Mushroom Burgers

Here's a little recipe I devised with a little help from Isa Chandra Moskowitz:

1 cup textured vegetable protein
8.5 g dried mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs soy protein powder
3 tbs tomato paste

Chop the dried mushrooms finely and reconstitute with 1 cup of hot water; set mixture aside. Brown the onion in a small saucepan with olive oil or cooking spray. Add the spices, 1/4 cup of water or broth, mushroom mixture and soy sauce; stir in the TVP. Let simmer until TVP has absorbed all the liquid. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix in tomato paste and soy protein powder and form into 6 patties.

Nutrition:
96 calories, 12.75 g Protein, 3.3 g fiber

---------------------------

This was my second attempt at homemade veggie burgers, and it's alright but has much room for improvement. I love mushrooms, so I wanted them to stand alone in the patty, but I did not use nearly enough to really make this recipe work: I should have included fresh in addition to the dry. The bites with mushrooms are good, but there are too many that are just TVP. The TVP is overwhelming- reducing it and adding a grain (brown rice, oat) and nut (pine nuts or walnuts) will lessen the fake meat quality. Basil, garlic, and more onion would improve the spicing.