Potato chickpeas burger / Aaloo tikki with kabuli channa

After coming to the US, a vegetable burger often means eating a soy patty or a huge grilled portabella mushroom. Back in India things are different I would kill for a Universal bakery (Secunderabad) veggie burger . This is my take on the veggie burger w/o compromising on the taste or nutrition. This attempt was also inspired by the Lentil chickpea burger recipe from 'The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook'. Enjoy

Preperation time: 5 mins + optional 4 hrs of soak time
Cooking time : 20 - 30 mins
Serves: 8 burgers

Burgers:
4 medium red potatoes
0.5 cup of dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)/ you can also use canned garbanzo beans in which case use about 3/4-1 cup
3/4 cup of finely diced spring onion / scallions
1 clove of garlic
a pinch of turmeric
0.5 teaspoon of red chilli powder
1 teaspoon of tandoori masala or any other garam masala you have on hand
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons of oil and then some to shallow fry the burgers
2 heaped tablespoons of rice flour / you can use all purpose flour
1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional )
salt to taste

Serving:
1 tomato
1 small onion
8 pairs of slit hamburger buns

• Soak the dried chickpeas for about 4 hours before hand and boil the chickpeas till they are extremely soft. If you are using canned garbanzo you have it made.
  
• Put the potatoes directly in the microwave oven, with the skin on for 6 - 7 mins till they are cooked throughly. Peel and mash them once they are done
  
• While these are getting done chop up spring onions/ scallions ( I don't use too much of the green part) to get 3/4 cup
• In a small wok heat the 2 tablespoons of oil at medium heat; add the spring onions and garlic. Add a pinch of salt at this point and let the onions sweat for 3-4 mins
  
• Once the spring onions are soft add turmeric, tandoori masala, chili powder and the mashed potatoes. They should be soft and shouldn't require any elbow grease
• Meanwhile drain the chickpeas, put them in a food processor /grinder and quickly pulse it twice-thrice. End product would be soft but still have pieces of chickpeas in a bite
• Add this to the potato spring onion mixture. Salt to suit your taste, adjust spice level by adding more chilli powder and masala if you want. Cook for about 2 mins mashing constantly. Let it cool down and dont be afraid to use your hand to mash things up
  
• Finally add chopped cilantro and turn off the heat

Making the burgers:

• Take the above mixture and divide it into 8 equal parts. Make a round ball with each part and flatten it against your palm to about 1/2 inch thick patty
• Roll this in the rice flour, dust off excess flour ( I use rice flour as it gives a more lighter and crispier crust, a fact rammed into my head by food network)
  
• In a shallow frying pan add about 3 table spoons of oil and set these patties in batches of 4. Fry them on each side for about 2-3 mins till they have a golden brown crust

Serve the burgers on slightly toasted and buttered buns with your usual suspects, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and ketchup. I am guessing it will taste yummy with coleslaw too!

Update: I realised that the optional bread crumbs made the burger a bit dry, so a) use it to your advantage if your patty mix is a little gummy add the crumbs OR
b) If your patty mixture is workable and fine don't add the crumbs as this might make it dry