Delish Homemade Burgers

We usually have a DIY burger night once a week where we assemble our own burgers, but up until now we used store-bought patties. I was feeling adventurous today so I decided to make burgers from scratch. And boy, did they turn out to be delicious or what! 

Here's my easy-peasy recipe for homemade burgers. I've used minced beef but you could easily replace that with mince mutton, lamb, pork or even chicken. Do read the tips right at the end, those can make or break your dish. Here goes.

Recipe

Makes 5 burgers

Time taken: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Minced beef (or any other meat) (I use lean, ie.7% fat, you could go up to 15%) - 250 gm

Egg - 1

Onion - 1 (minced)

Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)

Italian herbs - 1/2 tsp (dried) (replace with oregano or whatever is in your pantry)

Worcestershire Sauce - 1 tbsp

Crackers - 15 pieces (crushed) (use any salted crackers lying in your pantry, I used Ritz)

Oil - 1 tsp

Method

1) Mix the mince meat with the egg, Worcestershire sauce, minced onion, garlic, dried herbs and crushed crackers. 

2) Use your hands to mix it all together nicely. Divide into 5 balls.

3) Lightly shape each ball into a disc slightly larger than your burger bun (as the patty will shrink when you cook it). Make a dent in the centre with your thumb so it doesn't rise. 

4) Heat a non-stick pan/ grill pan/ cast iron pan with a tsp of oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on one side of the patties and place them down in the sizzling pan, seasoned side down. 

5) Do NOT flip too soon. You need to turn it only once so make sure the bottom is browned first. Give it around 3 minutes on low-medium heat.

6) Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper and flip the patties. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. 

7) Remove cover and place thin strips of cheese on top in X shape. I use one slice for 2 patties, so divided into 4 strips. Cover and turn the stove off. 

8) In 30 seconds, the cheese would have melted like in the image above. Remove onto your burger buns. 

9) For our DIY burger night, we prep the following and place it on the table - sliced tomatoes, sliced red onions, chopped jalapenos, lettuce (I use a mix of kale and coral lettuce), and condiments such as mustard sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, and chilli sauce. 

10) Layer and enjoy :)

TIPS

• The crushed crackers act as a great binder. If you don't have any, you can easily replace with breadcrumbs.
• Dried herbs work better than fresh herbs here, as they lessen the moisture content.
• Squeeze the water out of garlic and onion before adding to the minced meat.