. Using your hands—dipped in water to keep seeds from sticking to them—pat the seeds into a rectangle that takes up as much of the cookie sheet as possible. I use a long spatula to straighten and sharpen the edges.
7. Using a glass jar or cup dipped in water, roll the wet seeds as thin as possible. The thinner the layer, the lighter and more airy the crackers.
8. Sprinkle the top of the seeds liberally with salt. I like to use a quality, flaky sea salt, but plain kosher salt is fine. I like my crackers salty, so I use at least 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of salt on the seeds.
9. Slide the cookie sheet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
10. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven. With a wide spatula, carefully scoop under and work around the entire seed layer to loosen it from the parchment. Using the spatula or your hands—make sure the seeds are cool enough to handle—flip the sheet so that the wet side is up.
11. With a sharp chef’s knife or pizza cutter, cut the layer of seeds into 2″ diamond-shaped crackers. Separate the crackers slightly so they will toast evenly on all sides.
12. Slide the cookie sheet back into the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. If the crackers in the center are not crispy enough, swap them for the crackers closest to the edge of the sheet—food cooks faster close to the edge of the pan.
13. Remove the crackers from the oven and let them cool completely before storing in a tin. Crackers stay fresh for at least a week, longer if you store them in the fridge.

Serves 8.

But what if your idea of celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day, le premier jour du printemps—or merely a hedonistic collapse into the weekend—doesn’t include dairy and eggs?

This recipe is for you.

Happily, the no-egg, no-dairy formula still yields a densely fluffy and moist loaf studded with fat, golden raisins and topped with a crackling sweet crust.

Irresistible hot out of the oven—here at Copywriters’ Kitchen we wash it down with cups of sweet, scalding Assam tea—the bread is also delectable the next day.

Cut it into thick slabs, pop them into the toaster and slather with Miyoko’s butter.

Irish-ish No-Knead Soda Bread Recipe (Vegan)

5 tablespoons Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter or other vegan butter
2 flax “eggs”: 2 tablespoons ground flax + 6 tablespoons water
3½ cups flour
¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons Demerara sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1¾ cups almond or other non-dairy milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1½ cups golden raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease an iron skillet or 10” baking pan with one tablespoon vegan butter.
3. In a small bowl or teacup, mix ground flax and water. Set aside while you put together the remaining ingredients.
4. In a large bowl, combine flour, ¾ cup sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
5. In a medium bowl, mix the almond milk and the vinegar, stirring well to incorporate. Set the milk aside for a minute or two to let it “clabber” or curdle. Add the raisins, flax “eggs” and two tablespoons melted vegan butter. Stir to mix.
6. Swiftly dump the milk/raisin mixture into the flour mixture. Mix with a few quick strokes. The aim is to blend wet and dry ingredients quickly—but be sure to scoop down underneath to the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all the flour. Use as few strokes as possible and don’t stress about a few patches of flour.
7. Spoon the dough into the skillet or baking pan. You’ll notice it’s a wet dough. No worries.
8. Pour the remaining two tablespoons of vegan butter over the top of the dough and sprinkle with remaining two tablespoons of Demerara sugar.
9. Slide the pan into oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until tester comes out clean.

Serves 8.

Over the winter, I used dried shitake mushrooms to add heartiness and savor to Alfredo-type sauces, marinara, ramen bowls and more.

Now that the weather is warmer, I’m loving dried mushrooms mixed with fresh, the mélange soaked in a lemony vinaigrette.

For dressing, I use a blend of olive oil, lemon juice and lemon zest. I throw in a handful of chopped fresh oregano for aromatic, cedary notes.

My recipe mixes dried eryngii and shitake mushrooms with fresh bunapis. Feel free to swap the tiny bunapis for baby bellos or any other fresh mushrooms, sliced paper thin.

Delicious as a salad appetizer, Lemony Marinated Mushroom Mélange is also lovely scooped onto crispy garlic and olive oil-rubbed bruschetti.

This flavor-dense salad keeps for a full week and just gets better with age.

“Go straight to your room right now! And don’t you dare talk back to me.”

Our daughter Lily was a sunny, easygoing child.

But she ran a tight ship with the tiny dollhouse family that lived in the pint-sized pine house in her room.

The itty, yarn-wrapped people and their frozen, smiley faces seemed to unleash Lily’s inner Benito Mussolini.

The dollhouse family’s home decorating, dressing and domestic routines became a psychodrama that occupied Lily and her enthralled younger brother and their friends for hours.

For years it was my job to kit out the dollhouse family. I scoured craft stores, secondhand boutiques and vintage toy shops year round to keep the family in bitty beds, teeny tables and pee-wee rolling pins.

Even now, close to two decades later, my radar for reduced-size objects remains on high frequency.

How else can I explain my purchase of the cipollini onions?

The midget onions weren’t part of a must-try recipe. They hadn’t been photographed on a polished cement counter on one of the vegan, clean-food blogs I hit up weekly. I’d never even tasted a cipollini.

But when I spied the squat little onions nestled in a wicker basket at H-Mart, zing went my heartstrings.

I bought three pounds.

