Kebabs & Burgers

My thoughts on the best type of meat for this recipe:
Mince chicken (leg and thigh is best as it has fat, chicken breast would be too dry and crumbly)
Mince Lamb (leg is best)
Mince beef (whatever the butchers have I guess)
You could use mutton too but, meh, it’s not my thing

We’re a big Asian family and so when we make this for everyone we can get through quite a bit of meat, plus it’s good to have extra so you can freeze them and take them out when you have company.
Again, I don’t measure things, I eye ball everything, really I do, I guess it’s an Asian thing although most of my friends follow recipes quite strictly. Personally I think that’s more for unexperienced cooks (unless it’s baking, of course). Forgive my lack of measuring as all quantities are up to you. Once I make the mixture I always pan fry a small tester just to make sure it’s how I like it. A good cook always tastes their food, take note!

Ingredients
Mince meat of your choice
Onions
Fresh corriander
Fresh green chillies (with seeds, put some fire in your food!)
Salt
Crushed cumin
Crushed corriander seeds
Chilli powder
Dried Pomegranate powder (WHAT?! Trust me, it’s good and makes a huge difference)

Method
Put your mince in a large bowl. Blitz all your fresh ingredients and spices in a food processor until chopped. Not finely but not overly chunky, kinda inbewteen. Add the mixture to your mince, mix well and pan fry/grill/BBQ a taster. Add more spices depending on your preference and re-taste. Once you’re happy, pan fry, BBQ, skewer these bad boys and serve up in a non-paleo manner.

Please, do NOT deep fry these kebabs now matter what they’re for. My family have never deep fried kebabs but during Ramadhaan when people send over iftaar (may Allaah reward them in abundance aameen) or when I visit other people and I’m served kebabs, they’ve been deep fried. You have taken what could be a really healthy snack and dunk it in oil for ages until it’s over cooked, hard and INCREDIBLY bad for you.  I think it’s an Asian thing as my neighbours do this a lot and I’m sure some wedding caterers do it too. Seriously, stop it, while you’re at it, throw out your chip pan and deep fryer, you really don’t need it.

TOP TIP: For juicy, succulant burgers which are perfectly cooked and moist, just flip the burgers once. Yep, that’s the secret to a great kebab/burger.

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Fresh and dried ingredients blitzed in the food processor… not too fine and not too chunky

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Minced meat mix with ingredients in a bowl.

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Fry the burgers well on one side before flipping. Remember just to flip once only to keep the burgers moist

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They’re not burnt lol… one side needs to be cooked well for a few minutes longer than the second side. They’re only flipped once and *I* don’t want my burgers raw thank you very much

Burgers/kebabs served with home made tomato salsa

Burgers/kebabs served with home made tomato salsa

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Alternative serving suggestion, tomato salsa and burgers served on bed of raw bean sprouts, yummy!

You can find my Turkish tomato salsa aka Ezme Salatasi recipe here.

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