Democratic Republic of the Congo burger recipe

Posted on November 5, 2011 by linda

Tilapia Burger with Smashed Yams and Greens

According to the United Nations, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the lowest Human Development Index in the world, and the lowest Gross National Income per Capita in the world.  With a population of almost 70million, that’s a lot of people living in poverty.  This is despite the fact the DRC has, according to the CIA World Factbook, “vast potential wealth” in the form of huge mineral reserves.  The history of DRC involves lots of corruption and much upheaval.  The name alone changed 5 times in the 20th century.  The territory was name Belgian Congo in 1908 when the Belgians took over, then changed to Republic of Congo in 1960 when they gained independence from Belgium.  Unfortunately, their neighbor had chosen the same name, so that got confusing.  For a while it was Congo-Léopoldville, then Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, then back to Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997.  Since independence, there has been rampant government corruption, which is what most people blame the current economic situation on.  There’s also been fighting with neighbors, human trafficking, HIV/Aids and a number of other nasty infectious diseases, and, well, I think you get the picture…

What the Congolese lack in terms of the official economy, is offset somewhat by the fact that they live in a country with fertile soil and access to fresh water fish from the rivers.  While it is estimated by the World Food Programme that DRC has a food deficit around 30-40%, this is mainly due to human factors interfering with food production and distribution, rather than inhospitable geography or climate.  So, the food that is available is stretched and cooked in ways that maximize the ability to feed families.

Fufu is the most commonly eaten starch.  It’s basically cassava root boiled down and mashed, then rolled into balls and dipped in stews.  My local store didn’t have cassava, so I substituted white yams, which is another starch commonly, found in Africa.  I just made a simple mash but because the yams are a bit sweet, I cut them with a little bit of yogurt.  I doubt that a lot of yogurt is consumed in DRC but sometimes you’ve got to just go with the flavor rather than authenticity.

As for the protein, tilapia again seemed a good choice as an inexpensive fresh water fish.  By adding some millet flour and peppers, you can get five patties out of the mixture, or four really big patties.

Another great source of protein that doesn’t cost much is nuts.  I used pistachios, but you could use peanuts if you want a less pricey alternative.  If we were in the DRC, we would probably have a spicy vegetable stew, but we’ve done that for other African countries and I wanted something a little lighter to go with the fish.  So I took some greens, (I’m told Swiss chard tastes a like cassava greens) and some corn and kept the topping simple, allowing the palm oil flavor to do the heavy lifting.  Red palm oil is a unique flavor that is used extensively in African cooking.  You can order it online; just try to find it in a jar rather than a bottle.  The oil is a semi solid at room temperature, so when winter hits and the kitchen gets chilly, it’s really hard to get the oil out of a bottle.  Also, I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, the oil is very red and very staining – don’t wear white when cooking or eating anything prepared with it.  If you can’t get red palm oil, you can just use peanut oil, but you will lose a flavor component that doesn’t really have a substitute.

Overall we were pleasantly surprised that this dish had just an undertone of spice and overall tasted very fresh and light.  The sweetness of the corn was really nice with the red palm oil, and I was careful to keep the oil to a fairly small amount so that it wouldn’t weigh down the greens.  The fishcake was another successful combination with the nuttiness of the millet flour balanced by the tartness of the jalapenos.  Even the sweetness of the mashed yams somehow worked with the rest of the dish and it all pulled together.  I would say this is a great option for the warmer weather, it lacked the heartiness that I associate with cold weather food, but it definitely would be a good alternative in the spring or if you just love fish.

Thanks to my loyal readers for the tips on pistachios and tilapia and of course the wealth of information on millet.  The comments from African recipes have been some of the best, I am thrilled to have readers who know so much about the food continuing to follow and comment.  Enjoy the burger!

Democratic Republic of the Congo burger
1 pound tilapia fillets (or other white fish)
3 small jalapenos diced fine
1 large shallot diced fine
Juice of ½ a lemon
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
¼ cup millet flour
1 large egg lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons peanut oil
Mashed Yams (recipe below)
Sliced tomato
Chard Greens with Corm (recipe below)

Salt and pepper the fish fillets.  In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 Tablespoon of the peanut oil.  Add the fish fillets and cook over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes until cooked about half way through.  Turn the fish, add shallots and ½ of the chopped jalapeno and cook until fish is just done.  Remove and sprinkle with lemon juice.  Let fish cool.  Using a fork, break up the fish into flakes.  Add millet flour, the remaining jalapenos and salt to taste.  Add egg and mix evenly.  Divide into 4-5 portions and form patties.  Place the patties on plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat the remaining 1 Tablespoon of peanut oil until shimmering.  Add the fish cakes and cook until golden then turn and cook until heated through (2-3 minutes per side).

Place the cooked fish cakes on the Mashed Yams, add tomato slices to each then top with the Chard Greens with Corn.  Serve hot.

Mashed Yams
2 white yams (don’t use orange sweet potatoes, they are too sweet, you can substitute cassava or potato)
6 dried bird chilies (any hot chili can be substituted)
Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon Greek yogurt

Bring salted water to a boil.  Peel the yams and cut into chunks.  Add the yams to the boiling water along with the bird chilies.  Boil until fork tender.  Drain, mash, add salt and yogurt to taste.

Chard Greens with Corn
1 cup corn (fresh is great, but the season is over here, so frozen worked just fine, thaw the corn first if you use frozen)
Kosher salt
4 cups Swiss chard leaves chopped
¼ cup water
½ cup unsalted pistachios ground fine
1 Tablespoon red palm oil
Cayenne pepper to taste

In a medium skillet, heat the palm oil until melted and evenly distributed.  Add the corn and salt and cook over medium high until just heated through.  Add the chard leaves, cover and cook until wilted.  Add water and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.  Add the pistachio nuts and cayenne to taste.  Serve warm.

 

Democratic Republic of the Congo burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

 

 

 

Posted in african recipes, fish burgers | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea burger recipe

Posted on October 30, 2011 by linda

Bulgogi Burger with Cold Buckwheat Noodles, Asian Pears and Kimchi
Here’s an interesting note about the United Nations, they follow rules of alphabetizing that defy my ability to explain or understand.  If you’ve been paying attention, we’re tackling each country in the world in alphabetical order.  Rather than create my own list, the UN has an alphabetical list that I just printed out and use as my guide.  I was with them when they put Republic of the Congo in the Cs; I’m even following the logic when Democratic Republic of the Congo comes after Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Ds – makes sense.  But then I noticed that Republic of Korea is listed in the Rs, not the Ks!  Why?  Different rules for the Congos than the Koreas?  Well, it is what it is – I’m sticking with their list, just don’t complain to me if gets a little wacky.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

So without further ado, we plunge into the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (or North Korea as it is often called, and will be called here because it’s a lot easier to type).  North Korea is located in East Asia and borders Russia, China and South Korea (of course).  This is another totalitarian country where information is really tightly controlled, so much of what you find on the Internet is either state issued information or information posted by people who have take issue with the current regime.  So rather than get into any political controversy, I’m going to focus on food.  Even talking just about food though, there is controversy.  North Korea suffers from chronic food shortages and the people of the country depend on food aide from US, South Korea and China.  Both the US and South Korea have cut food aide since 2008 because of North Korean pursuit of nuclear weapons and because of suspicions that the North Koreans have withheld the food from their people.  The UN has estimated that over 6 million North Koreans urgently need food aide and that a third of the children under 5 are malnourished.