They sat in my kitchen for a week.

For most of us, onions aren’t really a stand-alone vegetable, are they? On the other hand, the cipollini were too cute–and too expensive–to chop up and simmer into marinara invisibility.

I was thrilled when I stumbled on James Beard’s Burgundy-Glazed Cipollini Onions. Of course I had to fiddle with the recipe. My own sweet, sour, salty, sticky, winey, burnt-caramel variation follows.

The recipe’s two-stage, sauté-and-braise cooking transforms the mild little onions into tender globes coated with syrupy wine sauce.

Served warm or at room temperature, braised cipollini onions make a divine side dish with pasta. They’re also a special addition to your appetizer rotation.

Chockablock with broccoli, red peppers and julienned yam “noodles,” the vegetables are bathed in a savory, aromatic and fiery broth. Unlike a lot of all-veggie dishes, this soup gets stick-to-the-ribs heartiness from crispy fried tofu and meaty shitake mushrooms.

While officially a “soup,” it turns into a “bowl” with the addition of a scoop of steamed rice, quinoa or buckwheat.

Secret Ingredient Amps Flavor

The soup owes it’s complex and addictively delicious flavor to a cheat ingredient: Thai red curry paste. Available at Asian groceries and supermarkets, the paste is a food-transforming puree of chili peppers, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, Kafir lime, galangal and, like we copywriters always say, so much more.

The piquant pesto instantly amps up flavor and fire in stews, soups, sauces and salad dressings.

I use about two and half tablespoons of red curry paste for this recipe. For additional heat, try substituting one tablespoon of Inferno-esque Thai green curry paste—also available at Asian groceries—for the red paste.

One Pot + 20 Minutes = Soup’s On

This one-pot recipe requires no sautéing or additional steps other than pre-soaking the dried mushrooms. If you’re in a hurry, you can skip frying the tofu and just dump it into the broth along with the vegetables.

Easy 20-Minute Thai Red Curry is a favorite weekend cookathon recipe here at Copywriters’ Kitchen. I whip up a huge vat on Sunday and ladle the soup into Mason jars for weekday meals.

Stacked in the fridge, the cheery jars go a long way in easing those I-need-one-more-day-of-the weekend Sunday night blues!

While officially a “soup” this recipe is more a “bowl.” It’s chockablock with vegetables and yam “noodles” lightly bathed in ultra-flavorful broth. Crispy fried tofu chunks and meaty shitake mushrooms lend stick-to-the-ribs heartiness.
Best of all? You can ladle up a steaming bowl of this crunchy, spongy, creamy, coconutty, spicy flavor-packed goodness in 20 minutes, start to finish.

Easy 20-Minute Thai Red Curry Soup

2 ounces dried shitake mushrooms—available in Asian markets, or use extra fresh mushrooms.
Boiling water
1-2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 pound extra-firm tofu
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger (optional)
1 large clove garlic (optional)
4 cups hot vegetable broth
3 cups light coconut milk and/or coconut beverage
Head of fresh broccoli, washed and chopped
1 large red pepper, washed, cored, seeded and diced
1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
8 ounces baby bello mushrooms, washed, trimmed and sliced paper-thin
1 medium yam, peeled and julienned into noodle-size strips
Garnish
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
½ cup sliced red onion, shallots or scallions
1 lime, cut into wedges
Cooked white rice

1. If time permits, soak the dried shitake mushrooms a few hours—and up to eight hours—ahead of time. If time-pressed, the following quick-soak will do. In medium bowl, cover dried mushrooms with boiling water—about 1½ cups. Turn mushrooms button-side down and weight with a small plate. Note on buying shitake mushrooms: Choose whole mushroom caps with deep white fissures, see photo above. More flavorful—and more expensive—than non-fissured mushrooms, the fissured variety are sometimes labeled hana, or “flower” mushrooms.
2. Cut tofu into ½” cubes.
3. In a flat-bottomed stockpot, heat a teaspoon of coconut oil over a medium flame until it begins to smoke.
4. Dump tofu into the pot and spread to form an even layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Do not jostle the tofu, let it fry on one side, turning flame down if needed, until one side of tofu is golden. Using a spatula, scrape and scramble the tofu, scraping every 3-4 minutes to fry until golden all over. Remove and reserve the tofu. Scrape the pan clean of any bits of fried tofu, wiping with a paper towel, if needed. Note: Pressed for time? Forget about frying the tofu—reserve the raw cubes and add them along with vegetables, see step 14, below.
5. Place pot back on stove, add one teaspoon coconut oil and turn flame to medium. Tilt pan to spread oil over pan bottom and heat oil until almost smoking. Add the curry paste and ginger and garlic, if desired.
6. Cook the paste for a few minutes to release the spices’ full flavor, lowering flame if needed.
7. Add hot broth and coconut milk or coconut beverage. I use 2½ cups Trader Joe’s Coconut beverage and ½ can of coconut milk. If you prefer a richer broth, use more coconut milk and less beverage.
8. Bring broth to a boil, lower to a simmer and let cook down for 15 minutes.
9. In the mean time prepare vegetables. Wash, trim, cut broccoli into flowerettes and dice broccoli stems. Reserve.
10. Wash, core, seed and dice the red pepper. Add to broccoli and reserve.
11. Open water chestnuts, drain and dice.
12. Thinly slice fresh mushrooms.
13. Squeeze soaked shitake mushrooms and reserve soaking water. Slice mushrooms thinly.
14. When broth has cooked down, add broccoli, red pepper, water chestnuts, shitake mushrooms and reserved shitake soaking water. If you have not fried tofu cubes, you may add raw cubes at this point. Stir gently to incorporate all ingredients. The heat of the broth will cook the vegetables, so no need to turn up flame.
15. As veggies cook, peel and julienne the yam, using a spiralyzer or julienne utensil. Note: Don’t peel yams ahead of time: they oxidize and turn brown quickly.
16. Dump julienned yams, fresh mushrooms and, if using fried, rather than raw tofu, add the tofu now. Sir gently to incorporate. Cover the pot, turn off flame, and leave the veggies to finish cooking in the hot broth for five minutes.
17. Spoon into big bowls and garnish with chopped cilantro, red onion or scallions (or shallots), a squeeze of lime and dollop of white rice, if desired.

