As part of my ongoing mission to invent scores of veggie burger recipes and avoid the weirdo boxed ones whenever possible, today I send the Spicy Shawn Burger out into the world.  Why are they called this?  Because my friend Shawn requested a burger with both spiciness and visible evidence of vegetables, and they have been named in his honor.  (Am I saying that Shawn is a spicy man or that the burgers themselves are spicy?  Who can say?)

Feel free to be sub in a different vegetable, if one of the listed choices is not around.  As always with your home-made veggie burgers, serve on some decent bread with colorful vegetables.  Use condiments if you like things like Ketchup.  And freeze the cooked leftovers for another day.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 Burgers
Ingredients:
1 Medium-sized Carrot
1 Medium-sized Sweet Potato or Yam
1 Medium-sized Zucchini
1-1/2 Cups Cooked Cannellini Beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1 Cup Whole Grain Bread Crumbs
Whole Wheat Flour for Dredging
Spice Paste:
1 Tsp Caraway Seeds
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Tsp Sea Salt
1 ½ Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves, minced 
2 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Mint
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.   Grate the carrot, sweet potato and zucchini.  (This is infinitely easier if you use the shred function on a food processor, but you could also do it with a hand grater.)  Place all grated vegetables into a bowl and add the cannellini beans.  Mush them together with the vegetables, using your hands, until they are smashed and begin to bind together the rest of the ingredients.  In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the spice paste.  Again using your hands, combine spice paste with the vegetable mixture until well blended.   Add in the bread crumbs and mash until blended.  Form into 6 burgers, dredge lightly in the flour, and place on a generously oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, flip over and bake for another 20 minutes or until well crisped.