Black Bean & Quinoa Sliders

Time: Active: 20 minutes   Inactive: 1 hour
Yield: 20-22 slider sized patties

Ingredients:
Pattie Ingredients:
1/3 cup uncooked quinoa
1-2 tablespoons cooking oil
½ cup red onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 cup cooked black beans (See notes)
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/3 cup yellow corn, slightly cooked
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 ½ tablespoon ground cumin
½ tablespoon chilli powder
A few dashes of hot sauce (Optional)
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup cheddar/pepper jack/Monterey jack cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats, crushed

Sirarcha-Yogurt Sauce Ingredients:
½ cup of hung yogurt or Greek yogurt (See notes)
1-2 tablespoons Sirarcha Sauce (see note)
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Slider Assembly ingredients:
Whole wheat or multigrain mini-burger buns
Lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado (optional)

Notes:

• If you don’t have access to black beans you can replace them with small sized kidney beans. You can also used canned black beans, just make sure your rinse and drain them well.
• If you don’t have access to Greek Yogurt, you can make hung curd. Hung Yogurt/Hung curd: Take 1 cup of low fat yogurt and tie it up in a cheese or muslin cloth. Suspend this cloth over a small container for 30 minutes to an hour, so that all the excess water from the yogurt is strained out and the resulting yogurt is hung curd.
• If you don’t have Sirarcha sauce you can substitute it with another thick textured hot sauce.

Method:

1. Wash and cook the quinoa as per the package instructions. Set aside to cool.
2. While the quinoa is cooling in a small non-stick skillet heat ½ a tablespoon of cooking oil on medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 4-5 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent. Set aside to cool.
3. Take ½ the black beans in a large mixing bowl and use a vegetable/potato masher to mash them up.
4. To this add the cooled quinoa, onion mixture, and rest of the whole cooked black beans. Now add in the jalapeno, corn, tomato paste, ground cumin, chilli powder, hot sauce, cilantro, cheese, salt and pepper. Mix everything well together and taste the mixture. Adjust the seasoning per your taste.
5. Now stir in the egg followed by the oats. Make slider sized pattied and set on a large plate or cookie sheet. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (maximum 6 hours).
6. In a small bowl mix together all the Sirarcha yogurt sauce ingredients and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.
7. Remove from the refrigerator and set aside. In a large non-stick skillet heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and cook the sliders for a few minutes on each side till the burger is cooked and slightly crunchy on the outside.
8. Remove from the heat and place each black bean and quinoa patty in one slider bun. Top each patty with the Sirarcha Yogurt Sauce. Top with any lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado or any other favourite burger topping. Serve immediately.