Power-house burgers

Yes, it's a veggie burger. Meat lovers: Don't Turn Away...
A burger is a burger: fried, crispy, changeable, customizable and always surprising.
It's so full of flavour, texture and you can do so much with it.
I browsed loads of recipes and decided to have a go at making my own.
I made them!! You must be thinking, 'Yeah...So?' The last time I made burgers, I used a lentil recipe and we stupidly made 2 cups of cooked lentils instead of dry (BIG difference). So no matter how much seasoning I added, they were just bland! To top it off, we ended up with at least 10 of the huge, fat, plain burgers...
This time I threw a bunch of stuff together, so I'm going to try my best to write down the quantities for the recipe! We had them with some sides (Parmesan Tomatoes, Herby Oven Fries and Herbed Mayonnaise), but they will work great in buns or pita. One thing I would change: purée the chickpeas a little, because some were too hard. 
I miss using our barbecue, so those of you who have one, those of you who don't: get up and grill a chilled-out meal of burgers. 

{Veggie| Burgers
By Me (:O)

Yield: 6 burgers. About 3 inch in diameter, 1 inch thick

Half a zucchini; washed and diced small
1 small carrot; washed, shaved and diced small
1/2 cup split peas (chana dal) cooked till soft (use a pressure cooker or boil)
3/4 cup chick peas (chana) cooked till soft (use a pressure cooker or boil)
1 1/4 cup cottage cheese (paneer)
1/2 cup corn (plain)
1 slice of bread (toasted and crumbed- just tear it up & put it in a blender)
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 large/ 2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Basil Powder (fresh will work, too)
Oregano Powder (fresh will work, too)


Pour a glug of olive oil into a skillet and fry the onions and garlic until light and translucent. (Do Not Let Them Burn!)
Add in the zucchini, carrot and corn and cook for about 10-15 minutes until the zucchini and carrot are relatively soft.
Purée the chickpeas if they haven't become soft. 
In a large bowl, mix the vegetable mixture, the split peas and the chick peas. Crumble in the cottage cheese and mix with your hands. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt and a few cracks of pepper. (Taste-- add more salt and pepper bit by bit until you are happy.) Mix with a spoon or spatula and shake in basil powder and oregano powder as you go (more basil than oregano) in order to makes sure each part gets some. If you're using fresh herbs, wash and sliver them and mix them in along with the rest of the ingredients.
Shape into burgers about 3/4 - 1 inch thick using your hands.
Fry with olive oil on a skillet until nicely browned, or grill on a barbecue.