4 ½cupscooked brown rice, I recommend using brown basmati rice (in my rice cooker, 1 ½ cups dry brown basmati rice + 3 cups water makes 4 ½ cups cooked rice)
If you haven't already, cook the brown rice. After cooking, allow the rice to cool for at least 15 minutes. This will help keep the rice from getting clumpy when we add in the other burger components.
Cook the onion
Add the onion, salt, pepper, and olive oil to a skillet. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, then turn the heat down to medium low. Cook for 10 minutes.
Now turn the heat down to low, and let the onion caramelize on low heat while you prepare the other ingredients. Now is a good time to chop the herbs and make the flaxseed egg.
Make the flaxseed egg
In a small bowl, whisk together the water and flaxseed meal. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes until it gets goopy. Flaxseed egg is done.
Make the burger “dough”
To a large mixing bowl, add the cooled rice, onion, cilantro, parsley, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, and cashew pieces. Stir to incorporate.
Now add the flaxseed egg and milk. Mix with your hands and/or a spatula until a sturdy dough forms.
Put the dough in the refrigerator. Let the dough cool in the refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
Make the herbed aioli
While you refrigerate the dough, make the aioli. Simply whisk all the aioli ingredients together in a small bowl. Keep the aioli in the refrigerator until you're ready to compile the burgers.
Form the patties
Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Form the dough into burger patties that are 2 ½ by 2 ½ inches. You will end up with about 10 patties of this size.
Fry the patties
Heat a few Tbsp of olive oil over medium heat in the same skillet you cooked the onion in. Place a few burger patties in the skillet. I prefer to cook 3 patties at a time.
Fry the patties until the side that is face down in the skillet gets crispy and browned, about 4-5 minutes. Then flip, and let the other side of the burger get crispy and browned in the skillet, about another 4-5 minutes.
Remove the burger patties from the skillet, and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
Repeat this process until you've fried all the patties.
Compile burgers
Take your burger bun or bread, and toast it, if desired. Next, spread the herbed aioli on the bun/bread according to preference. I recommend putting the aioli on both the top and bottom pieces of the bun/bread.
Add the burger patty and condiments to the bun as desired. I recommend layering arugula, sandwich sprouts, tomatoes, and thinly sliced cheddar (omit the cheddar to keep this burger vegan).
These burgers are vegan and vegetarian.These burgers are gluten-free if you use gluten-free bread crumbs.The recipe calls for cashew pieces. If you only have whole cashews, simply give them a rough chop before adding them to the burger "dough."