Mediterranean Lamb Burger: Recipe

You asked, so I’ll deliver. I’ve been posting a lot of photos of the things that my wife Lauren and I have been cooking at home and a lot of you have been asking for recipes. In response, I’ve decided to start posting recipes onto The City Lane. To kick off this new section of the website, I give you this delicious Mediterranean lamb burger which draws upon Greek and Middle Eastern influences and contains a tangy tzatziki with a twist.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes          /          Cooking Time: 15 minutes          /          Makes 6 burgers

Ingredients

The Buns

• 15g fresh yeast
• 500g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons (10g) salt
• 1 teaspoon (10g) sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
• 300ml of hot tap water

The Lamb Patties

• 800g lamb mince
• 1 large (56g) egg
• 1.5 teaspoons (7.5g) ground cumin
• 1.5 teaspoons (7.5g) ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon (5g) sweet paprika
• 0.5 teaspoons (2.5g) smoked paprika

The Tzatziki

• 1 large or 2 small preserved lemon(s)
• 20-30 fresh mint leaves
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 250g natural, unsweetened yoghurt
• salt and pepper for seasoning

The Rest

• 100g of halloumi cheese, sliced about 0.5cm thick
• 1 large tomato, thinly sliced
• half a red onion, thinly sliced

Method

The Buns

1. Rub fresh yeast into the plain flour.
2. Add the salt, sugar, olive oil and water and knead into a smooth dough.
3. Leave the dough to rise in a warm area for an hour.
4. Knead the dough briefly and divide into six bread rolls.
5. Leave the rolls to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Place the rolls in a pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes at 200^oC.

The Lamb

1. Mix the ingredient for the lamb patty together until it’s completely combined.
2. Form into 6 patties, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

The Tzatziki

1. Cut the preserved lemons in half and remove the flesh (discard) with a spoon.
2. Cut the lemon peel and mint into 2-3mm slices and add to the yoghurt.
3. Add the garlic to the yoghurt.
4. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

To Finish

1. On a BBQ or a hot pan, cook the lamb patties for 10-12 minutes, flipping once halfway through cooking.
2. Once cooked, let the patties rest for a few minutes.
3. Grill the haloumi 2 or 3 minutes.  It’s ready when golden brown on both sides.
4. Remove from the heat.
5. Cut the buns in half.
6. Place the tzatiki on the base followed by the tomato, onion, haloumi, lamb patty and more tzatiki and the top of the burger bun.
7. Serve.

Notes

If you are grilling the patties on a charcoal BBQ, heat the charcoal/briquettes when you put the lamb patties in the fridge.

If you don’t have time to make the buns from scratch, a good quality crusty bun from your local baker will work.

If you’re not a fan of haloumi, feta cheese works just as well.

If you don’t have fresh yeast, you can use dry yeast. Make a “sponge” by mixing 100ml of hot tap water, 7.5g of dry yeast, 2 tbsp (30g) of plain flour (from the quantity in the ingredients, not in addition to) and the sugar. Leave this in a warm place for 10 minutes, after which it will become thick and bubbly. The idea is to activate the yeast so you will have a light fluffy roll. Add this to the rest of the plain flour and continue with the recipe as above.