The Lebanese Burger - Chef Recipe by Robert Bousamra

Ingredients

To assemble this burger, you will need to have prepared the day before the minted yoghurt, then on the day the kofta patty, fried halloumi, sliced tomato, pickled eggplant and Cos lettuce chiffonade. If you do not have pickled eggplant you can substitute it with pickled cucumber or gherkins. Don't forget to toast your buns and butter them with real butter!

Yoghurt sauce:

1L pot set yoghurt
I/2 cup fresh chopped mint
2 garlic cloves

Kofta patties:

500g minced lamb, or mutton
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
40g Italian parsley, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves, crushed into a paste
4 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Fried halloumi:

Fresh Greek Cypriot halloumi
Butter

1 tomato, sliced
Cos lettuce, chopped into a chiffonade
Pickled eggplant, gherkins or cucumber

Method

Yoghurt sauce:

Strain yoghurt in a muslin bag overnight, by placing the bag inside a sieve suspended in a deep saucepan, to catch the whey.

The next day, the yoghurt should be the consistency of cream cheese.

Crush the garlic into a paste and mix into the yoghurt with the finely chopped mint. Season with a little salt to taste.

Kofta patties:

Mix all the spices with the mince in a stainless-steel bowl, making sure the spices are evenly distributed.

Using an electric food processor, blend the chopped parsley and onion and evenly mix into the spiced lamb.

The ingredients should make around 650g of kofta. Divide the mince mixture into three or four patties, ready for grilling.

When all the other ingredients are ready, grill the patties on a wood fire, or charcoal grill to get the full smoky flavour.

Fried halloumi:

Slice the halloumi into 4-5mm thick slices.

Heat a frying pan and add a dollop of butter and bring to a sizzle. Add four slices of halloumi and fry until golden brown, on medium to high heat.

Assembly:

This part is all about timing, by having each ingredient cooking so that it is ready at the time of assembly, including toasting and buttering your buns with butter.

Having everything ready, assemble on the bottom buttered bun, lettuce, followed by tomato, sliced pickles, patty, yoghurt sauce, hot halloumi cheese and top buttered bun.

Optional extras are allowed, such as a chilli sauce.

Recipe provided by The Dinner Party Chef