KIDNEY BOOSTING, BEAN BURGER BONANZA

Prep Time: 1½ hours Cook Time: 20 minutes Yields: 6-7 Burgers

Ingredients:

• 200g – Dark Red Kidney Beans (mashed)

• 200g – Black Beans (mashed)

• ¾ Cup – Bell Pepper (finely chopped)

• ¾ Cup – Yellow Onion (finely chopped)

• ¼ Cup – Radish (finely chopped)

• 1 Tablespoon – Extra Virgin Olive Oil (unfiltered, first cold pressed)

• 1 ½ Teaspoon – Ground Cumin

• 1 Teaspoon – Chili Powder

• 1 Teaspoon – Garlic Powder

• ¼ Teaspoon – Paprika

• ½ Cup – Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

• 2 Large – Eggs

• Pinch of Salt

• Pinch of White Pepper

• 1 Tablespoon – Worcestershire sauce

• 2 Tablespoon – Ketchup

Instructions:

• Combine beans and water in a glass pot and bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat, cover tightly with a lid and set aside for 1 hour; drain and rinse beans.

• Preheat oven to 325oF (163oC). Spread beans evenly into a glass cooking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside and allow cooling.

• Finely chop bell pepper, onion, and radish and sauté over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes or until they appear soft.

• Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mash together (with a fork or a masher) until smooth (leaving some semi-sized chunks of beans is acceptable). Ideally, a food processor would be used to pulse everything mix together.

• Form patties; approximately ½ inch thick with the circumference of an average mug.

• Place patties on lightly greased (with grape-seed oil) glass cooking tray and bake at 375oF (191oC) for 10 minutes on each side; 20 minutes total

TCM Ingredients Explanation:

• Dark Red Kidney Beans (Selected as the main component of this dish; provide a cooling thermal nature which helps lower energy directing it towards the kidneys while also suppressing empty-heat signs. The aspect of sweet flavour provides a relaxing effect while building Yin in the body which directly benefits Kidney-Yin).

• Black Beans (Predominately selected to address Kidney issues and assist in balancing to cooling nature of Dark Red Kidney Beans to maintain a neutral thermal nature. The sweet flavour of the black bean can help build Yin fluids which will assist the deficiency present in the Kidneys).

• Bell Pepper (Predominately selected for its taste; however, it is stated to help cool the body.

• Yellow Onion (Predominately selected for its taste; however, onions assist in the metabolism of proteins which beans are high in).

• Radish (Selected to balance the meal; its cooling thermal nature should balance the warming nature of the onions; its pungent flavour was utilized to reduce the amount of chilli pepper and its sweet flavour property assists the cultivation of Yin energy).

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Predominately selected to balance the dry nature of beans and for its heavy property which will assist in lowering energy towards the Kidneys. the selection of unfiltered, first cold-pressed oil is ideal since maintaining a lot of its original properties).

• Ground Cumin (Predominately selected for its taste; however, the minute amount of this warming herb utilized can assist in balancing the cooling nature of the Dark Red Kidney Beans to a more neutral setting).

• Chilli Powder (Predominately selected for its taste; however, the minute amount of this warming herb utilized can assist in balancing the cooling nature of the Dark Red Kidney Beans to a more neutral setting).

• Garlic Powder (Predominately selected for its taste; however, the minute amount of this warming herb utilized can assist in balancing the cooling nature of the Dark Red Kidney Beans to a more neutral setting).

• Paprika (Predominately selected for its taste; however, the minute amount of this warming herb utilized can assist in balancing the cooling nature of the Dark Red Kidney Beans to a more neutral setting).

• Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs (Predominately selected for its binding ability; however, Wheat possesses a cooling thermal nature along with a sweet and salty flavour. The cooling aspect of wheat will assist in balancing the warming ingredients present while the sweet help build Yin energy and the salty flavours and directly influences the Kidneys with moisture and directing energy downward and inward).

• Eggs (Predominately selected for its binding ability; however, Eggs are thermally neutral in nature and posses a sweet flavour property which helps the body build Yin energy treating deficiency patterns).

• Salt (Predominately selected for taste; however, white pepper possesses a cooling pungent property which can assist in balancing the meal towards a slightly more cooling nature to address empty-heat issues).

• White Pepper (Predominately selected for taste; however, white pepper possesses a cooling pungent property which can assist in balancing the meal towards a slightly more cooling nature to address empty-heat issues).

• Worcestershire sauce (Predominately selected for taste; however, the sauce's fermented nature and its vinegar-like flavour assist with the metabolism of fats and proteins.

• Ketchup (Predominately selected for taste and its binding ability; ketchup possesses a vinegar-like flavour which aids with the metabolism of fats and proteins; a sweet flavour which helps with the building of Yin energy; and a salty flavour which assists with directing energy downward and inward towards to kidneys.

The cookware used for cooking this meal will consist of glass pots and glass cooking trays since glass is completely inert and will not react with food. However, heavy-gauged stainless steel (less likely to leach out harmful residual metals) was utilized to sauté.

More emphasis was placed on attempting to maintain a higher concentration of cooling foods within the dish without compromising taste.

The physical labour of mashing the beans and finely dicing the vegetables will release more energy to body and also heat. Increasing this energy supply to treat a Yin deficiency is essential since the depletion of Kidney Yin typically occurs in more chronic, long-term situation and the treatment tends to be just as gradual. Also note that naturally sourced, non-GMO ingredients provide the highest amount of available energy and should be utilized whenever possible.

Reference:

Pitchford, P. (2003). Healing with Whole Foods Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. North Atlantic Books