A Kenyan Burger

I was tagged on this tweet, and that’s how it started about a year ago:

Are you able to create a Kenyan-themed burger? #BurgerCompetition cc @PendoLaMama #RewardsToBeGiven

— The Heron Portico (@theheronportico) December 6, 2014

It was bad timing, I was too busy with other things so I just couldn’t participate back then. Plus they required a video submission which made me a little nervous. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it — in fact I’m still thinking. I’ve gone through several ideas about what this burger would look like.

So many ingredient possibilities! They are all tasty, but they’re all in my head! Last month I decided they need to start coming out of my head. So here is the first, hopefully you will not have to wait a year for the next one (^_^)   

Here is the tweet with a link to the requirements if you’d like to know:

Are you able to create a Kenyan-themed burger? #BurgerCompetition #ProudlyKenyan http://t.co/u0Ak7GzSQK

— The Heron Portico (@theheronportico) November 24, 2014

So here is a quick rundown of ingredients and I’ll walk you through them below:
8 extra large chapatis
1/2 kg mince lamb
1/2 kg mince goat
1 cup chopped dhania (do not compact)
1 chopped onion
1/2 bulb of garlic grated
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
Salt to taste
1 zucchini grated
2 white onions
8 sukuma wiki leaves
1 or 2 tomatoes
2 tamarind paste

Make the chapati the same way you always do, just bigger. I have a post on how to get the perfect layers here if you’d like to see how I made mine. These were 11 inches in diameter, but how big you make them will also depend on how big you plan to make your burger patties (keeping in mind that they shrink a little while cooking)

Things to note while you make the chapati:
1. Make sure you have a big enough pan/pot to cook them in. I had my girl help me to make them and she had to pull some chapati acrobatics to cook them because I didn’t have a large enough pan. (I’ve been wanting a wok for a while and through the whole process I kept thinking it would have probably helped, so if you have one you can try)

2. Bigger does not mean thicker. You will have trouble cooking them all the way through. They should still be the same thickness you usually make.

No butchery minces goat meat! If you find a butchery that minces goat meat as a regular part of their offerings let me know! I had to get a butchery to do this for me without charging me extra! So ask your butcher nicely!

I mixed the two because I thought the goat meat alone would make a really tough burger. If I was to go this again I’d reduce the lamb, maybe do 800g goat and just 200g lamb so that the goat meat flavour could come through more.

Why a zucchini? Sounds totally random but there’s a good reason. I’ve started to experiment with a recipe for chicken meatballs, and I wanted to do it without eggs. It’s my understanding that eggs are what keep it together, much like glue, so I did a bit of research online on how to do it without eggs. Pretty much everything I read suggested to add a vegetable. Grated zucchini was the most mentioned.

Once all the meat is mixed together nicely you can form your patties and cook them. I cooked mine in the oven, so I lined a baking sheet with parchment and arranged my patties. I made mine really big, knowing that they would shrink. so for the kilo of meat I did 8 patties.

Good time to set the oven to preheat at 180°C

To shape them I rolled the meat portion into a ball, then flattened the ball to get a nice round patty

I have been loving caramelised onions. They are awesome with steak and roasted veggies! I thought they would be great for this burger and they were.

While the burgers are cooking you can start on the onions. Place the sliced onions in a pan with a tablespoon of butter and start cooking them slowly on medium/low heat.

Next, prep the sukuma leaves. I didn’t want to use then raw (though I have heard that they can be eaten raw), and I din’t want to steam/boil then — no one likes soggy veggies in their burger! So, I grilled them in the oven and they were perfect. They softened lightly and cooked but still had crunch!

Oven was still on from cooking the burgers, so I switched from the regular oven mode to the grill mode and used one of the top racks. It was just a few minutes, don’t walk away, once the edges start to get a bit of brown they’re done. Watch closely

Alright! All done. We can now assemble the burger. At this point I felt like I had been running a marathon. He he he!

This is the last of the tamarind paste that I made, check out that post here. Feel free to use something esle here, I would recomend a chutney, mango or carrot.

Phew!! If you are still with me, take a bite and enjoy!

The meat was not dry which I was very happy about. Between the juicy tomato, tamarind and onions , I didn’t miss the regular condiments at all.

My bother was over for lunch when I made these, he enjoyed the first and had seconds! (^_^) Gave it a thumbs up.

What say you? Make it and let me know what you think.

You can also comment below and let me know what your version of a Kenyan burger looks like…