burgers here and there

Israel burger recipe

Posted on May 18, 2013 by linda

Harissa flavored burger with hummus and Israeli salad
As we make our culinary tour around the world, creating burgers for each country as we go, the most difficult stops (at least for me) are those countries that have had a variety of people traveling in and out. Luckily for us they are also some of the most rewarding. Israel is a Middle Eastern country which shares land borders with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt and enjoys a long coast along the Mediterranean Sea.

Courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The land used to be part of the British Empire then after World War II the UN created a Jewish state and Britain gave up rule of the land that now makes up Israel. We could spend a lot of time talking about the history of the land before British rule and after the State of Israel was established, but it would just get folks riled up, so let’s skip right to the food.

Without going into the long history, let’s just say that a lot of people have live in and traveled through Israel and they have all brought wonderful flavors and foods with them. The food of Israel is the food of the Middle East. There is hummus, falafel, baba ganoush, gyros, tabouleh, all the good stuff. The challenge with Israel wasn’t finding something good; it was deciding which good thing to use to make the perfect burger. I have several friends who grew up in Israel, but they weren’t much help – asking an Israeli about food is like asking a Frenchman about wine, you get a lot of great conversation, but not a lot of straight answers.

We all agreed that we should follow the Jewish dietary laws of kashrus or “keep it Kosher”. I do not have a kosher kitchen, so I can’t be truly kosher, but beyond that I’ve followed the rules. No mixing of meat and dairy so no cheese on our burger ☹. No shellfish, so no lobster sauce. And of course the obvious, no pork, so no bacon burger. The most difficult of these laws (for me anyway) was the loss of cheese…I really like cheese. But we’ve had plenty of cheese less burgers, so I got over it pretty quickly.

The meat could have been anything from lamb to chicken, but my Israeli friends all voted for beef, so who am I to argue? Now the question of how to flavor the meat was the hard part – again because of the embarrassment of riches. Too many choices, so little time. I considered herbs, I considered berbere, I read dozens of recipes and finally I decided on harissa. Harissa is a spice paste from Tunisia; it’s made of various chilies and can vary in heat depending on the chilies you use. I’m fortunate enough that my local Whole Foods carries two brands of harissa, so I bought both and chose the less spicy option for the burger. It added a lovely smokiness to the meat and complimented the lightness of the other ingredients perfectly.

I felt obligated to use pita bread because it is such a common staple of the Israeli diet, but I still think it’s an inferior substrate for a burger. Pita just tends to fall apart too easily for my tastes, but other than that it’s ok. I cut off the sides because I find them to dry and bready, this of course eliminates the “pocket” effect completely, but it works find if you just think of it as a really thin bread.

Of course I had to make my own hummus. I like a particularly garlicky hummus with a strong taste of lemon, but if you want to change the recipe to your tastes, that’s fine. Or, if you want to buy your favorite hummus, I don’t judge – I’ve been know to pick up a pint of Tribe of Two Sheiks myself from time to time.

So far we’ve brought flavors from all around the region to this burger, and, like all of the people coming in and going out of this land, we have a symphony of Middle Eastern flavors, but still nothing quintessentially Israeli, so of course, I had to add Israeli salad to the burger. If you travel to Israel you will undoubtedly encounter a simple and refreshing side dish of tomatoes and cucumber tossed in olive oil and lemon juice. There may be some green or red peppers in the salad too and these days some people are adding herbs, but the basic is tomato and cucumber, olive oil and lemon.

The Israeli salad has the perfect blend of flavors for a burger, but it is extremely messy, it made me wish I hadn’t cut the edges off the pita ☺. All in all, this burger was a marvelously light creation. Somehow the brightness of the hummus, the zestiness of the salad, and yes, the lightness of the pita all worked to transform this beef burger into something lighter and fresher than we expected. It paired perfectly with a California Pinot Noir, but would be equally good with a Sauvignon Blanc.

Except for some exacting knife cuts in the salad, this is a super easy burger to make. I hope you try it and enjoy. I think you’ll love it and, if you do, please try some of the other wonderful burgers from the Middle East like Bahrain, Egypt and Iraq.

Israeli Burger
1 pound ground beef (20% fat)
1½ Tablespoons harissa
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 large pita rounds cut in half
Hummus (recipe below)
Israeli Salad (recipe below)

In a medium bowl, combine the beef and the harissa, mix through evenly. Form into four patties. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Cook the patties to desired temperature (this burger is best at medium or medium rare). To serve spread some hummus (be generous) on the inside of each pita. Place a burger patty on top of the hummus then add a generous scoop of Israeli Salad.

Hummus
1 15 ounce can chickpeas drained (reserve liquid)
3 large cloves of garlic chopped
¼ cup+ olive oil
3 Tablespoons tahini
Juice of 2 lemons
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup liquid from chickpeas

Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth. Add olive oil and or chickpea liquid as needed to get a consistency you like. Taste and add lemon or salt as needed.

Israeli Salad
1 English cucumber
3 small tomatoes
½ red pepper
Olive oil
Fresh lemon juice

Dice the vegetables into small pieces of equal size (try for ¼ inch, but don’t kill yourself over it). You want approximately equal parts of tomato and cucumber. Toss the vegetables in olive oil and lemon juice (equal parts). Use just enough to coat the veggies, but not so much that you end up with soup. Keep the salad at room temperature until your ready to use it. Toss the vegetables and use a slotted spoon to serve.

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Posted in "I" countries, middle eastern recipes | Tagged beef, hummus, kosher, pita | Leave a comment

Ireland burger recipe

Posted on April 30, 2013 by linda

Pork Belly Cheese Burger with Champ and Irish Soda Bread
We just spent a week in Paris (and when I say we, I mean my husband and I, sans children), and it was heavenly. If you want to know more about that trip, check out the Burgers Here and There Facebook page. So we arrive home on Thursday and Friday I decide to make my Ireland burger. After spending a week eating really good French food, I admit that tackling the flavors of Ireland was a little tough to get excited about, but I find that pork belly is the great equalizer and can help me get excited about most anything.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

So let’s talk about Ireland. Ireland is a Western European country and, according to CIA World Factbook occupies five sixths of the island of Ireland (the rest is Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom). Ireland withdrew completely from the British Commonwealth in 1949 and has been independent since then.

Courtesy of CIA World Factbook

As I started writing this blog entry, I found one of the most interesting aspects of Irish history (at least for my purposes) was the potato famine. I started writing about the history of the potato and the famine and was having a great time when I realized that I had two pages of text and hadn’t remotely gotten to the story of my burger – re-write time! Given the elegant phrasing and seamless narrative that I’m so well know for, it may surprise you to know that I almost never re-write or even re-read (ok, none of you are surprised). I try to “keep it real” and just write what I think. But I’m pretty sure that few of you want to read a treatise on the history of the potato in Ireland. So I’ll sum up.

Courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Potatoes were brought to Europe by the Spanish explorers who discovered them in the Andes Mountains in South America. Potatoes grow really well in Ireland and by 1844ish, the potato made up an estimated 80% of the caloric intake of the average Irishman. Potatoes are good food, Irish population swelled to 8 million. Then a nasty fungus made its way over from Mexico in 1845, no one knows how exactly, and decimated the almost every potato crop for the next four years, with continued effects for around 10 years. Roughly 1 million Irish died and another 1.5-2 million emigrated (mainly to the US). The British government didn’t help matters with their “relief” efforts (a whole other topic), and basically this episode in Irish history has a lot to do with the general feelings of mistrust and antipathy that the Irish have had for the British since then. Massive oversimplifications here – but you get the gist.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Potatoes are still important in Irish cuisine, so of course we included some potatoes in the dish. While there are a myriad ways to prepare potatoes in Irish cooking, mashed is one of the classics and still a favorite today. The most common recipes are colcannon (which is mashed potatoes with kale or some other green in them) or champ (which is mashed with spring onions). Since Irish mashed potatoes are generally made with just milk and butter, I elected to go with the champ version as onions would add a little more flavor and give the dish some zing. Beside which, it’s spring here, so I can get spring onions now.

But I didn’t want the potato to be the main starch – primarily because ever since I saw Monte make Irish soda bread on MasterChef, I have wanted to try it out myself – it looked so easy! And easy it is! Irish soda bread is so simple to make, I almost didn’t hate baking ☺ The resulting bread is denser than yeast bread, but delicious and, did I mention easy? I made a basic bread with no frills, you can also adapt this recipe and add fruit and sugar and make a sweet version. If you add raisins you’ve just made spotted dick, enough said….

So soda bread, champ, that should be enough starch for even me, now let’s move on to the meat. Ask any American for an Irish dish and most will answer corned beef and cabbage. The reality is that that’s the American version; the Irish version is boiled pork and cabbage. In fact pork is the most common meat consumed in Ireland. The Irish love pork, so I figured it was time to go “hog wild” and buy me some pork belly! This burger is simple, so it really needs good meat – I ground my own, but you can also ask the butcher to grind it for you. I went with a combo of pork cutlet, slab bacon and pork belly and the result was a richly piggy flavor.

I topped the whole thing with some yummy Irish cheddar, which tasted a lot like yummy Wisconsin cheddar, so just buy good cheddar and you’ll be fine. Which reminds me, I did take this opportunity to try Irish butter. I’ve seen Irish butter in the stores for ages, but never picked it up. Irish butter tastes pretty much like butter, really creamy rich butter – I like it. If you can’t find it, just buy good butter, but if you can find it, give Irish butter a try.

If you like the richness of this burger, you should try Czech Republic Burger, it’s another homey and tasty bit of meaty goodness.

Irish Burger
¾ pound pork cutlet
¼ pound pork belly
¼ pound slab bacon
Olive oil
4 ounces Irish cheddar
Irish Soda Bread (recipe below)
4 Tablespoons course English mustard
Champ (recipe below)
4 teaspoons Irish butter

Chop the meat into cubes and place the meat in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Grind the meat on the fine setting of your meat grinder. Form into four patties. Put a little olive oil a cast iron pan and fry the patties until the pork is cooked through. Top with slices of cheddar about 2 minutes before the pork is done and cover so that the cheese melts. To serve, slice the bread in half through the width of the loaf then into quarters. Grill the bread lightly in the hot pan. On each quarter spread 1 Tablespoon of mustard then add a big dollop of champ, a pat of butter and the cooked burger patties.

Irish Soda Bread
2 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425˚F. Sift the dry ingredients then add the buttermilk. Note: you can use dried buttermilk hydrated with water. Combine into a sticky dough then knead lightly. Lightly grease and flour a cake pan. Form the dough into a slightly flat round loaf. Put the loaf into the greased pan and cover with another cake pan. Bake for 25 minutes then remove top pan and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove the loaf and place on wire rack to cool.

Champ
1 pound russet potatoes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 spring onion chopped (white and light green parts only)
½ cup milk
1 Tablespoon Irish butter

Peel and chop potatoes. Boil the potatoes with 1 teaspoon of salt until fork tender. While the potatoes are cooking put the milk and the onions into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 3 minutes. Remove the milk from the heat. Drain the potatoes and mash with the butter and the milk and onion mixture, salt to taste.

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Posted in "I" countries, burger recipes, european recipes | Tagged bread, pork, pork belly, potatoes, soda bread | Leave a comment

Iraq burger recipe

Posted on April 4, 2013 by linda

Baharat Seasoned Lamb Burger with Rice Kibbe and Yogurt Mint Sauce
When I started on my goal of creating a burger recipe based on the cuisine of each country in the world, I assumed that each country would have a unique cuisine. Of course now that I’m 79 recipes/countries into this I realize that there are no “unique” cuisines. The fact is that people have traveled, ever since there were people, they’ve traveled, and they bring their favorite foods with them. So as I started researching Iraqi food, I was shocked to read on several sites that “Iraq is one of the few countries that doesn’t have a unique cuisine”. I think I’m going to have to chalk this comment up to ignorance at best or prejudice at worst. The reality is that Iraq is an old country and people have been traveling in and out and around the area for a really long time, and as we discussed, they’ve taken their food with them.

By jamesdale10, via Wikimedia Commons

The Republic of Iraq is located in the heart of the Middle East bordered by Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey with a small coastline on the Persian Gulf. It was once part of the Ottoman Empire and before that was part of Mesopotamia. Now Iraq is now home to almost 32 million people. And yes, the cuisine is pretty classically Middle Eastern but anyone who says that dismissively clearly doesn’t understand the thousands of years of history and culture and folks traveling that have brought us to the modern Middle East. This is one of the oldest civilizations in the world; which gives us more to talk about than we have time on this particular journey.

By James (Jim) Gordon, via Wikimedia Commons

Through these thousands of years and billions of travelers food and flavors have developed that somehow reach into your heart and soul and bring you home in a visceral way. Middle Eastern food has a richness and complexity that seems exotic to those of us raised in the New World and weaned on fast food and processed foods. Iraqis love spices and their food balances flavors that Westerners consider dessert tastes with classically savory spices. Cumin mixes with cinnamon, nutmeg compliments saffron and suddenly your kitchen is filed with a glorious fragrance that lingers and brings your family and friends to the table ready to feast.

Which is a somewhat clumsy lead in to my next point about hospitality. Iraqi culture, in keeping with Muslim culture more generally, has a strong emphasis on hospitality. There’s a tradition that any guest/stranger/traveler is welcome to stay for 3 days in your house and it is rude for you to ask him his intentions or how long he plans to stay until the third day. I’ve read stories of men who travel for business and stop at strangers houses along the way – the strangers become friends and start anticipating the visits, the travelers’ favorite foods are served when he arrives unexpectedly. Now I come from a part of the US that is particularly know for it’s hospitality, but I wouldn’t recommend just showing up at a stranger’s door in the American Midwest and expecting to get your favorite dish cooked.

That being said, welcome to my “home” – let’s see what I’ve cooked for you! In a similar fashion to Iran, we’re going to start with the ever-important rice. I am increasingly impressed with the variety and creativity of cooking methods and recipes for rice around the world. In an effort to try another new rice dish, I found inspiration in kibbe. Iraqi kibbe recipes are varied, but one of the popular ways to make kibbe is cook the rice until it’s soft, add some dried fruit and some beef and grind it all together then wrap it around some spiced ground lamb and deep fry. To me this sounds like the perfect inspiration for a burger. So I made saffron rice, mixed in some meat, raisins (I only ad black raisins, golden would be more authentic) and some onion and made a super tasty kibbe cake for the starch.

Next came the meat, and here lamb was the obvious choice – especially since goat is so hard to find in Brookline J Add some baharat (another spice mixture with millions of versions throughout the Middle East) and we’ve got a fragrant and delicious patty. Just to add a little coolness I made a yogurt sauce with a big helping of fresh mint, some lemon juice and dates for a little bit of sweetness. By the way, Iraq produces about 80% of the world’s dates.

The final burger is rich and layered, fragrant and tasty, and it is easily one of my favorites. The fried rice cake is a little heavy, but is balanced well with the yogurt sauce; make sure you portion the sauce generously.

If you enjoy these flavors, you’ll also love the Egypt burger. Both of these burgers embrace the flavors of the Middle East as I hope you will too (as you can tell, I’m a huge fan)!

Iraqi Burger
1 pound ground lamb
Baharat Spice Mixture (recipe below) reserve ½ teaspoon for rice cake
4 Kibbe Rice Cakes (recipe below)
Yogurt Sauce (recipe below)

Combine the lamb and baharat and form into 4 patties. Cook to desired temperature.

Baharat Spice Mixture
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine spices in a dry pan over low heat until fragrant. Reserve ½ teaspoon of spice mixture for rice cake and use the rest for the meat.

Kibbe Rice Cake
1 cup basmati rice
¼ cup hot water
Pinch saffron
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ lb ground beef
¼ cup raisin (preferably golden)
½ teaspoon baharat spice mixture
Peanut oil

Cook rice per package directions. While rice is cooking add the saffron to the hot water and let it sit until rice is done. Put cooked rice, saffron and water, beef, raisins and spices into a food processor and pulse until well mixed.

Form 4 balls out of the mixture and flatten into discs. Heat about an inch of peanut oil in a pan. Fry the discs in the oil then drain on paper towels.

Yogurt Sauce
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
½ cup chopped fresh mint
4 dates chopped
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=1237

Posted in "I" countries, burger recipes, middle eastern recipes | Tagged kibbe, lamb, rice, yoghurt | 6 Comments

Iran burger recipe

Posted on March 1, 2013 by linda

Persian Spiced Lamb Burgers with Saffron Rice and Fresh Herbs

Apparently, were I Iranian, I would be doomed to be a spinster. Ok, probably not really in modern times, but there is a saying that a woman’s marriagability (I don’t think that’s really a word) is related to her ability to make rice. And when I say “make rice” I don’t mean plain old-fashioned steam it and serve, I mean Persian rice. I tried…epic fail! But I’ll get to the details in a minute, first let’s talk a little bit about Iran and then we can move on to the cooking and especially the rice.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is located in the Middle East and creates a sort of giant land bridge that separates the Caspian Sea and the Persian Golf – I imagine that no geologist would actually call it a bridge, but that’s kind of what it looks like to me.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

It shares borders with Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkmenistan. At it’s height, the Persian Empire encompassed all of Iran and most of the surrounding land – today “Persian” and “Iranian” are used pretty much interchangeably in terms of cultural context, especially as we start talking about food.

1. By سبأ (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

And, although there is a great deal would could talk about beyond the food, Persian cuisine is rich in history and cultural influences and I have so much I want to tell you about the food, that I’m skipping right too it. Life is too short to spend too much time on politics, I’d rather go for the substance, or the sustenance, I’d rather have dinner

Persian cuisine and food culture is really cool and exotic and fascinating. Food plays an important part in the culture of Iran, it’s a food centric country. Hospitality is extremely important and food is a big part of that. You will always be offered food when visiting a traditional Iranian household. I read in one book that you should decline the food with thanks, it will be offered again, you should decline again, etc… until the ritual is done three times then the host will just serve anyway. As a guest you should thank and compliment profusely (I think that’s a good rule of thumb generally myself). The best foods are always served to guests (another good general rule), and guests should eat heartily but not be piggy and eat their hosts out of house and home (yet another good rule – liking the manners here).

By Hamed Saber, via Wikimedia Commons

Persian cuisine is a symphony of many spices (not hot chilies though), and a balance of sweet and sour. Fruits are commonly used in savory dishes and Persian cooks pride themselves on complex combinations of tastes that balance perfectly. Because Iran is so centrally located and Persia extended so far, many flavor traditions have passed back and forth, making Persian food also a balance of cultural influences. You see hints of India in the use of coriander, cardamom and cinnamon, you see hints of Greece in the stuffed grape leaves and use of yogurt. The tradition of marinated meat cooked on a skewer (kebab or shwarma) is a Persian method of cooking that is now common across the region and into the Mediterranean.

Iran produces lots of different fruits and vegetables – pomegranates, persimmons, melons, peaches, plums, dates, grapes, eggplant, squash, and cucumbers to name a few. They also grow almonds and pistachios and walnuts (English walnuts come from Iran) and produce one of the finest quality saffrons around (so I’ve read, I have not had the pleasure of side by side taste testing). Iran also produces caviar, sturgeon caviar, again said to be one of the finest in the world. All in all an embarrassment of riches from which to create a great burger – the hardest part was narrowing down the choices

By سید محمد موسوی اعظم, via Wikimedia Commons

So let’s get back to the rice. Ugh. Rice is an everyday staple of Persian cooking. But it isn’t as simple as that, they make rice differently than anyone I’ve encountered so far (or maybe I just didn’t read deeply enough before this). You don’t have to become an expert on Persian cuisine to realize that this rice is special and that Iranians are particular, everything I read about the food mentioned this. First, the rice is long grain – similar to basmati (in fact they import basmati from India to supplement local production). There are two basic ways to cook the rice. First is “chelo” (this is what I tried and failed to produce). In chelo, you parboil the rice then drain it and mound it into a pot with oil and a little bit of water. You steam it and somehow, magically you get a cooked rice with a crispy browned bottom. The bottom called “tah dig” is what everyone loves and is served separately. It is a practiced art to create tah dig and I frankly lost patience after three failed attempts. The best I got was a golden bottom that was unappetizingly crunchy (for my tastes), so I abandoned hope and just made rice.

Total Failure – WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

You can also make kateh – which is rice more similar to the way we produce it here. Boil rice with butter or oil, salt and water, then simmer until the water is absorbed. The trick here though is that you also cook it for a while and get that crust that Persians love so much – you turn the pan over and cut the rice like a cake. No joy for me on this method either – I am truly hopeless.

Once you get good at making chelo and kateh, then you graduate to layered rice dishes – these are served for holidays and special occasions and are a real showpiece for the Persian cook. Needless to say, I didn’t even attempt them. When you have 193 recipes to create, you can’t spend months on one country, you’ll go crazy.

Another staple of the Persian table is “sabzi khordan” (spelling varies from one source to another), which is basically a bowl of herbs and veggies that is served with just about everything. The herb mixture varies and each cook/family has their own traditions, but I stuck with the herbs I saw most often referenced – mint, chives, tarragon, basil, watercress. You also see cilantro used a lot but since I’m not that big of a fan, I chose to leave it out, feel free to add some if you like that soapy flavor

Persians, like most foodie cultures it seems, have their own traditional spice mix. Theirs is called “advieh” and the recipes are myriad. The use of dried lime is pretty universal and gives a distinctive flavor to Persian food. You’ll see in Western style recipes that people substitute lime juice for dried lime – don’t do that, just go online and order some dried limes and you’ll understand why. Yes, they are tart, but there’s a concentrated lime peel flavor that mixes with the tart in a unique and interesting flavor – it’s tart without being bitter and intense without being overwhelming, with a little bit of fruit and earthiness that you just can’t get with any substitution.

The Persian table generally has radishes, something made from eggplant, stews, meats, yogurt, nuts, fruits…a little bit of everything. Again, my challenge was focus…where to start? I usually start with the meat, I find that gives me a frame on which to build the flavors of the dish. In this case I had to go with lamb. Not only is it a popular meat in Iran, but it also perfectly compliments the sweet and sour and the spice flavors that we’ve been talking about. Throw some advieh in to season the lamb and we’re set in the meat department.

I gave up on making tah dig and instead made a simple saffron steamed rice. I know it’s a cop out, but it was the best I could do and finish this project before I’m too senile to remember which country I’m on.

For toppings I really wanted to make a fruit/veg compote that would pay homage the stewing tradition and bring in some of the sweet and sour flavors in. So I put together a combination with eggplants and several native fruits along with pomegranate molasses to bring in the sour edge. Thinly sliced radish gave a nice crunch to the dish along with toasted walnuts (I’m amazed at how yummy nuts can be on a burger!). A yogurt sauce and some feta gave the dish added creaminess and a little salt kick. And lastly, to add color and brightness to the dish, some lovely fresh herbs ala sabzi khordan finished it off beautifully. It’s a lot of moving parts on this burger, but don’t get nervous. Nothing here is hard to make and almost all of it can be made ahead. If you slice the radishes ahead of time, just leave them soaking in ice water, it will keep them crisp and fresh. The only thing you don’t want to do too far ahead of time is the herb mix, basil will brown if it sits too long and the others will wilt, so chop these up last minute.

The final burger is unusual, the flavors are such a mixture of sweet, sour, creamy – it’s actually hard to describe. I know I get paid big bucks to describe food…oh, wait, I don’t get paid anything! Phew, now I don’t feel bad that I don’t have the words for this. You’ll just have to give it a whirl and let me know how you would describe it J

This is a hearty but not heavy burger that we served with a nice pinot noir (which is totally wrong based on the no alcohol rule of Iran, but I’m a rebel). If you want a more traditional drink, I’m told tea is the most popular beverage in Iran. Although one more note on that topic; pre-Muslim rule, Iran produced a fair amount of wine. They still grow grapes and use the grapes in cooking instead today – a bit of a waste of perfectly good grapes in my book, but to each his own.

If you like this burger you should try the Bahrain burger. It’s a lighter and slightly simpler burger, but has many of the same flavors of the region.

Iranian Burger
1 pound ground lamb
1 ½ teaspoon advieh (recipe below)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
2 cups cooked rice (saffron in the cooking water is optional)
4-6 radishes sliced very thin
Crumbled feta cheese
Sweet and Sour Compote (recipe below)
Yoghurt Sauce (recipe below)
Fresh Herbs (recipe below)
4 Tablespoons toasted chopped walnuts

Mix the advieh, salt and lamb together and form into 4 patties. Heat the oil in a medium skillet, cook patties to desired temperature.

To serve scoop out ½ cup of rice on each plate. Add a layer of sliced radishes and generous helping of feta cheese, then the cooked patties. Put a big scoop of compote on top of the burger then add yoghurt sauce, fresh herbs and a Tablespoon of walnuts.

Advieh
1 teaspoon green cardamom seeds (crush about a Tablespoon of pods to get 1 teaspoon of seeds)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
5 whole cloves
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon orange zest
1 dried lime crushed

Place all ingredients in a dry pan and warm over low heat until fragrant. Put the spices in a spice blender and pulse until everything is ground up.

Sweet and Sour Compote
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup cubed eggplant
1 cup chopped Turkish apricots
1 ½ teaspoons advieh
juice of 1 tangerine
2 Tablespoons black raisins
¼ cup pomegranate juice
2 Tablespoons pomegranate molasses

In medium saucepan, heat oil and brown eggplant for three minutes over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook over low heat until syrupy. Cool slightly and pulse in a food processor until you get a basically even texture. Use slightly warm or room temperature.

Yoghurt Sauce
1 cup Greek yoghurt (2% fat)
1 teaspoons minced shallots
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint
salt to taste

Add all ingredients in a glass bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fresh Herbs
¼ cup fresh mint chopped
¼ cup fresh chives chopped
¼ cup fresh tarragon chopped
½ cup fresh watercress chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh basil chopped

Combine all ingredients and serve.

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Posted in "I" countries, burger recipes, middle eastern recipes | Tagged burger, feta, herbs, lamb, mild, saffron rice, yoghurt | Leave a comment

Indonesia burger recipe

Posted on January 14, 2013 by linda

Rendang Spiced Burger with Indonesian Fried Rice
I have to admit that I do have some favorites among the cuisines of the world. I didn’t know it before I started researching this burger, but Indonesian cuisine is definitely a favorite. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state in the world, it is made up of 17,500 islands 6,000 of which are inhabited. It’s located in Southeast Asia and Oceana and borders Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor and is the 4^th most populous nation in the world.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

And let me tell you, Indonesia is gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous – mountains, beaches, ancient ruins, all sorts of amazing things to see. A trip here is definitely on my bucket list, but given that it’s half way around the world, it seems unlikely that I’ll get there soon. In the meantime, I can enjoy the food and dream

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

By Thorsten Peters (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

2By Indradi Soemardjan http://www.indrani.net (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

My husband insists that I mention the ring of fire. I’m pretty sure that’s because he has an uncommonly deep voice and can actually sing along with Johnny Cash, but he claims that has nothing to do with it. The Pacific Ring of Fire stretches from New Zealand all along the coast of Asia, up around Alaska, back down along the coast of North America and all the way down to Chile. It contains about 75% of the world’s volcanoes and within this ring 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur. Indonesia has some of the most active volcanoes; in fact the last estimates were that Indonesia has almost 130 active volcanoes – YIKES! Earthquakes in this area have resulted in horrific natural disasters – the 2004 tsunami was the deadliest and killed over 230,000 people. So that’s the ring of fire, now let’s sing a verse of the Johnny Cash song and switch gears to more cheerful stuff.

Indonesia has been described as 100 or 200 countries in 1. There are more than 250 ethnic groups living there. Because of its location lots of people from all over travel through Indonesia and the melting pot of cultural influences has resulted in a complex and wonderful cuisine with hints of India, China, Japan and even the Netherlands. Since 86% of the population is Islamic, very little pork is consumed. Beef is popular (except with the Hindu portion of the population) as is chicken and fish. Nasi goreng (fried rice) is the national dish of Indonesia and it is consumed daily by many Indonesians. A key ingredient in Indonesian fried rice is kecap manis – which is a sweet soy sauce. It reminds me a little of Japanese teriyaki sauce – it makes a really nice rich base for the rice, sweet but not cloying.

Another ingredient that’s used quite a bit is shrimp paste. Now shrimp paste is one of those ingredients that taste disgusting on its own (like fish sauce), but adds an amazing richness to a sauce. So buy some, add it to a dish but don’t taste it on its own, and don’t smell it, just trust me and be bold, be brave.

Overall Indonesian food is a balance of complex spices and bold flavors – it isn’t spicy/hot, but it is filled with spice. I wanted to make a sauce that brought these flavors to life (like a BBQ sauce, but totally not like BBQ flavor). Since rendang is one of the most common dishes enjoyed in Indonesia, I used rendang to inspire the sauce. Rendang is a slow cooked beef dish with a variety of spices and coconut milk. In an online CNN poll (http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/readers-choice-worlds-50-most-delicious-foods-012321) rendang was voted as the #1 Most Delicious Food in the world. So of course it made a delicious sauce that works great with beef. This sauce is rich, slightly sweet and complex. It perfectly complimented the fried rice. I went with a beef burger with a little bit of spices added in and the combo is now one of my favorites. The flavors are layered and complex with a little bit of spiciness but not overwhelmingly hot. The sweet dessert spices give a really exotic overtone to the whole dish. It’s definitely a hearty dish, a little on the heavy side, but in a lovely way.

There are a ton of ingredients in this dish, and some may require advance planning to find (you can get all of them online or at a local Asian market) but overall it isn’t difficult to make, just gather everything, give yourself time to let the flavors develop and then enjoy.

If you like this burger and want another exotic adventure, try my Bhutan burger – it’s a big notch up on heat and another burger that defies comparison!

Indonesian burger
1 pound 80% ground beef
2 teaspoons sambel olek (chili paste)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Fried Rice (recipe below)
Rendang Sauce (recipe below)
Chopped bok choy leaves
Fried shallots (you can get these at any Asian grocer or online – or make them yourself)

Combine the first five ingredients and form four patties. Fry the patties to desired temperature in a cast iron skillet. To serve scoop up some fried rice, add the cooked patties then top with the rendang sauce some chopped bok choy and a sprinkle of fried shallots.

Fried Rice
2 baby bok choy
4 Tablespoons peanut oil
2 Shallots sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic sliced thin
2 red Fresno peppers seeded and sliced thin
4 cups of cooked white rice
2 teaspoons sambel olek
4 teaspoons kecap manis

Slice the bok choy into thin strips and keep the leaves and the stems separate. Save the leaves for a topping and use only the stems in the rice. In a medium sauté pan, heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil over med/high until shimmering. Add the shallots the bok choy stems, garlic and chilies. Cook stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil and the rice and turn heat to medium low. Add sambel olek and kecap manis and cook for 5-10 minutes stirring and breaking up the rice. Serve warm.

Rendang Sauce
1 stick cinnamon
6 whole cloves
1 stalk lemon grass (yellow part only)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
¼ teaspoons anise seeds
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 shallot diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 red Fresno chilies
1 Tablespoon shrimp paste
2 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate
1 Tablespoon kecap manis
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup water
1 Tablespoon rice flour

In a small dry skillet, heat the cinnamon, cloves and lemon grass over medium heat until fragrant. Remove from heat and place in a piece of cheesecloth then tie it off. Add the coriander, anise, fennel and ginger to the pan and heat until fragrant. Grind these spices in a spice grinder. In a small sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions, garlic and chilies. Cook for 2 minutes. Add in the cheesecloth, stir in the shrimp paste, the ground up spices and the rest of the ingredients except the rice flour. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Whisk in the rice flour until you get a nice thick paste/like consistency. Serve hot or room temperature.

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=1046

Posted in "I" countries, asian recipes, burger recipes, oceana recipes, south asian recipes | Tagged beef, fried rice, rendang, rice | 4 Comments

India burger recipe

Posted on December 16, 2012 by linda

Vegetarian Vindaloo Burger with Raita and Cardamom Scented Rice
India is a tough country to describe in just a couple of paragraphs. It’s ancient with a civilization that dates back to around the 3^rd century BC. It’s big, at over 3MM kilometers, it is the 7^th largest country in the world. And, of course, with 1.2 BILLION people, it is the second most populous country in the world. So, a brief history of India would take a lot more than a couple of paragraphs, let’s see if we can focus on a few key points and leave the exploration of centuries of history to someone else…deal?

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

India is located in Southern Asia bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. It shares a land border we Pakistan, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka and Maldives are not far away across the seas. So, while it’s only about a third the size of the US, India has mountains, deserts, sandy beaches and just about everything in between. As a result of all of this the food in India is highly varied both regionally and ethnically.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Over 80% of the population is Hindu, so pretty much no one eats beef in India. It’s also important to note that while only 13% of the population is Muslim, that’s still a lot of Muslims so we don’t see much pork consumed here either. Although it has a reputation of vegetarianism, only about 30% of the population is technically vegetarian. However, because of widespread poverty and limited access to proteins, most Indians get most of their calories from non-meat sources (although I’m including dairy – dairy is pretty widely consumed).

I do love a challenge and I find vegetarian burgers challenging (usually to eat, but that’s a different story), so I couldn’t resist taking on vegetarian for India. I think the trick to making a satisfying veggie burger is to embrace it for what it is and not try to make it seem like meat, so that’s what I’ve done here. There are lots of tasty vegetables and some garbanzo beans and flour help hold them all together. The flavor is exactly what I had hoped, layered, complex and exotic.

Of course you can’t just get that from vegetables, it’s really the spice that is so critical here. Indian food is all about the spice and there are a number of classic spice blends that are used in traditional Indian cooking. For this burger I decided I wanted to bring a little more heat than I did with the Bangladeshi burger, so I went with a vindaloo spice blend. Vindaloo is again one of those blends for which there are probably millions of recipes. For mine I used dried dundicut peppers – mainly because I couldn’t resist buying them during one of my Penzey’s buying sprees (no I am not compensated for endorsing Penzey’s), and because they are both hot and grown in the region (in Pakistan). You can use any dried hot pepper you like, spicier peppers would be authentic, but use what you like, that’s far more important than authenticity.

You can also purchase pre-made vindaloo spice blend. I’m not a fan of the pre-made blends because I like to control the flavor of my dish. Spice is such an important part of Indian food, I just can’t bring myself to shortcut it. But again, I don’t judge…well at least I won’t judge you for using the pre-mixed stuff – not everyone is a control freak like I am, and not everyone is the spice whore that I am. So if you find yourself needing to buy a whole bunch of new spices and cursing me, just get the blend instead and pour yourself a glass of wine and relax.

To balance the heat of the vindaloo, I made a raita. Raita is a yoghurt sauce that you can get at most Indian restaurants; it is a terrific side dish and one of the best ways to tame food that is too spicy. I never order Indian without it, so please, give it a try. Lastly, I put this burger on cardamom scented rice – it makes for a simple looking but amazingly complex dish, I’m already wishing I could have another. If you like Indian food, I think you’ll love this burger. If you aren’t a fan of Indian, this might be too aromatic and spicy for your tastes – try the Bangladesh burger first, if you like that burger you may be surprised how much you’ll like this one.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays to all!

Indian Burger
1 small eggplant diced (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1½ Tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped cauliflower
2 Tablespoons Vindaloo Paste (recipe below)
1 cup garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
2 Tablespoons flour
Cardamom Scented Rice (recipe below)
1 tomato sliced
Raita (recipe below)
Cilantro chopped (optional)

Place the chopped eggplant in a large glass bowl and sprinkle with salt – toss to coat, then let the eggplant sit for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, in a medium sauté pan, heat the peanut oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté for about 3 minutes or until they are beginning to turn translucent. Add the cauliflower and the vindaloo paste. Stir and cover – cook over medium/low heat for 5 minutes.

Drain and blot dry the eggplant. Add it to the pan. Cover and cook for another 15 minutes. Add the chick peas and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let the mixture cool a bit. Pulse in a food processor until chunky. Add the flour and pulse until mixed through.

Separate the mixture into four portions and form four patties. In a large skillet, heat 1-2 Tablespoons of peanut oil until shimmering. Add the patties and cook until you get a nice brown crust, turn the patties and cook the other side to match.

To serve start with a scoop of rice on each plate, add tomatoes, cooked patties, a generous scoop of raita and top with cilantro.

Vindaloo Paste
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
4 dried dundicut peppers (or other dried hot pepper)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic grated
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt

In a dry pan, toast the first 5 ingredients until fragrant. Grind them into a fine powder in a spice grinder. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until you get a paste. You can store this in the freezer for a couple of months and it will keep its flavor.

Cardamom Scented Rice
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups water
12 whole green cardamom pods lightly bruised

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Remove the cardamom pods before you serve if you don’t want your guests to get a big bight of cardamom.

Raita
½ cup shredded cucumber
1 cup 2% Greek yoghurt
½ cup shredded carrot
½ teaspoon Garam Masala (follow this link for recipe)
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Squeeze the cucumber to remove excess water. Combine all ingredients and adjust spice to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes then adjust spice again and serve cold.

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=1028

Posted in "I" countries, burger recipes, south asian recipes | Tagged raita, rice, spicy, vegetarian, vindaloo | 5 Comments

Iceland burger recipe

Posted on November 4, 2012 by linda

Lamb Cheeseburger with Icelandic Yogurt and Grilled Onions
Where did the year go? I can’t believe October is over! This has been a slow year for this blog, too many distractions (aka, children). I’ve also been spending the last month perfecting (I hope) my dish for Master Chef auditions. The casting call in Boston was yesterday (Nov 3^rd) and it was a lot of fun and totally stressful, but that’s all I’m allowed to say (they don’t like us to tell the secrets of the casting process). I met some awesome people including a really nice woman from Ivory Coast – I’m hoping she’ll look up my blog and let me know if I got her homeland right. But now, on to the business of the day, let’s talk about Iceland.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Iceland is an island country located in the North Atlantic (or as Wikipedia says “at the confluence of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans” – who talks like that?). The capital is Reykjavik and total population is around 320,000. Strangely, Iceland keeps popping up in our family. It started years ago when my cousin was stationed at Reykjavik while he was in the US Navy. He loved Iceland and the Icelandic people – didn’t love the wind storms that would blow you physically from building to building, but otherwise no complaints. Then fast forward to 2007-2008. My husband started a new job and one of his colleagues was from Iceland. This friend had the unfortunate experience of having to send his parents some cash to get them out of Italy (they were on vacation) when the Icelandic Króna (currency) suddenly became worth nothing. But now we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Despite its Northern location, Iceland is warmer than you’d expect because it’s warmed by the Golf Stream. It was settled by Norwegians, then ruled by Denmark for a while and became independent in 1918. For a long time Iceland was relatively poor and undeveloped. With independence, growth in the fishing industry and most recently investment in biotech and software development, Iceland pulled out of its humble beginnings so that by 2007 it ranked as the most developed country in the world by the UN Human Development Index.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Unfortunately deregulation and some extremely poor decision making by Icelandic banks led to a huge financial crisis in 2008. Basically the world stopped recognizing the króna for a couple weeks and there was real fear that the entire country would go bankrupt. The government took over the major banks and has slowly built back confidence in the currency and the economic viability of Iceland. Today Iceland ranks 14^th in the Human Development Index.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

So, all of that is kind of interesting, but, because I’m a geek and married to an even bigger geek, the thing that I find most interesting about Iceland is the genealogy. Well, not so much the genealogy as the genealogical database. Stay with me now, this is really cool – the database went online a few years ago and covers every living Icelander with monthly updates for births and deaths. Just about everyone in the database can trace back to the 9^th century. The last 10 generations are really robust in terms of data. In and of itself, that’s cool, but what’s really cool is the scientific implications of so complete a database (especially with a relatively homogeneous population). Scientist use this database, combined with medical databases, to track inheritability of disease, and, whenever they start a new study, they know the full family background of all of the subjects – super cool.

Okay, I’m done now…time for the food. What do Icelanders eat? Meat and fish, and then some meat and some fish, and on festive occasions…puffins. Due to climate and growing season restrictions, the Icelandic diet is more focused around proteins with lamb and fish being some of the most popular. They do actually eat puffins as well, but since we’re unlikely to find puffin meat at our local grocer, I’m going to ignore that. Dairy products also play an important role in Icelandic cuisine. They even have their own form of yogurt called skyr. It’s like the sharpest yogurt you’ve ever tasted, but the sharpness is tempered when you pair it with a meaty burger and some creamy cheese.

Based on this, I kept the Iceland burger pretty simple. I used lamb as the meat and melted some creamy Havarti on top. Add some pickled cabbage, skyr and grilled onions and you have a hearty meaty burger that could warm you on a cold windy night in Iceland. The salty sharpness of the skyr does balance the creamy cheese and rich lamb. The flavor that comes across most is, surprisingly, the lamb. It really is a celebration of lamb. The crunch of the cabbage is nice, but it would be fine to leave it off if you don’t have any around. We both preferred the sandwich open faced so that the bread wasn’t too strong a flavor, but again you can play and see how you like it.

If you’ve fallen in love with this burger (and I’m sure you will), give the Finland burger a try – it’s a little more complicated (just more ingredients), but it also has a rich hearty flavor that I think you’ll love.

Icelandic Burger
1 pound ground lamb
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil
4 slices of havarti cheese
4 slices pumpernickel or dark rye bread
½ cup skyr or Greek yogurt
Pickled Cabbage (recipe below)
Grilled Onions (recipe below)

Add the salt to the lamb and mix thoroughly. Form 4 patties. Fry the lamb patties in olive oil until they reach your preferred temperature. Add the cheese slices to the patties about two minutes before burgers are done, cover and melt cheese. Remove from heat. Place the four slices of bread into the hot pan and grill the bread lightly (about 2-3 minutes). To serve, spread 2 Tablespoons of skyr on each slice of bread. Add ¼ cup of drained Pickled Cabbage. Place patties on top next then top with Grilled Onions.

Pickled Cabbage
1 cup chopped green cabbage (whichever kind you like)
Cider Vinegar (enough to cover the cabbage)

Place the cabbage in a glass bowl and pour enough vinegar in to cover the cabbage. Refrigerate mixture for at least 4 hours before serving. Drain off vinegar before using.

Grilled Onions
1 large onion
1 Tablespoon butter

Cut the onion in half then slice thinly. In a medium sauté pan, heat the butter until frothy then add the onions and cook over med-low heat for 15 minutes or until onions are golden and soft.

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=1016

Posted in "I" countries, burger recipes, european recipes | Tagged cheese, lamb, mild, yogurt | Leave a comment

Hungary burger recipe

Posted on October 14, 2012 by linda

Meaty Beef and Pork Burger with Paprika/Pork Ragu and Aged Gouda
There are two major problems with writing a blog post about Hungary – first is avoiding obvious Hungary/hungry puns (my husband has suggested several-you should be thanking me now for not taking his advice), the second is choosing the most interesting tidbits from the culture and history of this amazing country. Hungary is a landlocked country located in Central Europe and bordered by Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. In fact several of their neighbors are larger than they were before World War I because when the war ended Hungary lost a ton of its territory. This loss was reaffirmed at the end of WWII (they were on the losing side of that conflict too). After that, the Hungarians ~~were gobbled up into the Soviet Union~~ became part of the Soviet Bloc.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Ok, let’s pause here, yes, I skipped a ton of stuff – founding of the kingdom, invasion by Ottomans, Hapsburg rule, etc… but really, life is short and it’s not like it’s hard to read up on this stuff on your own – even Wikipedia has some pretty good information, so feel free to look it up and read more. But, before we go into the communist phase I would like to point out that the cultural and ethnic heritage is really cool. The language itself goes into the super cool/strange category (much like Finnish). Hungarian is part of the Ugor branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. The Finno-Ugric languages are basically Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian and a bunch of really obscure languages that are only spoken by very small groups of people. Check out some Hungarian language videos – it is a really unusual mixture of sounds – I hear some Asian, and Slavic overtones, but I have an absolute tin ear, so don’t go by me. In addition to a cool language, Hungarians (also called Magyars) have felt a little pushed around by various international forces over the years and because of that they’ve really grabbed hold of their cultural identity and have protected it and kept it alive even while officially part of the ~~USSR~~ Soviet Bloc.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Which brings us back to where we left off. While Hungary was part of the communist bloc, ~~USSR~~ they were considered the most liberal of the Eastern Bloc ~~member~~ states and eventually opened their borders to Austria and help to speed up the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Today Hungary is a popular tourist destination and (before the global financial crisis) had a relatively strong economy. They are part of the EU and have suffered along with most of Eastern Europe, and in fact, Europe overall, well let’s be honest we’ve all had some tough times lately.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

At any rate, I think it’s time to move on to the food. All of the vegetarians should probably just stop reading now because Hungarians like meat. They like meat with their meat – pork, beef, goat – sausages and salami, lots of meat. And, when it doubt, they cook their dishes in lard, cause nothing makes a dish tastes so good as lard! I saw several comments saying that if you heat up some lard and cook onions and paprika, you have the foundation for all Hungarian dishes (and your kitchen will smell wonderful). One note for those of you who get nervous about spice, don’t worry, despite what you may read on Wikipedia, Hungarians use sweet paprika in most of their cooking. Hot paprika is sometimes made into a paste and served as a condiment tableside, but the dishes themselves are not hot.

sweet paprika, a Hungarian staple!

do not use hot paprika if you want an authentic flavor

So yes, I fried up some bacon and used the fat to cook some onions and paprika as the base for my sauce, then I slow cooked some pork butt and created a burger topping for the ages. The final sauce (thickened with sour cream as is traditional) reminded me of the wild boar ragu that we got in Italy over parpardelle (which is what I did with the left-overs, served it over pasta and savored the rich meaty flavor). For the patties I combined beef and pork and ground the meat fresh – you could use pre-ground meat if you want, I just wanted that extra fresh meatiness. I also found a raw milk Gouda that was a little sharp and perfectly complimented the meat and spice. We tried 4 different Goudas and there is really a lot of variation in flavor – the aged Goudas are terrific, I highly recommend trying a few if you have a good cheese shop nearby. We decided not to use the smoked Gouda because the meatiness of the dish doesn’t need the extra richness of the smoke, it’s too much.

cheese, glorious cheese!

The final burger is incredibly rich and hearty (this is not an “eat on the beach in a bikini” type of burger). We loved it; the sharpness of the cheese comes through with a hint of bacon and a touch of herby freshness. It held up beautifully to a hearty zin and we were left Hungary for more (ok, maybe one small pun).

Hungarian Burger
1 pound pork cutlets
½ pound sirloin tips
1 Tablespoon fresh marjoram
1 clove garlic roughly chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 ounces aged Gouda sliced thin
Paprika/Pork Ragu (recipe below)
4 slices of sour dough bread
Cooked bacon (from Paprika/Pork Ragu preparation)

Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes and place in a glass bowl. Add the marjoram and garlic and mix together. Put the meat cubes in the freezer for 30 minutes then grind the meat. Form four patties. Salt the patties. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or grill pan. Cook until patties reach an internal temperature of 165˚F. Add the Gouda slices about two minutes before burgers are done and cover until cheese is melted.

To serve, toast or grill the bread. Add a generous scoop of the ragu then the cooked patties, top with the cooked bacon and enjoy!

Paprika/Pork Ragu
8 ounces thick cut bacon sliced into ¼ inch strips
1 medium yellow onion sliced (about 1¼ cup)
2 Tablespoons sweet paprika
1 pound pork butt cut into 3 chunks
2 cups chicken stock
Water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons flour

Place Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Cook bacon stirring occasionally until bacon is crisp (about 10 minutes).

you want a nice thick cut bacon

mmmmm, bacon!

Remove bacon and place on paper towel to drain. Add onions and paprika to the hot bacon grease and turn heat down to medium low. Cook for 3 minutes stirring regularly. Add pork, chicken stock, salt and as much water as you need to just cover the pork.

Raise heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour turning pork over once. Remove cover and cook for another hour. Or until pork is fork tender.

Remove meat from pan and use two forks to shred the pork removing any excess fat.

pulled pork rocks!

Return meat to pan. Add sour cream and stir until combined. Add the flour and whisk until flour is integrated and sauce begins to thicken. Adjust salt to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes.

you’ll have leftovers of this ragu – just heat it up and serve over a wide pasta – yummy!

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Posted in "H" countries, burger recipes, european recipes | Tagged beef, hearty, mild, pork | 4 Comments

Honduras burger recipe

Posted on September 26, 2012 by linda

Burger with Spiced Beans, Chorizo Stuffed Tortillas, Sour Orange Sauce and Fresh Salsa
It is interesting to look at a single country through the eyes of multiple sources, just to get a sense of the overall world and who’s spinning what (although figuring out truth is sometimes challenging). If you look at what the BBC says about Honduras, the language is pretty harsh with emphasis on corruption “huge wealth gap” and an overall lack of security. Compare with CIA World Factbook and the New York Times and they talk more about turmoil and focus on how Honduras is helping the US in the drug wars. So, in an effort to cut through the crap, I’m going to stick to numbers/facts as much as possible.

Honduras a Central American country bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. It has coastline on both the Pacific and Caribbean. The Spanish conquered the Maya in the 16^th century and during Spanish rule Honduras was a province of the Kingdom of Guatemala. Honduras achieved independence in 1821. Now let’s fast forward to modern times.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The current situation in Honduras, no matter who is spinning it is not great. They have the 9^th highest income disparity rate in the world and 60% of the population lives below the poverty line. In addition they have the highest murder rate in the world – that’s right, the highest. Because security is so problematic, the Peace Corps suspended its program in Honduras – they just didn’t feel like they could keep their people safe.

On the positive side, Hondurans have benefited from increased interest in adventure tourism. Honduras is a natural destination for adventure tourism. There’s white water rafting, zip lining and cliff diving and lots of unspoiled beautiful land. So let’s hope that they get security under control, because I would love to add this to the vacation list.

By Dennis Garcia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons

By Dennis Garcia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

With all that said, how about the food? Like El Salvadorans, Hondurans eat corn tortillas pretty much every day. The stuffed tortilla or pupusa is extremely popular, so I decided to make them again. I stuffed the tortilla with some browned chorizo and found that the second time making pupusas was a lot easier than the first. Mainly because I ignored the recipe and just added water until it the dough would roll and flatten without cracking.

In general, Honduran food is made from simple ingredients that grow locally and flavored with peppers and spices. Citrus is used widely since it grows wild. The food is not typically spicy but is quite flavorful. Hondurans have a condiment called chismol that is similar to salsa but uses bell pepper rather than spicy peppers. Beans are an important source of protein and are part of most Hondurans daily diet.

These are pretty basic ingredients in Central American cuisine, so the challenge here was to do something new. I’ve found that when you combine beans and pupusas, the big challenge is to make sure that you add moisture into the totally dish. So I decided to take the local flavors and create a sauce that would bring the whole thing together. The great thing is that citrus makes a perfect base for sauce. My original intent had been to use sour oranges, but my local store didn’t have any in stock, so I had to make do with limes and regular oranges. The sauce was tart and slightly sweet with earthy overtones from the cumin and anchiote. The funny thing is that the sauce in the picture above isn’t the right one – it’s a home made BBQ sauce that I made for ribs the night before. I grabbed the wrong sauce when I was doing my beauty shot – now I’ve learned to re-taste everything before I shoot the beauty burger. I dug out the right sauce though, so the picture below with the recipe is the correct sauce and it is delicious.

Somehow when it all came together the result was a hearty but not heavy dish. The tortilla and beans were rich and heavy, but between the chismol and the sauce the whole burger was brightened up and the effect was surprisingly complex and layered.

jump to printer friendly recipe

Honduras Burgers
1 pound 80% ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
4 Pupusas (recipe here)
Spiced Beans (recipe below)
Sour Orange Sauce (recipe below)
Chismol (salsa) (recipe below)

In medium glass bowl combine ground beef, salt and pepper. Form four patties and grill in a non-stick pan until they reach desired temperature.

To serve start with a warm papusa, add a scoop of Spiced Beans, then the cooked burger. Add a couple of tablespoons of Sour Orange Sauce and a scoop of Chismol.

Spiced Beans
½ cup onion diced fine
1 small pablano pepper minced
¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 chicken Maggi cube
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 can small red beans rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Water

Put everything in a medium sauce pan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and beans. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Sour Orange Sauce
8 small limes juiced (about 2/3 cup)
2 Valencia oranges juiced (about 1/3 cup)
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground anchiote
¼ cup angel flake coconut
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon water

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Remove from the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.

this is what the sauce really looks like!

Chismol
1 large tomato diced fine (about 1 cup)
½ cup minced onion
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
Juice from ½ lemon

Mix all ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least ½ hour before using. Stir before using.