Serves six generously.

“Wake Up” image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Yes, you can fill up on salads and sides.

But what you really want is a delicious, filling, flavor-packed burger that doesn’t apologize for being meat-free.

This is it.

A mix of roughly mashed black beans, sweet corn, fresh cilantro, pungent purple onion and homemade chili powder, these gluten-free Spicy Black Bean-corn Burgers explode with intense flavor and texture.

Lay these on a picnic table and watch how quickly carnivores convert: the easy-to-make black bean burgers disappear faster than T-bone and dogs.

Following Weekend Cookathon protocol, I make a big batch for Mr. CopywritersKitchen and myself. This recipe serves 8. Layered between sheets of wax paper and covered tightly in a flat glass storage container, burgers freeze, thaw and fry up beautifully.

The gluten-free burgers are also perfetto for tailgate picnics.

For a quick—and amazing—weekday dinner, pair with Crispy Oven-fried Potatoes or Crispy Oven-fried Yams.

Best Spicy Black Bean-corn Burgers

3 cups black beans, or two 15.5 ounce cans, rinsed and drained, liquid reserved
1 “flax egg”—1 tablespoon ground flax plus 2 tablespoons water
1 cup rolled oats, ground
½ cup frozen or fresh corn kernels
½ medium red onion, grated
2 carrots, peeled and grated
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro—use more or less to taste
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Two teaspoons homemade chili powder—or use store-bought
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, slightly ground with mortar and pestle—or use ground cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
Dash of Sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Black pepper, to tase
1 tablespoon oil

Buns or toasted bread

Garnish:

• Lettuce
• Sliced tomatoes
• Thinly sliced red or Vidalia onion
• Sliced avocados
• Mustard
• Catsup
• Vegan mayo
• Sriracha

1. If using dried beans, rinse and pick over a pound of black beans. To cook beans in a crock pot, follow bean slow cooker directions here. To cook on stovetop, follow directions on bean package.
2. If using canned beans, drain and rinse beans, reserving about 1/2 cup bean liquid.
3. Place beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher or fork, adding a bit of reserved bean liquid if mixture seems too dry. You want a rough mash, rather than a purée—see photo above.
4. Mix ground flax seed and water. Set aside.
5. Using a blender or mini chopper, grind oats. Add to beans in bowl.
6. Place corn in a cloth napkin or towel and squeeze out extra moisture. Add corn to beans/oats in bowl.
7. Grate onion. Add onion and its juices to bean mixture in bowl.
8. Grate carrots and add them to bean mixture in bowl.
9. De-stem, wash, spin and chop cilantro. Add to bean mixture in bowl.
10. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, Sriracha sauce, salt and pepper (to taste) to bean mixture in bowl.
11. Add reserved “flax egg” to mixture in bowl.
12. Using a large wooden spoon or your hands, lightly toss and mix ingredients in bowl until evenly and thoroughly mixed, being careful not to over mix and compress ingredients.
13. Using a lightly oiled half-cup measure, divide mixture into same-size mounds. You should have around eight 1/2-cup portions. If you have leftover mixture, divvy it up between the eight portions.
14. Form the mounds into firm patties and flatten sightly.
15. Place patties on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. You may freeze the patties at this point, placing them in a wax paper-lined, flat glass food container. Separate layers with wax paper and cover container tightly with a lid.
16. If using patties immediately, let rest and dry slightly for 15-20 minutes on wax paper-lined sheet.
17. In a frying pan, heat oil over medium high flame. Carefully slide patties into frying pan. Immediately turn flame to low and slowly fry the patties. After 15 minutes, carefully flip patties and fry for another 10-15 minutes—this is a moist mixture that requires slow, steady heat to cook the inside of the burger without burning the outside.
18. When patties are cooked, turn off flame and let patties sit in frying pan while you prepare buns.
19. Toast buns. These are delish spread with a mixture of vegan mayo and Sriracha sauce plus your favorite condiments, see suggestions above.

Serves 8.