make | thai style: chicken burgers!

We love stuff that comes in bread, and the weather's been really good lately, so we thought, why not make something that we could barbeque for our make this week!  We didn't actually end up barbequeing our chicken burgers, but they worked just as well in the grill pan, which means we have an excuse to eat them even when it's cold out!

These chicken burgers are simply packed with flavour, so much so that they even got the approval of our Dad, who, like most men, does like a bit of red meat.  They stay tender, and don't get dry, and are so tasty you don't even need a sauce with them, although a tomato relish would go great.  

Our secret weapon in this recipe is fish sauce.  Now, you might think, "What are you doing getting fish sauce all up in there with that chicken?", but it doesn't have a distinctively fishy taste at all!  It's actually made out of just anchovies, salt and sugar, and gives a really yummy savoury flavour to oriental cooking.  Don't skimp on it, even if you don't like anchovies - it doesn't taste like anchovies!  It just makes these chicken burgers delish :) 

We served our burgers with stir fried greens (we couldn't find baby pak choi in our local supermarket, but if you've got some, split it down the middle, steam it, and then stir fry it gently in some soy sauce, garlic and a splish of fish sauce, and you've got a beautiful and delicious (as well as very healthy!) side dish.  We also made roasted sesame carrots, the recipe for which comes below.  

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x

Chicken Burgers (Thai style) with Sesame Carrots

Makes 4 burgers

400g chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic, very finely minced or chopped
1 red or yellow onion, very finely chopped
handful of coriander, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped (or more, or less, depending on how hot you like things)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
freshly ground black pepper & coarse sea salt
4 baps for the burgers to go in, toasted if you like.

4 big carrots cut into matchsticks
2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh ginger
coarse sea salt
soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds
olive oil


For the carrots

• Heat a dash of olive oil in a frying pan, and fry the ginger until it starts smelling good (about 30 seconds).  

• Add the carrots and stir to combine.  Add a little pinch of salt, and about 60ml of water.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Cook until the water evaporates and the carrots start to soften, about 5 minutes.  

• Stir in the soy sauce and sesame seeds.  Serve!

For the burgers

• Chop up the chicken breasts, and use your food processor to whizz the chicken into a mince.  

• Mix it all up with the garlic, onion, coriander, chilli, fish sauce, salt and pepper. 

• Form the mixture into 4 burgers, about 2cm thick.  

• Heat a grill pan over a medium heat, and spray a little olive oil on it. 

• Grill each burger for about 8 minutes on the first side, and then 5 minutes on the second.  They should be nicely marked and firm to the touch.  

• Put them in a toasted bap and serve with stir fried greens and sesame carrots!