Until the end of World War II, Korea was one country (although the Japanese had annexed it in 1910).  At the end of the war, the Soviets and Americans decided to split the country in half with the Northern half under Soviet control and the Southern half allied with the US.  Which has been pretty much a disaster as you might expect, both sides warring with the other and claiming the whole peninsula as their own.  And that brings us to today, people starving, weapons looming, armed guards at the border, what a mess.

With that being said, let’s talk about the cuisine.  North Korean food is very similar to South Korean food.  Both love garlic and kimchi and bulgogi (Korean barbeque).  Apparently in the North they also enjoy cold buckwheat noodles while in the south they prefer rice (this was randomly mentioned on a few sites, both countries eat both starches, it’s just that the northerners like the noodles a little more than southerners.  This of course sent me in search of buckwheat noodles.  I could only find soba noodles in my local grocers, most of the pictures I saw had a wider noodle (like linguini), but you go with what you have.  I don’t love the cold noodles (and they are traditionally served very cold, not just room temperature), so next time I make this for my family I’ll either use a bun or rice, but I am including the recipe so that you can try them yourselves and be the judges.

I had a problem as I was shopping for my ingredients, I could only find mild kimchi.  Kimchi is fermented cabbage and/or other vegetables.  I think the best kimchi bubbles a little when you open the jar, as the fermentation is so intense.  But I also think the best kimchi is spicy.  I find the blander kimchi kind of boring and really wished for some more flavor, so I kept the balance of kimchi in the dish light.  The good news is that the milder flavor is more in keeping with North Korean tastes, while the South Koreans like the hot stuff.  Use the Kimchi as a topping, add as much or as little as you like.

Koreans enjoy the mixture of hot and cold, sweet and savory, spicy and sweet in their food.  This helps explain the cold noodles.  It’s also why I included Asian pears and cucumber on top of the burger – it adds a nice crisp clean flavor to the sweet and lightly spicy burger and bbq sauce.

Bulgogi is common in both North and South Korea (although it tends to have a little more spice in the south).  It’s basically a marinade for meat that gives a sweet salty deliciousness to whatever you marinade.  The challenge is that ground beef doesn’t marinade well, it ends up too wet and falls apart when you try to cook it.  Which is my way of saying, please; grind your own meat for this burger.  I swear you can do it in your regular food processor, but if you have a KitchenAide mixer, just buy the meat grinding attachment, it will change your point of view on what makes a fresh burger.  I paid around $40 for mine and it is easy to use and opens up new possibilities for burger flavors.  I did try the recipe just making the sauce, cooking it down a bit and adding it into ground beef – it was ok, but the thing with Korean BBQ is that the flavor is supposed to infuse the meat, and this technique fell far short of that.

So invest a small amount of cash and a little time, the flavor is sweet and just a little spicy and perfect any time of the year.  One note, the marinade will caramelize when you cook the burger, so don’t worry, the burger isn’t burned, it just turns darker than a plain beef burger does.  I made extra of the sauce of plan to marinate some steak tips and cook them on the grill if we can get any warm days in New England any time soon.

Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea burger
1 Asian pear
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup soy sauce
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons mirin
4 scallions sliced
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
1 pound chuck steak cubed
8 ounces of dry buckwheat noodles
2 Tablespoons kimchi brine
2 Tablespoons chicken broth
2 Tablespoons beef broth
Kimchi
1 Asian pear sliced thin
½ English cucumber sliced thin
Cooked down marinade
Sliced scallions

In a large glass bowl, grate Asian pear (using the fine side of the grater).  Add the next seven ingredients to the pear and stir until combined.  Add cubed beef into the marinade and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or overnight.  Remove the meat from the marinade (save the marinade) blotting the excess sauce.  Grind the meat using the fine attachment for the meat grinder.  Form four patties from the meat and grill to desired temperature.

Meanwhile transfer the marinade to a small saucepan, bring to a boil and continue shimmering for 10-15 minutes over medium heat.  Use either hot or room temperature.

In a large saucepan, cook the noodles per the package instructions.  Rinse the noodles under cold water until the noodles are completely cool.  Mix the kimchi brine and the chicken and beef broth in a small bowl.  Portion the noodles into four portions.  Pour some of the broth mixture over each portion of noodles.  Layer some kimchi on the noodles, then the burger, Asian pear, cucumber, cooked down marinade and top with sliced scallion.

Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

 

Posted in asian recipes, beef burgers | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Czech Republic burger recipe

Posted on October 26, 2011 by linda

Mustard infused burgers with Fried Cheese and Drunken Sauerkraut on Potato Pancake

Finally, the last of the Cs!  We have arrived at the Czech Republic.  Located in Central Europe and surrounded by Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Poland.  When I was growing up it was Czechoslovakia and was a communist state.  Amazingly, the communists were overthrown and the country split in two without much if any violence!  The first event (nicknamed the Velvet Revolution) happened in 1989, the second in 1993.  Since the fall of the communists, it’s been trendy for Americans to vacation in Prague; unfortunately I’ve never been trendy and haven’t had the pleasure.  My friends tell me it’s an amazing place to visit, culturally rich but also vibrant and fun.  Today, the Czech Republic is a relatively prosperous country, a member of the EU and produces a lot of goods for export around Europe.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

And as for the food?  Fortunately, the weather in New England has turned cold and the air is brisk with late autumn chill because Czech food is rich and heavy and perfect for a cool October evening.  Czech food is pretty typical of the regional flavors, meats, cheeses and, of course, potatoes.  Czechs also love sausage (who doesn’t really) and beer.  Czechs make a lot of beer, they drink a lot of beer and they export a lot of beer.  For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that I am allergic to beer (throat closing, medical intervention required-type allergy).  But, because I am dedicated, I popped a Benadryl and hoped for the best.  And, I didn’t die!  I went light on the sauerkraut topping for my burger (which made me sad), but I did try it and it was worth a little antihistamine grogginess.

My local liquor store sells Czech beer, so I was able to bring the authentic flavor of a dark Czech Krusovice Cerne into the dish.  If you can’t get Czech beer you could use any medium dark or amber beer.  Despite the color of the Krusovice, it was lighter in flavor than the stouts that my husband likes and reminded me of the amber Spaten that I used to drink in college (I didn’t develop the allergy until I was 25).

I used the classic Polish Kielbasa (no Czech sausage at my local grocer), but you could use any German or Polish sausage that you like (avoid the spicy styles of Mexico and Portugal and the sweet Italian sausage – you want a more Germanic flavor for this dish).  And then there’s the cheese.  Two countries in a row with fried cheese – my oh my!  The Czechs like to bread their cheese and fry it vs. using a non-melting cheese like the Cypriots.  I tried this (stupidly) with Camembert (cause I read that Czechs eat Camembert).  It was hilarious, Camembert dissolves in about a minute under high heat – my pan became a sticky mess, so time to try something else.  Switching to Edam did the trick, but you still want to cook this quickly to avoid a mess.

