Sweet Potato Rolls, Black Bean Burgers, Coconut Roux...

One would think this is a fat and juicy burger smothered with a heap of melting cheese, but if you are one to think that, you are wrong. What you see here is a tiny, juicy black bean burger with a finely minced onion, wine, and coconut roux concoction topped with avocado slices which are all forced to stay put between the jaws of a home baked sweet potato roll. There is not one animal product in sight here, friends.
If I were a better blogger I would have instructions for each measurement and step to create every square millimeter of this bodacious hunk of veg, but I am too human and too spontaneous, so I'll share the recipe-less process.

As you may have read in my Lentil Sliders recipe, which is strikingly similar to this one in stature, I am horrible at making sufficiently-stuck-together veggie burgers and I have followed enough recipes to be confident in that fact. This veggie burger was an accident. It was a failed black bean stew to be exact. You'd be surprised at how spicy adobo sauce is and how difficult it is to backtrack that mistake. So I added carrots and pureed potatoes. When that didn't work I added flour and breadcrumbs and let it sit overnight to find a nice heap patty potential waiting for me in the morning.

On to the sweet potato rolls: I found a potato roll recipe in my copy of Veganomicon, but I didn't have any potatoes. Cue in sweet potatoes (recipe below).

Now to the sauce. I have unearthed a love for cooking with wine, so when I glanced over the words "wine" and "roux" (also in my copy of Veganomicon), I thought, "Oh, good idea" and whipped up this saucy stuff. Essentially it goes like this: 

-Put some vegan butter in a saucepan
-Add some finely chopped yellow onions (we're talking almost a paste - you will cry) to the melted veg butter and let cook
-After the onions have cooked add some wine: just a few tablespoons
-After everything is near bubbly throw in another few tablespoons of coconut cream (add more or less to fit your taste buds' needs)
-Once this is all hot an bothered add about a tablespoon of flour and start whisking. Don't stop-it will become very thick very quickly.
-Add about 1/4 - 1/3 c more wine and about 1/2 c more coconut cream and continue whisking as it continues to thicken. Once it coats the back of a spoon you can stop. Remember the sauce will thicken when it cools, producing a cheese-like consistency when stored in the fridge. It will continue to act like cheese by melting when you place it on something hot like a veggie burger, for instance.

Avocados:
-Slice

Once everything is good and done and you are shoving this heaping metropolis of gold into your face it will start to look like this:

I swear it's more appealing in person. Trust me.

Sweet Potato Rolls

1.5 c warm water

1 c soy milk

2 tbsp vegan butter

1 package yeast

5 c all purpose flour

2 tbsp brown sugar

2.5 tsp salt

1.25 c mashed sweet potatoes

-Combine 1 c warm water, the soy milk, and the butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted, then let cool

-In a cup mix the remaining warm water and the yeast, set aside to let foam

-In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and salt

-Mix in the mashed sweet potatoes to the flour mixture until you get a crumbly mixture, then add the yeast mixture and the soy milk mixture to create a dough

-Bring the dough to a floured surface and knead until it takes on an elastic texture

-Let the dough rise in a bowl for 2 hours or until it has doubled in size

Preheat the oven to 450º F

-Fold the dough and and gently roll into a long rod

-Cut into pieces smaller than a tennis ball but larger than a golf ball

-Roll the cuts into balls and place on a baking sheet, then let rest for 30 minutes

-Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes