And the winning non-meat burger is...

For lunch today I went to the Northstar Cafe with some coworkers to try their famous Northstar burger. One of my coworkers tried this burger last week and raved about how good it is. And she isn't the only one. People are crazy about this burger. It's even won a prize for being the best burger in Columbus. And the real show stopper is that it isn't a meat burger. Seriously? A non-meat burger won an award for being the best burger in Columbus. I had to check it out.

First of all, it's huge and mostly red (I'm told from beets though I could not tell from the taste). The outside is nicely charred, giving it a really grilled taste. The inside is mostly rice (turned red) with a hint of black bean. And rice is cool, but it was more than 80% rice, which kind of put me off cause now I'm eating a huge rice patty on a bun...carbs on carbs on carbs. My mother-in-law would call it a "carb fest." Still it was good...very good...but not good enough to unseat my reigning champion of non-meat burgers--the nut burger...recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

1 med onion
1 c walnuts and almonds (raw)
1c rolled oats (not the instant kind)
2 Tbps ketchup
1 tsp chilli powder
salt and pepper
1 egg

The whole thing is made in a food processor, so if you don't have one, you may be out of luck.
First grind onion. Then add nuts and oats and pulse to chop. Add everything else and process briefly to mix. If it needs more liquid, add water/wine/soy sauce (I use soy sauce) to desired texture.
Saute in oil. Serve like hamburgers. I like mayo and whole seed spicy mustard on mine.