As for the meat, good old beef with a healthy helping of course mustard made this a really moist and flavorful burger.  The mustard does caramelize a bit, hence the darkness of the burger – don’t worry, it isn’t burnt.  In addition to adding mustard, I read many references to Czechs using tarter sauce as a condiment with a variety of dishes.  I just couldn’t reconcile tartar sauce with the other flavors, so I cheated and made a horseradish mayonnaise that probably bears no resemblance to the traditional Czech tartar sauce.  Feel free to substitute tartar sauce for a more authentic experience, but don’t hold me responsible for the end results 🙂

And lastly, we had to bring in potato and frankly I love a potato pancake.  I did this one a little differently and course grated the potato so you get a more textured pancake.  Note:  as we get more recipes from some regions, you’re going to see similarities – makes sense – but I do try to get variety in the mix.  If you liked the Belarus burger, you will probably like the Czech burger.  Everyone in my family did.  End result is a rich and hearty burger – the flavor of mustard permeates (in a good way) and balances out the smoky sausage and rich cheese and the potato pancakes are the perfect compliment to the sharp sauerkraut and the tangy horseradish sauce.  We served with more Czech beer of course (I drank a nice Syrah myself).  This one will warm you up and fill your belly.

If you like this burger (and who wouldn’t?), you will undoubtably also enjoy the German Burger – another hearty burger with sausage and sauerkraut perfect for a cold day or a hungry family, or both!

Czech Republic Burger
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 Tablespoon course ground mustard
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 Potato Pancakes (recipe below)
Fried Cheese (recipe below)
Drunken Sauerkraut (recipe below)
Horseradish Sauce (recipe below)

In a glass bowl, mix the ground beef with the paprika, mustard and salt.  Let sit for 30 minutes until meat is room temperature.  Form into four patties.  Grill to desired temperature.  Serve on a Potato Pancake with 1-2 slices of Fried Cheese, a scoop of Drunken Sauerkraut and a dollop of Horseradish Sauce.

Potato Pancakes
4 Yukon Gold potatoes
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Vegetable oil

Grate the potatoes using the coarse side of the grater.  Mix all ingredients together.  Cover the bottom of a large non-stick pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil.  Heat until a small piece of bread dropped in the oil bubbles vigorously.  Scoop the potato mixture into the hot oil in four portions.  Flatten the potato mixture and cook in the hot oil over medium/high heat until golden then flip and cook the other side.

Be careful not to have the oil too hot, as you want the potatoes to cook through completely without burning the outside.  When potatoes are warm through and golden, remove onto paper towels and blot the excess oil.  Serve warm.

Note: depending on the size of the potatoes, you may need more or fewer potatoes, use your judgment and grate enough to make four burger sized pancakes.  Also note:  I have no idea why I didn’t photograph the pancakes after I flipped them, blame it on the Benadryl 🙂

Fried Cheese
½ cup panko or fine ground bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon dried marjoram
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup heavy cream
1 egg
Edam cheese sliced
Olive oil

Mix together the dry ingredients.  In another bowl, lightly beat the egg and cream together.  Dip the slices of cheese into the wet mixture then pat them into the dry mixture making sure to get the bread crumbs on both sides.  In a large non-stick pan, heat olive oil until shimmering.  Add the cheese and cook over high heat for 1-2 minutes until breading is golden, turn cheese (carefully) and cook for another minute.  Remove from heat and serve warm.

Drunken Sauerkraut
1 14.4 ounce can of sauerkraut
1 cup dark beer
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
2½ ounces kielbasa diced

In a medium saucepan, bring the sauerkraut and beer to a boil, and then simmer for 15 minutes over medium heat.  Add the brown sugar and sausage and cook for another 15 minutes until everything is heated through.  Taste to adjust seasoning

Horseradish Sauce
½ cup mayonnaise
1½ teaspoon cream style horseradish
½ teaspoon white wine vinegar
Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients and adjust flavor to taste.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

 

Czech Republic burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

 

Posted in beef burgers, european recipes | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Cypriot burger recipe

Posted on October 21, 2011 by linda

Coriander Spiced Pork Burger with Fried Halloumi Cheese and Tzatziki

Staying with the island theme, we move on to Cyprus, an island nation in the Mediterranean.  Based on Google® images, wow, what a beautiful place.  Another one for my fantasy vacation list!  Cyprus was a British colony until 1960.  The people of Cyprus are primarily Greek 77% and Turkish 18%.  These two groups have not coexisted peacefully over the years.  In fact there is a Turkish enclave that has declared itself independent (after some fighting) in 1983.  They call themselves the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and are not recognized by any international body except Turkey.  The island was accepted into the EU in 2004, including any Turks that can prove Cypriot citizenship.  The UN has been trying to get the Turkish and Greek Cypriots to unite for years.  Talks are still ongoing but from what I can tell, violence seems to have subsided.  Yeah – definitely on the fantasy vacation list! (on the map it’s that little dot in the far right hand corner that is vaguely orange and yellow)

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

I have to apologize to the Muslim minority of Cyprus; I decided to go with pork for this burger based on the dominant flavors of Cypriot food.  And, the Greek majority does seem to love pork.  Another thing they love is cheese, all sorts of cheese.  In particular, the good people of Cyprus created a cheese that can be fried and doesn’t melt.  If you’ve been to Greek restaurants in the US, they make a dish called flaming saganaki where they throw ouzo on the fried cheese and light it on fire – yell “Opa”! Then put out the fire with lemon juice.  It’s a little slice of heaven.  Halloumi is one of the cheeses can be used for saganaki.  I couldn’t resist frying me some cheese, but I did resist lighting it on fire.

So, with a nicely seasoned pork patty and an irresistible fried cheese, we just needed something to lighten the dish up a bit.  Enter the tzatziki, a Greek inspired dish made with yogurt, garlic and cucumber.  I added a kalamata olive bread just to give it some extra punch and overall the effect was bright flavors layered over a rich and creamy base.  I went a little crazy on this one and tried grinding my own pork mixture for the burger – it turned out great, but I also made a version with the regular ground pork that you get at the store.  The family couldn’t agree which was better – they were really similar with a slightly meatier taste to the fresh ground and a stronger coriander flavor in the store ground version – both worked well with the toppings, so I’ll give you both recipes and you can decided based on how adventurous you feel or how much time you have.  If you don’t grind your own, this is one of the easier burgers to make, it’s perfect any time of the year, so enjoy!

Cyprus burger (fresh ground)
¾ cup Cabernet
¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ pound boneless pork loin cubed
½ pound boneless pork butt cubed

Combine the first five ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat until boiling.  Remove from heat then cool until tepid.  In a glass dish combine pork and wine mixture, cover and refrigerate 4-5 hours.  Drain off excess liquid then grind the pork in a meat grinder (you want the coriander and garlic pieces in there too).  Form four patties from the meat and grill in an oiled non-stick skillet until cooked through.  Top the burger per the recipe below.

Cyprus burger (store ground pork)
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 slices olive bread or French bread
Olive oil
Fresh spinach
Sliced tomato
Tzatziki (recipe below)
Fried Halloumi (recipe below)

Mix pork, coriander and salt then form into four patties.  Lightly oil a non-stick pan and grill each slice of bread on one side.  In same pan cook the pork patties until cooked through.  On four slices of bread layer enough spinach to cover the bread, then add two tomato slices.  Next comes the cooked patties, then the Tzatziki then the Fired Halloumi.  Top with the final slices of grilled bread.

Tzatziki
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
5-6 cloves garlic crushed and minced
½ cup grated English cucumber drained
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Zest of one lemon

Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and refrigerate for at least a half hour before using (the longer it sits the more the garlic flavor will come forward).

Fried Halloumi
4 slices of Halloumi cheese (about ¼ inch thick)
Flour
Olive oil
Fresh lemon juice

Dredge the Halloumi slices in flour (coat both sides).  Heat enough olive oil to cover the pan to about ¼ inch deep until shimmering.  Carefully place the cheese in the hot oil and fry until golden, then turn and fry the other side.  Remove from oil and place on paper towel to drain. Squeeze fresh lemon juice on each slice.  Serve hot.

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

 

Cypriot burger recipe

Posted in european recipes, pork burgers | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Cuban burger recipe

Posted on October 19, 2011 by linda

Fritas (sliders) with Shoestring Potatoes, Spiced Ketchup and Mojo Dipping Sauce

The Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean.  The Cuban Communist Party took over the country in 1959 and things haven’t been great between Cuba and the US ever since (don’t you love my flair for understatement?).  So, as an American, I think I should probably keep my commentary on Cuba to a minimum.  Even the “facts” that the Cuban government reports aren’t entirely believed by the US government, so let’s not get too diverted by politics.  We do know that there are around 11 million people living on an area a little smaller than Pennsylvania.  And, Cubans make some really yummy food.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

We have a robust Cuban population living in the US, so it is easy to come by great Cuban food in the US.  Of course once you start looking at Cuban food, you immediately hear about the Cuban sandwich.  The Cuban sandwich is a pulled pork sandwich with ham, Swiss cheese and a mustard and mayonnaise mixture.  A bunch of chefs have taken these ingredients and piled them on a burger and called it a Cuban burger, but that just sounded kind of boring to me.  This is a richly diverse country with flavor influences from Spain, Africa and the Caribbean – seems like we can do better than a ham sandwich.

Further research uncovered an actual burger that was created by Cubans and is considered the burger of Cuba.  It’s actually a slider vs. a big old burger.  In keeping with my rule of thumb, I had to try making this burger.  I also created a unique burger that incorporated the flavors of Cuba – so we had a wonderful burgerpalooza.  My original recipe was for a pork burger with chorizo, mojo sauce, tomato, avocado – it was really delicious.  But, as so often happens, the burger that the people regularly eat won out.  Fritas are typically seasoned beef with ketchup and potato strings. Apparently some of the younger generation put cheese on the sliders, but they don’t need it.  I added the mojo sauce for dipping as it was yummy and worked well with the flavors, but that’s strictly optional.  You can use regular ketchup, but the seasoned ketchup adds a great flavor to the burger (and lots of little burger places have their own secret sauce, this is mine).  The shoestring potatoes are excellent – make extra and eat them on the side.  You can use the canned type, but they are a poor substitute – if you use those, you might as well use potato chips, no real difference.  Please, please, try making the homemade version, you won’t regret it and they aren’t that hard to make, the hardest part is cutting them so small, the rest is simple.

At the end of the day, you get sliders that are packed with flavor, a little greasy and totally crave worthy – enjoy!

Cuban burger (makes 8-10 sliders)
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion ground in food processor
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 egg
8 slider buns or dinner rolls
Spiced Ketchup (recipe below)
Potato Strings (recipe below)
Mojo Sauce (recipe below)

Mix first four ingredients until well combined.  Place the mixture int he refrigerator and let the flavors meld together for about an hour.  Portion meat mixture into eight portions and roll each into a small ball.  Heat a large non-stick grill or non-stick skillet. Place the balls of meat in the hot pans them smash the meat down into a flat, thin patty.  Grill until cooked through.

meat and breadcrumb mixture

Grill the buns lightly.  Place the patties on the buns; add the Spiced Ketchup and Potato Strings.  Serve with the Mojo Sauce on the side.

Spiced Ketchup
½ cup ketchup (I use Heinz)
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon white wine vinegar

Put all ingredients in a small sauce pan.  Heat through until bubbling.  Remove from heat and cool a little, then refrigerate until ready to use.

Potato Strings
4 Yukon gold potatoes
Peanut oil
Kosher salt

Clean the potatoes then cut into strips as thin as you can.  I used a mandoline to slice the potatoes first then a sharp knife to cut the slices into strips.  You can also use a julienne attachment on a mandoline if you have one (I don’t).  Pour enough peanut oil to cover a medium sauté pan to about 1 inch depth.  Heat over medium high heat until a potato string dipped in the oil bubble.  Put a handful or two of potato strings into the hot oil (don’t overcrowd the pan as you will cool the oil and end up with soggy strings if you do).  Using tongs gently toss the strings so that they don’t stick together and they cook evenly.  When strings are golden remove from oil and place on paper towel to drain.  Lightly salt the hot potato strings.  These are best if used hot, but if they cool down a bit they’re still good.  The strings should be crispy and more like a potato chip than a French fry.

Mojo Sauce
6 sour oranges juiced – about ⅔ cup (you can substitute limes and ½ an orange)
8 cloves of garlic crushed
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ cup olive oil

Put all ingredients except the oil in a food processor and pulse until thoroughly chopped and combined.  Drizzle in the olive oil as the processor is running to create an emulsification.  Refrigerate for at least an hour until ready to use.  Note: you may be able to find commercially bottled Mojo sauce in the Latin section of your market – I found the bottled version terrible, it tasted of dried herbs and just wasn’t inspiring at all – the home made version is easy to make, so don’t go with the substitute.  Final Note: sour oranges can sometimes be found in the Latin section of your produce department (if you’re lucky enough to have such a thing).  They have very little juice and are very bitter.  You can use about the same number of limes as a substitute and a little bit of orange juice if you want to get the orange overtone, but don’t use just regular oranges alone, they are far too sweet.

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

Cuban burger recipe

 

 

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Croatian burger recipe

Posted on October 14, 2011 by linda

Burger with prosciutto, chanterelles and black plum and Zinfandel sauce

So I admit that I didn’t do a ton of research on the history of Croatia.  This isn’t because I’m lazy, it’s because my story for Croatia is more personal.  In 1911, Barbara and Josef Brozic made their way out of Croatia and to the US.  They were only 20 years old but already had one child that had died shortly after his birth and another child in tow.  The reason they left is lost with history and language barriers (Barbara never learned to speak English very well and Josef suffered from strokes when he was older that left him unable to speak clearly in any language), but we do know that they settled in Pittsburg where my grandmother was born in 1916.

My Great Grandparents, Great Uncle and Grandma (she's the one with the bow)

My Great Grandparents, Great Uncle and Grandma (she’s the one with the bow)

Barbara and Josef were my great grandparents, Grammy and Deda for all the years that I knew them (Deda is Croatian for grandpa).  At some point, Grammy and Deda relocated to Michigan, to a really nice Croatian neighborhood in Detroit.  Even though Croatia didn’t exist as it’s own country back then, I always knew my family was Croatian, not Yugoslavian.  I guess that should have been a clue that Yugoslavia wouldn’t last, but let’s get back to the Brozics.

Grammy and Deda

Grammy and Deda

We used to visit my great grandparents on holidays, we would bring a bottle of Hennessy and sit in their very uncluttered and clean living room and my sister and I would try to be quiet and good.  Funny story about the Hennessy, never, not once, was the bottle opened when we arrived, it was put away in the china cabinet and out would come a bottle of cheap brandy that my parents would be forced to sip (both my parents hate cognac).  Grammy would take my mom to the kitchen and would pour her an extra shot – “don’t worry, Mike doesn’t need to know” – wink, wink.  My aunt was smart and threw up the first time she downed a shot with Grammy – she never had to endure the cheap booze again.  Mom was not so smart – she slugged it down and was rewarded with yet another drink 🙂

This was pretty lost on me as a kid (I was around 7 when my great grandparents died, so I was really young when we were visiting).  What I remember is the red glass bowl that Grammy had on her coffee table.  In a house with no toys and very little color, this red bowl was a little miracle.  It was filled with M&Ms!  And it was a big bowl (or seemed it to me at the time).  My mother would tell us to just take a couple, but while she was off drinking in the kitchen we could usually sneak a few handfuls, quite the treat.

Then there were the baked goods.  Grammy could BAKE.  To this day I have never been able to duplicate her skill or her recipes.  Her orasnica (walnut roll) was the most amazing pastry, her kuglov (sweet bread with raisins) was the best raisin bread I’ve ever had.  My mother once watched her make strudel – she rolled the dough out the length of her large dining room table until it was so thin that you could see through it.  She would take all day to bake these goodies and we would devour them.  Alas, her recipes have been lost over the years – they were in Croatian and we always meant to have them translated, but somehow never got around to it and all of us have moved too often, and they’ve disappeared.  We do have an old cookbook of hers (in English) that must have been written by a friend of hers (as it is autographed), but I’ve tried the recipes in this book and the taste isn’t quite right – that could be my skill as a baker though, hard to tell.

So, I am a full ¼ Croatian and yet when I got to Croatia I realized that I had no idea what they eat (other than pastries of course).  I’m sure Grammy cooked us dinner many times, but my child’s brain can’t remember past the sweets and my parents were too traumatized by the booze, so they were no help.  So back to old fashioned Internet research.  It turns out Croatians love food!

Surrounded by Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Montenegro and not far from Greece and Italy, all with rich culinary traditions, the Croats have embraced gourmet cooking and upscale ingredients.  It doesn’t hurt that white truffles are native to the countryside, that’s a pretty good start to fine dining.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

What Croats especially like is fresh, seasonal ingredients – so, rather than eat the same foods all the time, the menus generally change with the seasons.  They love their ham, olives, cheese, and of course mushrooms.  Frankly, this recipe just writes itself.  Amazingly, my local Whole Foods carries a Croatian cheese called mitica paski sir, at the crazy price of $26.99/lb!  I, of course, couldn’t resist.  I also bought an Italian taleggio, just in case the expensive Croatian cheese didn’t work out.  Turns out this was a good choice.  The Croat cheese wasn’t my favorite (and the family agreed) – it was like a really sharp and nutty Parmesan and it didn’t go well with the beef or the mushrooms.  So I recommend the taleggio or any other good quality cheese you like (taleggio is kind of a stinky cheese, so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea – dad gave it a pass, but he really doesn’t like cheese, let alone stinky cheese).

Because I couldn’t find a Croatian ham or salami, we tried Italian versions of both and the clear winner was prosciutto di parma.  I personally am fine with substituting a cheaper American prosciutto, after all this is a burger topping so some of the subtlety of flavor is lost, but it seemed in spirit with my ancestors to go for the good stuff.

If Whole Foods carried white truffles I would have jumped at the excuse to experiment with this precious ingredient, but alas, all they could offer was truffle oil or pieces of truffle in oil – that didn’t inspire me, so I jumped over to the chanterelles.  I LOVE chanterelles!  They went perfectly with the prosciutto and the cheese, I only wish I had more so I could munch on some right now.

Lastly I wanted to add a seasonal element and a little brightness to balance out the heaviness of the burger.  Black plums happen to be in season and I had noticed a couple of mentions of plums in Croatian recipes, so I bought way too many plums and cooked up a vat of sauce.  I’ve cut the recipe down for you, but it still will make a lot.  I’m not sure you can cut it down any further as the recipe relies on the flavor of the plums to develop while cooking down slowly, any fewer plums and I fear you’d end up burning the sauce before you got enough flavor.  I used Zinfandel to flavor the sauce as my husband (the wine geek) informs me that some other wine geek has proven that Croatian Crljenak Kastelanski grape is the genetic ancestor of Zinfandel – no wonder Zin is my favorite red, my ancestors were probably drinking it over 100 years ago!

We served the burgers with the rest of the Zin and it was a perfect compliment.  This makes for a rich and delicious burger.  The salty ham and the sharp cheese with the woody mushrooms are heaven and the plum sauce gives just a hint of sweet that breaks up the richness perfectly.  A great burger for a cool autumn evening or even a cold winter’s night – enjoy and tip your glass in a toast to Grammy and Deda.

Croatian burger
1 pound ground beef (this would be a great burger to grind your own meat)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sharp paprika
½ teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
4 slices prosciutto di parma
2 teaspoons olive oil
1¾ cup chopped chanterelle mushrooms
3 ounces taleggio or other high quality cheese
Fresh spinach
Black plum sauce (recipe below)
4 brioche rolls – get a good quality roll, don’t use a standard bun, these ingredients deserve more

Mix beef with salt, paprika and thyme and form four patties.  In a large skillet heat a splash of olive oil until shimmering then add the prosciutto and cook over medium heat just until heated through and lightly browned.  Remove the prosciutto and set aside.  In the same skillet, add a splash more olive oil then add the chanterelles and lightly salt.  Cook over medium high stirring regularly until just beginning to soften.

In the meantime, cook your burgers either on the grill or on an indoor grill pan.  Add the cheese to the burgers about one minute before they’re done to melt it.  You can grill your buns in the same pan with a little olive oil.

Assemble the burgers – bottom bun, spinach, prosciutto, cooked patty, plum sauce and chanterelles.  Then finish it off with the top bun.

Black Plum Sauce
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ small red onion roughly chopped
4 black plums, pitted and roughly chopped
¼ cup Zinfandel red wine
½ teaspoon red wine vinegar

In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the onions and cook until just beginning to soften.  Add the plums and wine bring to a simmer then cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes.  Uncover and continue to cook for 60-90 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Taste and add vinegar if it needs it (this will depend on the sweetness of the plums). Let the sauce cool slightly then pulse in a food processor until smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to use (can be used cold or room temperature).

