Aubergine & Eggplant

Balti lamb burgers

I've been trying to prepare extra food and freeze it for the impending birth of my first little one, as everyone tells you you should. However, it taunts me there in the freezer, yummy lasagna, curry sauces in little containers.

So needless to say we've nearly eaten it all, already. But I have a few weeks to replenish it. One of the things I have stashed in there are quantities of a basic curry sauce that can go several different ways quite easily by adding ground almonds and cream for korma, chopped tomatoes and some spices for balti or rogan josh. I had defrosted a container for a chicken curry that didn't quite happen, and then happily decided to get some mince lamb from the Ginger Pig the other day. The balti lamb burger was born. 

I would definitely make the curry sauce at some other point, freeze it in batches, and then whip one out for the burger recipe. Making it just for this might be just too much faffing. Follow the basic curry sauce recipe here at delicious. magazine, definitely worth using a frozen then defrosted one for the intensity of flavour. I split my curry sauce into 6 quantities as there's only two of us I usually cook for.

Balti lamb burgers with quick cucumber raita

Makes 5 burgers

For the burgers

1/2 medium onion

2 garlic cloves

1 quantity of basic curry sauce, defrosted

1 tsp of garam masala balti (mine comes from Seasoned Pioneers and I'd highly recommend them)

500 grams good quality lamb mince

Groundnut oil

For the cucumber raita

(These quantities are approximate, taste as you go)

plain Greek yoghurt

cumin seeds

cucumber

Pitta breads and halved cherry tomatoes to serve

1. Whizz the half an onion and the garlic cloves in a food processor until they're essentially finely chopped, whatever size you're happy to find in a burger. 

2. Add the onions, garlic, curry sauce and garam masala balti into a bowl and mix it with your hands until it's well combined. Form into 5 burgers and leave on a plate to settle down. Put a grill pan on high heat.

3. Chop the cucumber into small chunks and add to the plain yoghurt in another bowl. Dry fry the cumin seeds until they smell fragant, tossing them often - this should only take two minutes or so, so don't wander off. Add cumin seeds to the yoghurt and cucumber.

4. Your grill pan should be nice and hot by now. Pour some groundnut oil into your palm and massage the burgers gently. Brush them if you're squeamish about this kind of thing. Put them on the grill pan and leave them alone for a good 4 minutes. Flip once, leave them for another 3-4 minutes. Cooking time depends on the thickness of your burgers, so adjust as necessary.

5. Take the burgers off the heat and let them rest for a couple minutes, and use the flaming hot grill pan to heat up the pitta breads, push them down on the pan using your hand if you're brave or whatever tool is to hand. You'll have to do this in batches. 

6. I served this with a pitta per burger, with cherry tomatoes and the cucumber raita in two bowls and we went at it. Make sure you have plenty of napkins to hand, these are messy.

Edgware Road Yoghurt Sauce

I used to live in Paddington, around the corner from the mainline rail station and a quick walk from the hundreds of Lebanese restaurants on Edgware Road. We always meant to visit them more than we did, but every time we made it into one, I fell a little bit more in love with the tongue-numbing garlic sauce served with the grilled meat. Somehow it didn't have that sharp edge that hummus can have, and it goes so incredibly well with well-spiced grilled lamb or chicken. 

I tried to recreate it in spirit, more than texture, because the sauce you're served in those places is much denser than this is. I use my version to marinate chicken and pork in as well, serving a fresh batch on the side. And really, the coriander is my own addition... so you're seeing how far this is from the original but trust me, it's a bbq/picnic staple in my house and once you try it you'll be shocked how good yet how simple it is.

This is a taste-as-you-go recipe, so adjust to your needs.

Edgware Road Yoghurt Sauce

200ml of plain yoghurt (I like using Greek yoghurt, but runnier kinds work too)

1 lemon, both for zest and juice

1 tsp granulated freeze-dried garlic (in London, I buy this at Whole Foods - adjust this to your taste)

3 tbsp whole cumin seeds

1 bunch fresh coriander

Sea salt to taste

1. Pour the yoghurt into a bowl and zest the lemon into it. Then juice the same lemon into the bowl as well and mix it to loosen the sauce.

2. Smash the coriander seeds and cumin seeds with a mortar and pestle until the seeds are smashed up a bit and you're smelling the heavenly scent of cumin. Dump it in the yoghurt bowl. 

3. Chop the fresh coriander and add to yoghurt mixture. Taste it and see if it needs more garlic or salt. 

Serve it with warm flatbread, alongside grilled meats or use it as a marinade. 

It's really flexible and I add chopped cucumbers sometimes, chives, mint, finely chopped red onion. It's the lemon-cumin seed-garlic triumvirate that gives it that wonderful taste.