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Asian Fusion Burger

Posting Date: 06/07/19

Asian Fusion Burger recipe was inspired by "Curry-Scented Grilled Beef Lettuce Wrap" recipe in Vietnamese Food Any Day book by Andrea Nguyen. Instead of making it as a lettuce wrap, I decided to make a burger. Since it is formed as a burger patty, I add bread cubes to bind the meat. I also use sliced cabbage to add crunchiness. In addition, I serve it with kimchi as a pickle. If you don't like or have kimchi, you can skip it. I use Queso Fresco cheese in the patty because the mild cheese I had at the time. You can use any other mild cheese. Make sure you don't use strong cheese because it will interfere with the other flavors.

You might be wondering why it is named Asian Fusion Burger. The reason is because it has combination of many different Asian flavors and where the ingredients originally came from. The beef patty uses curry powder which is used widely in India and South East Asia. In addition, it uses fish sauce which is common in Thailand and Vietnam. The sauce itself is inspired by Vietnamese Nuoc Cham sauce. The burger is served with kimchi which originated in Korea. If you go down the ingredient list, you will notice how diverse it is. That's why I think the name of Asian Fusion is really appropriate. I also think this is the best burger because it is very flavorful.

The recipe makes 6 burgers.

Ingredients:

For burger: 1 cup bread cubes
For burger: 3/4 cup milk
For burger: 1/3 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped. You can skip peanuts if you are allergic to it. I prefer not to chop the peanuts too fine because I like the texture of the peanuts on the burger patty.
For burger: 3 green onions, finely chopped
For burger: 1 tablespoon Madras curry powder or regular curry powder if you cannot find Madras curry powder in Asian stores
For burger: 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
For burger: 1.5 tablespoons oyster sauce
For burger: 1.5 tablespoons fish sauce
For burger: 1 lb ground beef (85% lean)
For burger: 1/4 cup crumbled queso fresco. Instead of using queso fresco, you can use other mild flavor cheese. Do not use strong flavor cheese because it will interfere with the other flavors.
vegetable oil to oil the grill grates
Optional: For sauce: 1 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
Optional: For sauce: 1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
Optional: For sauce: 1/4 cup water
Optional: For sauce: 5/2 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste
6 burger buns
Optional: mayonnaise
2 cabbage leaves, sliced
12 fresh mint leaves
12 sprigs of fresh cilantro
Optional: 2 tomatoes, sliced
Optional: kimchi

Methods:

Soak the bread in the milk for 10 min. After 10 min, drain the milk and squeeze the liquid out the bread. Place the bread on a mixing bowl. Add peanuts, green onions, madras curry powder, ground black pepper, oyster sauce, and fish sauce into the mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add ground beef and cheese into the bowl and mix them using your fingers so that all ingredients are well combined. Form 6 burger patties.
Clean your BBQ grill. Turn it on. Dip paper towel in vegetable oil. Using tongs, wipe the grill grates with the oiled paper towel so that burger patties won't stick. Once the grill is hot, place the patties and grill them until they are cooked. Remove the patties from the grill and place them on a plate. Cover the plate with Al foil and let them rest for 10 min.
While the patties are resting, combine all the sauce ingredients on a small pot. Whisk it and heat the pot until it is boiling. Taste it and add more sugar or fish sauce if needed. Remove from the heat.
To assemble the burger, take off the top of the bun. If you like mayonnaise, spread it on the bottom and top buns. Place sliced cabbage, some mint leaves, cilantro on the bottom bun. Place the burger patty on the top of the vegetables. Drizzle the sauce on top of the patty. Top it with sliced tomato and kimchi if used. Place the top bun. Repeat this step with the remaining burger buns.

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