 

Croatian burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

BH&T CROATIA BURGER

 

 

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Cote d’Ivoire burger recipe

Posted on October 10, 2011 by linda

Chicken Burger with Pili Pili Mayonnaise, Tomato and Okra Stew and Fried Plantain
This is our last African stop within the “Cs” and it’s amazing.  First things first Cote d’Ivoire is located on the Western coast of Africa.  It’s surrounded by Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The Europeans were attracted to the country and it’s ivory and gold.  The French took control of Cote d’Ivoire in the 1800’s.  French is still the official language of Ivoirians.  Cote d’Ivoire became independent in 1960 and enjoyed relative prosperity and stability within the region.

Unfortunately, that kind of fell apart with a coup in 1999, popular uprisings, north vs. south conflict, etc…  This one even made the international news recently with many fearing the country would be torn apart.  As recently as April of 2011, the UN and France had to intervene to help remove President Gbagbo, who lost the election last November but refused to step down.  With one government now in place, let’s hope that Cote d’Ivoire can get back to peace and prosperity.

The food of Ivoirians is similar to what we’ve seen throughout Africa; the biggest difference is that they seem to enjoy a larger variety of foods and flavors than some of their less (at least historically) prosperous neighbors.  I was especially intrigued by kedjenou, which is a favorite local chicken dish – kind of a stew, but with very little liquid so that the vegetables get cooked down and concentrated in flavor.  I thought it would make an interesting relish-like topping for a burger, and it does!  Great concentrated flavor of tomato, onion, chicken and chili peppers, all it takes is time, the prep is easy.  If you really don’t like okra, you can substitute eggplant, but really, okra is yummy, don’t be afraid of it.

What really makes this burger though is the Pili Pili Mayonnaise.  I am now in love with this sauce.  You may have noticed that I’m a fan of mayonnaise generally, well, even if you aren’t you’ve got to give this a try.  I ended up eating potato chips dipped in the leftover sauce after everyone else went to bed.  Don’t judge, it really is an irresistible sauce.  You can dial up or down the heat with the pepper choice – most recipes call for habenero, but I used jalapeno to get something a little less challenging.  There are innumerable recipes for pili pili sauce (although narrowing down to Cote d’Ivoire as an origin for the recipe limited my options).  I could only find two though that trace back to Cote d’Ivoire.  It was from The African Cookbook by Jessica B. Harris that I got the idea to add horseradish.  I love horseradish and thought it would add a new kind of a kick that would be a little different than some of the other recipes I’ve created for this part of the world.  It was a great addition and gave a zing that was perfectly balanced by the creamy avocado and sweet plantains – combined with the savory chicken and the rich stew flavors and I was shocked at how good this burger was – I hope you will be too!

Cote d’Ivoire burger
1 pound ground chicken
1 clove of garlic minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons peanut oil
4 Plantain Cakes (recipe below)
1 Avocado
Kedjenou Sauce (recipe below)
Pili Pili Mayonnaise

Combine chicken, garlic, salt and pepper and mix until combined.  Form four patties.  In a large non-stick skillet, heat peanut oil until shimmering.  Add the patties to the oil and cook over medium heat until cooked through (I use a digital thermometer just to be sure I don’t end up serving raw chicken).  Mash the avocado then place ¼ of the avocado on each of the Plantain Cakes.  Place the cooked chicken patties on the avocado then top with Kedjenou Sauce and a generous helping of the Pili Pili Mayonnaise.

Plantain Cakes
2-3 yellow plantains
peanut oil
kosher salt

Chop plantains roughly and pulse quickly in a food processor.  You want a chunky mixture, don’t over process or you’ll end up with a porridge like consistency and the cakes will be a sticky mess.  Heat enough peanut oil to cover the bottom of a large non-stick skillet until shimmering.  Form 4 patties from the mixture and place them on four pieces of wax paper.  Invert the wax paper and peel the patties down into the hot oil (it sounds harder than it is – you can also just take a scoop of plantain and plop in the oil then flatten it out – whichever you prefer).  Cook until lightly browned then flip.  Lightly salt the cooked sides.  Place on paper towel to drain a little of the oil left until you are ready to plate – these can be served hot or room temperature.

Kedjenou Sauce
½ pound chicken wings (about 8 wings)
1 medium onion chopped
2 tomatoes seeded and coarsely chopped
2 slices of habenero pepper diced (use the whole pepper if you’re brave!)
1 garlic clove minced
½ inch fresh ginger peeled and grated
5 okra sliced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black papper

Place all ingredients in a large sauce pan and cover tightly (I wrapped my pot in aluminum foil to try to get it more air tight).  The idea is to cook the dish in it’s own juices and not let any of the steam escape.

Bring the pot to a simmer over medium high heat (go by the sound, don’t lift up the lid, when you hear it bubbling, trust yourself that it’s simmering).  Reduce heat to med/low and cook for an hour.  Most of the traditional recipes say to shake the pot periodically to keep ingredients from sticking – I didn’t find this necessary and it tended to let steam escape, so I say skip it.

After one hour, remove the chicken and the bay leaf and discard.  Use the sauce hot while it’s warm.

Pili Pili Sauce
1 tomato coarsely chopped
3 jalapenos seeded and coarsely chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
juice of 1 lemon
½ cup Italian parsley chopped
¼ cup peanut oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped and thoroughly mixed.  This makes way too much sauce, but you can use the extra as a salsa, it’s delicious.

Pili Pili Mayonnaise
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup Pili Pili Sauce
½ teaspoon horseradish

Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and adjust to taste.  Refrigerate until ready to use (at least an hour).

Cote d’Ivoire burger recipe

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

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Costa Rican burger recipe

Posted on October 6, 2011 by linda

Lizano® seasoned burger with grilled onions and Napa cabbage

We are really on a roll now, flying back and forth across the oceans – our next stop is Costa Rica.  The Republic of Costa Rica is located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The over 4.5 million Costa Ricans enjoy relative economic stability and high literacy/education levels.  Before the world economic crisis (or what I like to call the plummeting of my retirement account), Costa Rica was doing well and had nice solid year on year growth in their economy.  Things are still pretty good, just not as good (sounds kind of familiar).

The best part about Costa Rica is that there are great food traditions on which we can build a yummy burger.  I couldn’t find any quintessentially Costa Rican burger, so we’re on our own to create something from scratch.  What I did find was a new condiment – and one that I will come back to again and again (especially since it comes in a bottle – no cooking!  Easy peasy!).

According to my sources, no table in Costa Rica would be complete without a bottle of Lizano® Salsa.  How to describe this sauce?  The ingredients are written in Spanish, so I can’t tell you exactly what is in it, but there is a flavor of cooked vegetables, vinegar, cumin and a little spicy undertone.  This doesn’t come close to explaining what this sauce does to beef.  I know many of you are fans of Worcestershire sauce in your burger – well, Lizano® will convert you to an all new flavor experience.  The flavor is deeper, richer and more interesting and really transformed what seems like otherwise a pretty simple burger.  I couldn’t find Lizano® in my local grocery store, but it is available online (thank goodness for the Internet), and well worth paying for the shipping (I had to overnight mine to keep to my schedule, no buyers remorse here).

