Though I left the South years ago, the South hasn’t completely left me. Though I have sworn off many Southern dishes, there are times when I want to revisit my heritage — from a culinary angle, that is.
Thanks to Cuisine at Home, I prepared these wonderful Southern veggie burgers made from black-eyed peas and served atop cornbread. It’s hard to get more Southern than this.
I often prepare these veggie burgers after I’ve made a pot of black-eyed peas for hoppin john. It’s a good way to save on leftovers, save on eating meat and save time!
Here’s how they’re made.
Enough for 6 servings.
Ingredients you’ll need for the veggie burgers:
- 4 cups or 2 cans of black eyed peas
- 1/2 cup diced red pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 1/2 tsp prepared mustard
- 2 egg whites
- 5-6 TBSP cornmeal
- Salt & pepper
Drain the black-eyed peas, whether you’ve made them from scratch or purchased in a can. Mash thoroughly using a potato masher. Add scallions, red pepper, garlic, thyme, mustard, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly then add egg whites and corn meal. Shape into burgers and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before cooking. Consistency should be somewhat wet but still dry enough to hold together.
To cook, heat olive or canola oil in a skillet over medium high eat. Cook burgers for 5 minutes on each side.
Place eat burger on top of cornbread, the top off with steamed greens and sauce (recipe below).
Another great benefit of the meal is that you can serve the leftovers as a more traditional veggie burger, along side avocado and more of the sauce. (I actually like it better this way!)
Sauce:
- 1/4 chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/cup mayonnaise
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 2 1/2 TBSP ketchup
- 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
- 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
- Optional: Tobasco or chili sauce to your liking
Mix together in a food processor.
Note: An easier substitute if you are short on time is to mix up a bit of traditional Boise “fry” sauce: 1:1 ratio of mayonnaise to ketchup, then add cajun seasoning.
