These burgers are from the brilliant Dreena Burton's Eat, Drink and be Vegan. Their name was inspired by the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (great movie if you haven't seen it!). Anyway, in it, the hilarious character Jeff Spicoli (played by Sean Penn) is a surfer dude who partakes in smoking lots of marijuana!! Since these burgers are packed with nutritious hemp seeds...well, I guess it seemed fitting :D
Hemp seeds are super nutritious! Here are a few facts about them:
Hemp was first cultivated in China more than 6,000 years ago, and was used as a food source long before soy foods
Hemp seed is considered by leading researchers to be one of the most nutritious super foods on the planet — packed with protein, vitamin E, Omega-3, and GLA
Hemp has twice the iron and magnesium contained in flax.
Hemp is a complete protein
Source
You can use hemp seeds in so many ways like adding them to cereal, omelets, yogurt, soups, snacks, smoothies, salads, pasta, veggies, dressings, and desserts. You can find them in your local health food store, or online...we buy ours from Manitoba Harvest. I highly recommend picking some up to try. And no worries, if you do invest in hemp seeds, I'll be including several other recipes that use them here...so you won't be left with a big quantity and nothing else to do with them. Most online retailers publish recipes as well...so try doing a quick search!
These burgers are not only packed with protein and nutrition, they're really great tasting and super easy to make too! They're great to bring to work for lunch or to grab as a quick snack. You can throw them in a pita with veggies and eat it as a wrap or just eat them on their own. They freeze really well too, so you can make a big batch and have them on hand whenever you want (if they're around for that long!).
Spicoli Burgers
Yields 9 patties
Ingredients
Note: you'll need a total of 3 cups of cooked rice for this recipe
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
1/8 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste
3/4 cup red pepper, diced
2 cups cooked short grain rice
1 cup shelled hemp seeds
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp tamari
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup cooked short grain rice
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp olive oil
Directions
In a frying pan on medium heat, add oil, onions, salt and black pepper. Saute for 3-4 minutes until onions start to soften. Add bell pepper and saute for another 5-6 minutes, until onions are fully softened.
In a food processor, combine veggies, 2 cups rice, hemp seeds, garlic, ketchup, tamari, mustard, oregano, thyme, sage, and salt and puree until fairly smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining rice. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
Remove from fridge and form patties with your hands. Place flour evenly on a plate and lightly dust both sides of each patty, shaking off access.
In a frying pan on medium-high, heat oil. Add patties 3 or 4 at a time and lightly flatten with a spatula. Cook 6-9 minutes on each side, until golden and a crust has formed.
Enjoy!