I’m sure I am going to here from a few purists that you can’t really may Costa Rican food without making black beans and rice.  It is a staple and eaten throughout the day.  But we’ve done black beans on our Brazil burger and I wanted to try something different here.  So we start with Lizano® as our inspiration, add some grilled onions (I found several references to grilled onions being a popular topping for burgers and sandwiches), then add a little cabbage – wait a minute, cabbage?  Cabbage and tomatoes are a common combo for salads that are served with many meals in Costa Rica – Costa Ricans like to eat pretty balanced meals, a little meat, a little starch and some veggies – so I thought I’d try cabbage as a replacement for lettuce on this burger.  Because cabbage can be a little tough, I pickled the cabbage lightly in white wine vinegar.  At the end of the day, the texture of the cabbage was nice, but if you aren’t planning on making a cabbage based dish, just substitute a bib lettuce or something like that.  I love Napa Cabbage, but the heads are HUGE!  Luckily this burger goes really well with cole slaw, so no cabbage was wasted in the making of this recipe.

Cheese again was really difficult to get a good read on.  The only cheese I could find in my research was Queso Fresco – so I bought some and crumbled it into the burger.  We tried it both with the cheese and without and found the cheese added nothing special to the burger, so I’m leaving it out of the final recipe.

For the bread I stuck with a standard hamburger bun – this burger is really juicy and it doesn’t need a big heavy bun or anything fancy.  I did intend to fry some plantains as a side dish, but instead I served Congo burgers the same night as Costa Rican burgers (because I had fallen behind – can’t let that happen).  I don’t recommend serving the two burgers together – they were both good, but not very complimentary.  It was too crazy trying to do two burgers and cole slaw in one night, no time to fry plantains, but if you want to fry some up, just keep it simple with really hot peanut oil and salt, nothing fancy needed.  Fried plantains would also be great with the Lizano® mayo, maybe we’ll give that a try this weekend…

This burger ends up in the crave-worthy category (I always know it’s a home run when my husband hovers as I’m making the photo burger in order to eat the sample after – which should reassure you that my photos are real burgers, not inedible creations that just look pretty).  The seasoning of the burger reminds me of a burger cooked on a really well seasoned grill, this is complimented by the sweetness of the onion, the tangy mayo and the freshness of tomato and cabbage rounds out the experience.  We served our stand by Chilean Carmenere but this would be equally good with a Malbec or a Shiraz – a nice big wine for a juicy and flavorful burger.

Costa Rican Burger
4 leaves of Napa cabbage
1.4 cup white wine vinegar
1 large onion sliced in half then cut in ¼ inch slices
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Lizano® Salsa
4 burger buns buttered and grilled lightly
1 tomato sliced
Lizano® Mayo (recipe below)

Trim the stems off the cabbage and put in a glass container with the vinegar.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before using.  When you’re ready to use the cabbage, drain the vinegar and pat the cabbage dry.

Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet, then add onions and cook over high heat until lightly browned and translucent.  Set aside until ready to use.

In a large bowl combine beef, salt and Lizano® Salsa until thoroughly mixed.  Form into four patties.  Grill in the same pan you cooked the onions (don’t clean it in between).  On each bun place a leaf of cabbage then the cooked patty, tomato, onions and top with Lizano® Mayo.

Lizano® Mayo
½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Lizano® Salsa
1 Teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

 

Costa Rican burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

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Congolese burger recipe

Posted on October 2, 2011 by linda

Spicy Veggie Burger with Millet Pancake and Sautéed Greens

Republic of the Congo caused me problems, lots of problems.  First – when researching Republic of Congo, you quickly realize that many sights on the Internet don’t differentiate between Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo.  There ought to be a law about naming countries – no duplicating key words, it just confuses the masses.  (By the way, a little note, I’m using the alphabetization of the United Nations, they ignore things like “Republic of”, which is why Congo comes next – however in the case of Democratic Republic of the Congo, they kept the “Democratic” for purposes of alphabetization – it all gets confusing, but there is some logic here…I think).  So, Republic of Congo (here after referred to as Congo) is a country in Central Africa along the west coast.  It’s bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

So, when you search Congo, you get entries for both Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo.  Even if you can sort out that, many entries don’t specify which country they’re talking about…especially recipe sites, so many just aren’t clear.  So this one took some time to work out, put me behind schedule.

In terms of the political situation, let’s just say this part of the world is sad.  Poverty, human trafficking, infectious disease and refugees from places that are even worse, the problems just get worse and worse.  The more you read about central Africa, the more you wonder why the mainstream media isn’t talking about this.  Instead of reports about the latest Republican candidate, how about we start making Americans aware of massive poverty, disease, violence and people living on the edge?  I don’t have any solutions, but I’m pretty sure that no solutions will be worked out unless people start talking about it.

Everywhere we “travel” though, we’ve found good food and Congo is no exception.  Typical of the region, the Congolese like their food spicy, very spicy – works for me!  There isn’t a lot of meat consumed in the country, so I decided to stick with a veggie burger.  Black-eyed peas are a pretty common protein, inexpensive and delicious, so that’s where I focused my efforts.  I tried a bean cake with dried beans and with canned so that I could really figure out the difference in texture and flavor.  My analysis is that the dried beans aren’t worth the time and effort.  As long as you don’t over mash the canned beans, they maintain enough texture to make the burger work.  Used dried beans if you want (about 8 ounces of dried beans works), but if you don’t have the time, you can feel good about the canned beans.

Sorrel leaves are a common ingredient in Congolese cooking, but I couldn’t find sorrel leaves in any of my local shops – thank goodness for the Internet.  Research online indicates that chard leaves are very similar to sorrel leaves – and chard is easy to find.  Simple preparation as appropriate to the country and life is good.

So then I needed a starch to accompany the bean patty.  This is where it all went wrong.  I really didn’t want to do another mash or polenta type of starch – even though that’s really the most appropriate to the region.  Instead, I decided that I’d like to use millet in a new way.  So, I bought some millet flour and started experimenting, and failing.  I failed to take into account that millet is gluten free, so, much like corn meal, it’s pretty dry and inelastic and difficult to get anything really bread-like out of it.  My first attempt at making a flatbread resulted in something akin to cardboard, just not as tasty.  I then abandoned the idea of a flatbread and decided to add a lot of moisture and go for a pancake instead – good choice.  The moistness of the pancake helps keep the overall dish from being too dry and the sweetness added by the honey gives a nice counterpoint to the spicy bean cake.  Success!  The end result was a surprisingly delicious veggie burger that lands decidedly on the spicy side of yummy.  I found that a little mayonnaise with lemon juice was a nice add on to balance out the spiciness even better – it’s not in the recipe because it’s strictly optional and I don’t have specific measurements – I tend to like mine tart, but it’s really a to-taste type of condiment.  Just use store bought mayo and whisk in some lemon juice until it tastes good to you.

Congo Burger
1 can black eyed peas (15.5 oz), drained and rinsed
1 large jalapeno diced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter
1 egg (lightly beaten)
¼ cup tapioca flour
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
4 Millet Pancakes (recipe below)
1 tomato sliced
Sautéed Greens (recipe below)

Lightly mash the peas in a large bowl with a hand masher.

Add the other ingredients and mix until evenly blended.  Divide into four portions.  Place a piece of wax paper on a platter, flatten the four portions onto the wax paper and form into patty shapes.  Lightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half hour to set the shape and flavors.  In a large non-stick skillet, heat the peanut oil until shimmering.  Invert the wax paper and gently drop the bean patties into the oil (but do it fast as the oil will spit).  Cook the patties until heated all the way though and lightly browned on each side.  Place each cooked patty on a pancake and top with sliced tomato and Sautéed Greens.

Millet Pancakes
¾ cup millet flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons 2% Greek yogurt
¼ cup water
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon baking soda

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until just combined (no lumps).  Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes.  Heat a large nonstick skillet over med-low heat.  Brush lightly with peanut oil (use a basting brush so that you don’t get a lot of oil, just enough to make sure your pancakes don’t stick).  Scoop batter onto hot pan to form disks the size of a burger.  Grill lightly until pancakes have cooked enough to turn easily (you’ll get a nice brown color before these are ready to turn – note, you won’t get the bubbles that you get with regular pancakes, so don’t wait for them or you’ll burn everything!).  Turn and cook until pancakes are cooked through.

Sautéed Greens
2 cups Swiss chard greens chopped
1 Tablespoon peanut oil

Heat oil in a non-stick pan.  Add greens and sauté for 1-2 minutes until just wilted.  Remove from heat and serve.

Congolese burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

 

Posted in african recipes, vegetarian burgers | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Comorian burger recipe

Posted on September 28, 2011 by linda

Chicken Burgers on Vanilla Rolls with Spicy Curry, Bacon and Avocado

So before we get started on this next entry, I have a story to share.  This week I answered the front door and received a package from our lovely neighborhood postal worker.  It was clearly a book, but I hadn’t ordered a book, so I was surprised.  I opened the letter attached and it said something to the effect of “in appreciation, here’s a copy of the cookbook with your recipe on page 49”!  Huh?  I turned to page 49 and there was my portabello-stuffed pork roast recipe (with some edits that were clearly not mine – I would never recommend substituting grape juice for ruby port, that’s just gross).  I flipped through and realized that my recipe was picture as the feature dish at the beginning of the main dish section!  And I made the back cover, totally cool!  So, if you’re interested in holiday dishes, check out the Taste of Home Holiday Celebrations 2011  http://www.shoptasteofhome.com/Taste-of-Home-Holiday-Celebrations-2011/41636,default,pd.html&cgid=CBK_HOL.  I don’t get any money if you buy it, but it still makes me happy to know my recipe is in print somewhere – and I can now claim some revenue (the book they sent me is a $25 dollar value) against my mounting expenses, which should make my accountant happy.

Enough of the self “atta boy”, onward to the food.  Continuing the trend of culinary whiplash, our next stop is Comoros.  If your next question is Como who?  Como where?  As I’ve mentioned before, geography is not my strongest suit, that’s part of the fun of this project, I’m learning a ton.  But geography is one of my husband’s strengths, he’s kind of a map geek, he likes to sit down with the world atlas every now and then a check it out (he also reads non-fiction for fun, go figure).  Comoros was one of the few countries on the list of 192 (now 193), of which Paul had never heard.  He had no idea where it was.   So Comoros was particularly fun for our family – good dinner conversation on this one.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

The Union of Comoros is a group of 3 volcanic islands located between continental Africa and Madagascar.   Despite the fact that it is a small country with a relatively small population (almost 800,000), it has seen more than it’s fair share of suffering.  Over 20 coup attempts since independence from France in 1975, human trafficking, and again we have an average age of 19 for this population.

The cuisine of Comoros seems to be more akin to Northern Africa.  Comorans use a lot of perfume like spices in their cooking – vanilla, cardamom, coriander, cloves, and cinnamon.  They like spicy food and especially spicy curries.  This provides great inspiration for an exotically tasty burger.  I think that curries make a great condiment, so that was my starting point.  But I really wanted to incorporate vanilla as it is a key crop for Comoros.  Vanilla is tough for me to see as a savory ingredient, it adds such a sweet overtone, I was worried it would overpower the dish.  So, I decided to start baking – yikes, baking – I made a homemade roll with a hint of vanilla as the perfect accompaniment to the burger.  If you really don’t want to bake, just make sure you find a sweet dinner roll that will provide the right counterpoint for the spice of the curry.  Once I had the vanilla in the roll and the heat of the curry, we just needed some veg, some fat and some salt – easy, tomato (I know, it’s a fruit, who cares?), avocado and bacon.  Now I realize that Comoros is a primarily Muslim country, yet I found several references to cured ham in Comoran recipes, so I ran with bacon – it gave a great crunch and just the right salty zing to bring the whole dish together.  I hope the references weren’t wrong, because this just wouldn’t be as good without the bacon – if you have inside info let me know, I might just have to break one of my many taboos and try turkey bacon.

Comoros Burger
1 pound ground chicken
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
4 Vanilla Rolls (recipe below)
Spicy Curry (recipe below)
1 tomato sliced
6 slices of bacon cut in half and cooked crispy
1 avocado mashed

Mix together first four ingredients, then divide into four patties.  Heat coconut oil in a large skillet.  Cook the patties until chicken is cooked through.  Slice the rolls and grill lightly (if desired).  Pour a nice helping of the curry in on the bottom bun then place the patty, tomato, bacon and avocado on top.

Vanilla Rolls
1½ cup all purpose flour
1½ teaspoon yeast
½ cup coconut milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon butter
1 vanilla bean (split and scraped)
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
1 lightly beaten egg
coconut oil

In a large bowl, mix 1 cup flour and yeast.  In a small saucepan heat the coconut milk, sugar, butter, vanilla seeds and coriander until just 120°F.  Create a well in the flour and add the milk mixture and the egg.  In a mixer, mix on high for two minutes until completely combined.  Add ½ cup flour and switch to kneading hook.  Knead on the #2 setting for 8 minutes.  Lightly oil a large glass bowl.  Place dough in oil bowl and cover with a clean towel.

Place in a slightly warm, draft free place for one hour until dough has doubled.  Press dough down then divide into 4 portions.  Cover again and let it rest for another ten minutes.  Shape the dough into balls then place on greased cookie sheet.  Press the buns down a bit (I made mine a little too round so the burger was a little bigger than the bun, not a big deal, but try to learn from my mistakes).  Cover with the towel again and place them back in their warm spot and let them rise for another 30 minutes.  Bake in a 375°F oven for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.

the other two were too lumpy to photograph!

Spicy Curry
1 large onion chopped
2 serrano chilies chopped
1 teaspoon coconut oil
¼ teaspoon dry ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemongrass
½ cup coconut milk

In a medium saucepan, melt the coconut oil then add the onion and chilies.  Cook over med high heat for about 4 minutes until onions are just starting to soften.  Add all of the spices and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until spices are fragrant.  Add the coconut milk and turn heat to low.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Cool slightly then put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until you get an even texture.  Use while curry is still warm.

Comorian burger recipe

 

©Copyright 2011 Linda Monach

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