Southwestern-ish Homemade Veggie Burgers

The food processor made this an easy dinner to throw together in minutes (with the help of steam-in-the-bag frozen brown rice anyway.) The recipe is adapted from Desert Culinary, and I think it turned out great -- kind of like spicy falafel! Served with avocado on top and on made-from-scratch rolls from a rosemary/thyme/garlic-spiked peasant bread dough, this turned out to be a surprisingly delicious "healthy" meal.

Brown-Rice Veggie Burgers (Adapted from Food and Wine)

1 packed cup cooked brown rice, at room temperature, divided
1 - 2 oz Pepper Jack cheese, cut into small pieces
1 chipotle chile in adobo (to taste - I used a big one with a tsp or two of the sauce -- gave a medium level of spice)
1 teaspoon salt
1 large poblano chile, seeded and finely chopped
5 scallions, thinly sliced (use the root and about half to 2/3 of the stalk)
3/4 cup mukimame/shelled edamame (can use peas too...I used the frozen, steam-in-the-bag mukimake from Target)
1/4 cup roasted and salted pepitas (I used sunflower seeds because I couldn't find pepitas that morning)
olive or canola oil
buns or rolls and assorted toppings for serving

Place 3/4 cup rice, cheese, chipotle and salt into a food processor - pulse until slightly pasty. Add chopped poblano, scallions, mukimame, and pepitas - pulse just until the vegetables are blended in and coarsely chopped.

Scoop mixture out into a bowl and knead in remaining rice. Using damped hands, divide mixture into four equal pieces, shaping each firmly into a 4" patty, roughly 3/4" thick. Place into the refrigerator and chill for 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat grill pan or flat skillet. Brush one side of the patties with oil and place, oiled side down, into the grill pan - cook over medium heat until golden and crusty, about 5 minutes. Brush top side with oil, then carefully turn patty over and cook until heated through and golden, about 5 minutes more.

Serve on buns or rolls with your toppings of choice.

Makes 4 servings.