45 Lamb Burger
Photo: Carolina Ayala / Contributor
When I first entered the North American lifestyle back in the 80’s, I was utterly fascinated by the hamburger, one of the most popular comfort meals for most Americans. They account for over 60% of all sandwiches eaten in this country. The appeal is in the combinations, customization and portability and it was my children’s favorite meal out. Hamburgers even entered the Indian subcontinent when McDonalds launched the Maharaja burger in India with goat meat mixed with plenty of spices and herbs.
Today, when my mantra is less meat, but I do want to indulge in a burger, it’s usually made with ground lamb mixed with as many vegetables as possible while maintaining the integrity of the burger. The best part is – it tastes better than with just meat! Mushroom, celery, grated carrots, butternut squash, green beans, onions, ginger, herbs and more however it is important to mince the vegetables fine, so they not only blend but almost disappear into the meat while cooking. Use a food processor if you need to and if grinding the meat, do so with the vegetables. Many trials and errors later, we came up with a proportion of vegetables to meat ratio that worked best, which is how we serve it at the restaurant. 45 or nearly 50% of the mixture is vegetables and this not only makes the burger less ‘meaty’ and the vegetables add so much flavor. You can use any meat from chicken to beef to venison however they are best made with a meat which has a fat ratio of 20%. In this hot weather, outside grilling is the way to go so give it a try…you may never go back to making burgers without added vegetables!