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=978

Honduras burger recipe

Author: linda

Recipe type: beef burger

Cuisine: Central American

Serves: 4

Burger with Spiced Beans, Chorizo Stuffed Tortillas, Sour Orange Sauce and Fresh Salsa

Ingredients

Honduras Burgers

1 pound 80% ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
4 Pupusas (recipe below)
Spiced Beans (recipe below)
Sour Orange Sauce (recipe below)
Chismol (salsa) (recipe below)

Spiced Beans

½ cup onion diced fine
1 small pablano pepper minced
¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 clove of garlic minced
1 chicken Maggi cube
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 can small red beans rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Water

Sour Orange Sauce

8 small limes juiced (about ⅔ cup)
2 Valencia oranges juiced (about ⅓ cup)
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground anchiote
¼ cup angel flake coconut
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon water

Chismol

1 large tomato diced fine (about 1 cup)
½ cup minced onion
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
Juice from ½ lemon

Instructions

Honduras Burgers

In medium glass bowl combine ground beef, salt and pepper. Form four patties and grill in a non-stick pan until they reach desired temperature.
To serve start with a warm papusa, add a scoop of Spiced Beans, then the cooked burger. Add a couple of tablespoons of Sour Orange Sauce and a scoop of Chismol.

Pupusas

Follow directions from package to make batter for 8 tortillas. Form four balls out of the batter, then poke a hole in the ball and stuff as much grated cheese as you can (you can also use chorizo browned and out of casing if you want). Close up the hole then mash the tortilla with your hands until it is relatively flat. I did a final pass over with a rolling pin to get even thickness – at the end of the day you want the tortilla to be about ¼ inch thick. Cook the pupusas in a dry cast iron skillet until lightly browned on each side. Serve hot.

Spiced Beans

Put everything in a medium sauce pan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and beans. Stir and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer vigorously for 20 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Sour Orange Sauce

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Remove from the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Chismol

Mix all ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for at least ½ hour before using. Stir before using.

Notes

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Posted in "H" countries, burger recipes, central american recipes | Tagged beef, mild, papusa, salsa, tortilla | Leave a comment

Haiti burger recipe

Posted on September 10, 2012 by linda

Citrus Marinated Pork Burgers with Spicy Cabbage and Coconut Rice and Beans
The H’s are really interesting because we are moving quickly around the globe – next stop is Haiti. Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean (the Dominican Republic occupies the other two thirds).

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

It was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the Spanish settlers who came after spent the next 25 years killing off the Taino Amerindians who were living there (combination of actual killing/enslaving and disease). Then the French arrived in the early 17^th century and were eventually given the western third of the island by the Spanish near the end of the century. The French brought in an enormous number of African slaves to work in “forestry and sugar related industries” (that’s a quote from CIA World Factbook). I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time, but by the end of the 18^th century there were half a million slaves in Haiti and they got tired of being slaves and staged a revolt. The revolution lasted nearly a decade, but in 1804 Haiti was recognized as an independent republic and as such became the first black led republic in the world!

I think that’s a really cool story. Sure, there’s lots of bad stuff, especially the killing of most of the Amerindians; but I like the idea of people not putting up with repression. I like it when the underdog realizes that maybe he’s not such an underdog and stands up for himself – it probably why I like the movie Bug’s Life – lots of parallels. But I digress.

Alasandro via Wikimedia Commons

By Michelle Walz Eriksson, via Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately from here, things don’t go so well from there. Today, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. It was already the poorest in the Americas in 2010 when it was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that caused $7.8 billion in damages including destroying much of Port-au-Prince (the capital city). Now 80% of the population lives in poverty and over half of the countries annual budget is funded from outside of Haiti (in other words loans and foreign aid). Most Haitians don’t get enough to eat and the average caloric intake is 1,730 calories per day.

By Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock, USAF, via Wikimedia Commons

Many Haitians eat a vegetarian diet due to poverty and everyone eats rice. Coconuts, avocados, oranges, limes and mangos grow wild so they are staples of the Haitian diet. Haitian food is influenced by French traditions, but with more of a Creole flair – and Haitians like their food spicy. Pork and goat are the most common meats (mainly because those animals will eat anything, so they are cheap to raise), and riz et pois (rice and beans) is the national dish. Pretty much everyone eats rice and beans at least once every day. Haitians also make something called pikliz which is spicy pickled cabbage – pikliz is cheap to make and very flavorful and is served with fried meat (usually pork).

So, to create our Haitian burger, I took the ingredients that are readily available and put them together. I marinated my pork in citrus and jalapenos and let it sit all day to really absorb the flavors. I pickled my cabbage with habeneros and let it sit overnight so that it would pack a punch. And lastly, I cooked my rice (just like we did last week with Guyana) with coconut milk, beans and the ubiquitous Maggi cube. Top the whole thing off with some nice ripe avocado and I am a happy gal! This is one of the most flavorful meat treatments, similar to the depth of flavor achieved in the Dominica burger, marinating the meat in citrus and peppers really brought out the pork flavor and added complexity to a meat that can sometimes be bland. The rice was fantastic – I love cooking rice in coconut milk – and the Maggi cube added even more to the flavor, gave it that salty seasoned flavor that is why so many people around the world cook with Maggi. The cabbage was too sharp to eat on its own, but when you combined it with the creaminess of the rice and the fatty rich avocado, it was perfect. The dish overall wasn’t as spicy as I think it should have been to hit the authentic mark, but it was the perfect spice level for our taste – spicy enough to notice, but not so spicy Paul ends up sweating – as he says “food shouldn’t be painful”.

I think this burger would go best with a nice cold amber ale, but since I can’t drink beer I settled for a light-ish red blend that wouldn’t fight too much with the spice.

Buy some Haitian coffee or some clothes made in Haiti, help support the struggling Haitian economy and have a beer and a burger and enjoy.

Last note – this is one of the coolest looking burgers to date – that purple cabbage and green avocado are really striking together – so make this burger and wow your friends!

Haiti Burger
1 pound pork cubed (I used boneless pork chops)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Juice of 3 oranges – about ¾ cup
Juice of 7 limes – about ½ cup
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
1 shallot chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
Coconut Rice and Beans (recipe below)
1 avocado sliced
Pikliz (recipe below)

In a large glass bowl combine pork and next 8 ingredients (salt through jalapeno). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours (this isn’t an exact science but you want enough time for the flavors to get into the meat but not so much time that the citrus makes the pork tough – you can try less time, but I wouldn’t do more).

Grind the pork and form into four patties. Cook the patties until they reach an internal temperature of 155˚F, let them rest for about 5 minutes before serving if you want to get a more well done patty.

To serve put a generous scoop of Coconut Rice and Beans on each plate, then add the cooked patties, a couple of slices of avocado then a scoop of the Pikliz.

Pikliz
1 small head of purple cabbage sliced thin then chopped (you can use any cabbage, but the purple looks cool)
1 large carrot shredded
2 habanero peppers seeded and quartered
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar

Put all ingredients in a large zippered plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to serve, drain the excess liquid and remove the habaneros.

it really does look that bright!

Coconut Rice and Beans
1 cup long grain white rice
1 can small red beans (15.5 ounces) rinsed and drained
1 chicken flavored Maggi cube
1 can coconut milk (16 ounces)

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan (break up the Maggi cube as you put it in the pot). Bring to a boil then reduce to low and cook covered 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through.

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=963

Posted in "H" countries, burger recipes, caribbean recipes | 2 Comments

Israel burger recipe

Ireland burger recipe

Iraq burger recipe

Iran burger recipe

Indonesia burger recipe

India burger recipe

Iceland burger recipe

Hungary burger recipe

Honduras burger recipe

Haiti burger recipe

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