You will not have had a burger like this before – it will leave your family and friends drooling for more. There are a few secrets to executing the BEST burgers. The first and most important rule is pretty simple, use 80/20 meat. Your mince should have a 15-20% fat content, this is where the flavour is and it will keep your burger juicy; remember much of the fat will be rendered during the grilling. You can grill on your bbq, oven grill or even air fry.
Makes 4 burgers
Ingredients
1 large brown onion
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
1½ teaspoons basar masala
2 teaspoons minced chillies, or to taste
3 garlic cloves (approx. 15g garlic), grated
1 inch ginger (approx. 15g ginger), grated
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
500g lamb mince ((must be 15-20% fat or you will have a dry burger)
Vegetable oil for cooking
Walnut Chutney – see below for recipe
You will also need
4 x brioche rolls
premium mango chutney or tamarind ketchup
finely sliced red onion
finely sliced tomatoes
lettuce leaves
Method
- Grate the onion using a box grater, using long sweeps – we don’t want a mush. Place the contents in the middle of a tea towel or muslin cloth, gather up edges, twist the loose fabric, and squeeze out all of the liquid. These grated onions need to be as dry as possible. Place in a large mixing bowl.
- Next add in the cumin & fennel seeds, salt, basar masala, minced chillies, garlic, ginger and chopped coriander to the bowl. Mix together with a fork. Test a little and check the seasoning.
- Now mix the minced meat into the onion mixture; use your hands they’re the best tool.
- Cook a little test patty in a frying pan with a scant amount of oil in it. This is a foolproof way to check that the seasoning is spot on, and your last chance to make any adjustments.
- Divide the seasoned mince into 4 equal parts and shape into burgers. Have a bowl full of water handy, wet palms will stop the mixture from sticking to your hands. Place on a plate or tray and pop these in the fridge to firm up while you prepare the walnut chutney. You can prep burgers ahead, simply cover with cling film or similar.
- Grill to your liking, until the burgers are cooked through. You could use your grill oven, in which case set it to the highest temperature and place the burgers as close to the hot grills as possible. It will take about 5 minutes on each side depending on the thickness.
- Assemble your burger: I like to place the lettuce on the bottom bun, then sliced tomatoes, then the burger which I top with red onion. Smother the top bun with mango chutney & walnut chutney.
- Serve with masala French fries or gunpowder potatoes and pataka mayo! Yum, yum, yum.
Yoghurt & Walnut Chutney
The majority of India’s walnut (ahkrot) production comes from Kashmir. I remember my granny would always have a stash of walnuts at Christmas which is what I associate them with; as well as lychees, apricots, almonds, pomegranates and much more. These are all grown in Kashmir which of course neighbours Punjab, and she had a knack for sniffing out the best produce. This chutney is served with rich wazwan meat dishes and is a lovely accompaniment to this kebab.
Ingredients
half red onion, grated and water squeezed out
x1 green chilli finely sliced
5g mint leaves
quarter tsp salt or to taste
200g thick Greek yoghurt or labneh
25g walnuts, roughly chopped
Method
- Use a muslin cloth or similar to squeeze out the water from the grated onion, or else the chutney will be sloppy. Then place the onion in a mixing bowl, add the finely sliced chillies, chop the mint and chuck that in too along with the salt.
- Finally mix through the yoghurt, followed by the walnuts, taste and make any adjustments. Refrigerate until serving.
Enjoy
