Lamb Burger

One of my favorite Lunch items, Burgers! Now this isn’t your run of the mill burger you can pick up from a McDonald’s. This is the real deal and it is GOOOOOOOOD! You’ll find Burgers like this in American Restaurants like TGIF (Which is where I got the idea to make this). Now let me clarify that the Americans are big fans of Beef and Pork Burgers and Lamb is just something I use because we don’t get Beef here easily and I don’t really trust freshness of the Pork that’s available.

Here’s what you need for 2 Lamb (or Chicken) Burgers:

Burger Buns – 2

Minced Lamb (or Chicken) – 200 Grams (You’ll need REALLY good quality meat here. I suggest you get it from a nice place or get it Minced right in front of your eyes.)

Bread Crumbs – 1/2 Cup (If you don’t have bread crumbs, simply bread about 3 pieces of regular bread and put them in a blender and run it for about 30 seconds)

Egg – 1

Onion – 1 Medium chopped finely

Garlic – 4-5 Cloves chopped finely

Salt – 2 Teaspoons or to Taste

Red Chilli Powder – 1 Teaspoon or to Taste

Cheese Slices – 2

Lettuce – About 4 Leaves (Do NOT overdo the lettuce)

Mayonnaise – As much as you like

Mustard – As much as you like

Sliced Tomato – 2 Big slices or 4 smaller ones

Sliced Onions – 2 Big slices or 4 smaller ones

Olive Oil – 3 Tablespoon

1. In a nice big bowl, break the egg and whip it well. Add the Minced Meat, the Bread Crumbs, Chopped Onion, Salt and Red Chilli Powder and mix really well with a fork. You’ll have to get a little messy here and make a Burger Patty with your hands. Simply take a fistful of the Meat mixture and turn it round and then flat. Make about two Burger Patties from the mix and put them on a plate to rest.
2. Heat up your Grill or Pan and put in the olive Oil. Using a flat Spatula, scoop the Burger Patties and put them in one after the other. Make sure you don’t crowd the Grill or Pan. Keep the heat high and flip the patty after about 90 seconds(1 Minute if you’re making it with Chicken). Wait for a minute and turn the heat to medium.
3. About 5 minutes later, flip the patty again and break a little bit from the side and taste if it is done. It doesn’t take more than 7-9 minutes(5 Minutes for the Chicken) normally but you wanna be sure that it is done. Once it tastes cooked, you turn the heat high and flip after a minute. At this point, you should put the cheese on top of the patty and cover your pan or grill. The cheese should melt in about 30 odd seconds. Remove the cover and take the patty off the grill or pan and leave it to rest for just a minute.
4. Slice the Burger Buns in half and put both sides facing downwards (the Flat part) on the Pan or Grill. You could use some butter if you want. Let them be for about a minute on high heat or longer if you like them crisp from the inside.
5. Put the Mayonnaise and Mustard on the bottom part of the bun and put the burger patty on top. Put the Sliced Onion and Tomato on top of the patty, and the Lettuce on top of that and shut the Burger with the top half. Serve Immediately!

In the pictures I’ve overdone the lettuce, but removed them once I started to eat simply because the burger was too big! Now people may argue that an Authentic ‘hamburger’ should not have any condiment except ketchup, but I like using ketchup on the side and Mayo and Mustard on the Burger. The perfect side dish is French Fries. I use pre-packaged French Fries because they’re much better than what I can do at home, and a lesser pain in the ass!