Cheeky Sawa-San Weekend Burgers

Ep.03 video can be found here -> https://youtu.be/52XhwXWSWNE

Sawa-San Cheeky Burgers

Burgers are so easy to make and whether it’s beef, chicken or a vege burger it’s really upto you what you’d like in your burger which is why home-made burgers are often the best.

For the beef burgers, ask your local butcher to mince a nice cut of meat or simply buy some good quality beef mince. We use chuck steak which has a good ratio of fat so that it’s not too dry. You can also choose how thick or thin you want your patties.

Serves 4

Ingredients for Beef Burger

500-600g Chuck Steak or Beef mince (120g-150g per pattie)

Burger cheese (American) or your favourite cheese

Salt + Black Pepper

1 Tomato

A bunch of cos lettuce

Sweet spiced Gherkin

1 tablespoon Oil for frying

4 Brioche buns

Gherkins (optional)

Ingredients For Southern Fried Chicken Burger

4 Chicken Thighs or Breast with skin on or off

1 carton of buttermilk

1 tablespoon sea salt

Oil for deep frying

4 Brioche Buns

Gherkins (optional) Your favourite cheese (optional)

Ingredients for the flour mix

2 cups plain flour

½ cup corn flour (if you don’t have this, you can use just plain flour)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 ½ teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 tablespoon pepper

Ingredients for a not so secret Special Burger Sauce

3 tablespoons Kewpie mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Tomato Ketchup (Sauce)

2 tablespoons American Mustard

Sweet spiced gherkins (Sliced into very small cubes)

Combine and stir in a small bowl. Set aside.

Method for Beef burgers

For the beef, if you have bought meat to mince, cut into smaller chunks. Mince the beef into a bowl. It’s a good idea to give the mince some love by mixing it in the bowl with your hands. Divide into 120-150gram balls and shape them with your hands and set aside.

In a fry pan (we use cast iron), put the heat on full wack and allow it to smoke. Add oil and then place the patties and smash them down with a press or anything heavy. It’s also the time you can decide whether you’d like a “smashed patty” or you prefer a thicker one.

For a smashed patty, the cooking time will be shorter, for our patties, we give them around 2-3 mins on each side, and getting a great crust. Remember to season one side with Salt & Pepper. Once both sides are cooked, you can opt to melt your cheese over the patty. To do this, place your cheese on the patty and add a small amount of water (10ml) into the pan, and cover with a lid for 30 secs. Your cheese will have that oozy melt.

Toast the insides of your brioche buns in a pan or grill. this will seal your burger so that it doesn’t become stodgy.

Now build your burger to your liking remembering to put your burger sauce on the buns to start with. I find the cos lettuce holds well at the base.

Take a photo of your super creation.

Method for Chicken Burgers

For the chicken, find a decent sized bowl and add chicken and the salt. Give it a mix and add your butter-milk. Refrigerate for a few hours but if time poor, 15-20 mins is fine.

Combine the flours and the spices in a tray or bowl, mix well.

Take a piece of chicken and dust well in the flour mix, for even further crunch, add back into the buttermilk and re-coat in the flour mix, shaking of excess. Repeat for the rest of the chicken.

Heat oil to 170° Celcius and gently your chicken laying away from you. Depending on the size of your fryer, you made need to do them in two batches.

Fry for around 8-10 mins for thigh, turning occasionally. Remove from the oil and let sit on paper towel or on a try for the oil to drip.

Toast the insides of your brioche bun in a pan (or grill) and its time to build your burger as per above. Again, use your favourite combination of vegies in your burger. Snap a photo and enjoy the super crunchy chicken.