Make meatless burgers on Memorial Day

You don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy a good veggie burger, especially if you don't think of patties of mashed-up legumes, grains, nuts and shredded vegetables as a replacement to the almighty hamburger, Memorial Day's most memorable food.

But before you think about the commercially made dense patties laced with texturizers and freezer burn, consider the vast landscape of alternatives: magenta beet burgers topped with goat cheese at 24 Diner, hearty bean and corn patties from Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse in which you can actually see what's floating in the mix or Indian-inspired veggie pakora burgers drizzled with the tamarind sauce and cucumber raita at Trace. (Find the recipe for this burger on the back page and more of the best veggie burgers in town in a wrap-up from restaurant writer Mike Sutter in Thursday's Austin360 magazine.)

We call them veggie burgers, but most of them have little or no actual vegetables and, if you top them with bacon or mix in a little ground meat for flavor, aren't even vegetarian. But unless you deep fry them (also not unheard of), they are usually healthier than their all-meat counterparts with far more fiber, nutrients and little or no saturated fat.

Legumes and/or rice are the base of most veggie burgers, but how you fill the rest of the space between the buns is up to you. The hardest part is getting the texture right so that the burger holds together when you pan-fry or bake it. (We'll talk more about grilling in a minute.)

If it's too moist or too dry, the burger will fall apart as soon as you try to flip it or put it on a bun, but you can usually fix any texture problems with eggs, breadcrumbs (panko works best) or other thickeners such as flour or meal made from nuts or seeds. Peanut butter or any other kind of nut butter also works well.

An all-vegetable patty would be too moist to stay together during the cooking process, but too few non-starchy ingredients can make the patty too dense and bland. (I've even seen some veggie burger patties used as buns to sandwich onion slices, avocados, sprouts or other vegetables.)

But all-grain burgers don't have to taste like a third bun. Austinite Martha Pincoffs has created a patty made with brown rice, pearled barley, wild rice, oats and cashews that shines as much for the hints of roasted nuts and grains as for the balanced combination of textures.

Her patty, called The Hot Dang, is on the menu at Hat Creek Burger Co. on Burnet Road and is available ($8.50 for a 4-pack) at the Sustainable Food Center's Sunset Valley Farmers' Market on Saturdays and through Farmhouse Delivery. www.thehotdang.com .

When making your own patties at home, the best approach is to combine some water-heavy vegetables with cooked lentils or beans, cooked rice (or other grains like quinoa or millet), dried oats and/or panko (Japanese breadcrumbs that are available in most grocery stores) to soak up some of the moisture.

A food processor is helpful in evenly combining ingredients, but you could get by with a blender, a potato masher and two hands. It's easy to overmix the ingredients if using a food processor, though, so stop short of pureeing. The consistency should resemble a cookie dough, thick enough to hold its shape but still spreadable. You can add raw shredded vegetables, corn, nuts or whole cooked beans to the mixture for added texture.

The patties can be served like falafel in pita bread or on a salad, and if your homemade patties fall apart when you fry them, just stir them around like you would loose sausage or chorizo and serve on a tortilla.

As for herbs and spices, both fresh and dried work, but bring out the flavor of the dried herbs and spices by mixing with a little water before adding to the patty mix. (Cumin, paprika, curry, garlic powder, ground mustard are good places to start.) Fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley or even basil can be chopped by hand or added in with the rest of the ingredients in the food processor.

Depending on how moist your mixture is, you might have to par-bake patties before frying them. Baking the patties briefly is essential if you plan on grilling them because they break apart easily and fall through the grates otherwise. You can also use a cast-iron griddle or a grilling tray or basket to help cook the veggie burgers in the backyard without them falling apart.