Nov 17 2008

Homemade herbed hamburgers, two ways to eat it

Published by Foong at 3:43 am under Fusion Food, Recipes, Western Food |

I’ve been meaning to learn to make our own hamburgers so that we do not need to eat those store-bought frozen hamburgers which are oily and full of MSG. Considering hamburgers merely consist of ground meat, how hard can it be right?

Besides, The Food Critic is really crazy about hamburgers. Every time we go to the grocery store, he simply must stop at the frozen food and pick out a packet of hamburgers. A few times when we do eat out, he’d insist on choosing an American restaurant like TGIF serving good burgers (nope, it is definitely not the same as those fast-food burgers!). So, in response to his special request for homemade hamburgers, I gave it a try.

I didn’t really go around searching for a hamburger recipe. In fact, I borrowed some tips from Jessie’s (The Hungry Mouse) meatball recipe and changed it a bit. After all, meat patties or hamburgers are simply the flatter, bigger version of meatballs. I think. Heheh.

Anyway, this is the end result…

Homemade herbed hamburger

Homemade herbed hamburger

Of course The Food Critic was ecstatic. He finally gets to eat homemade hamburgers without needing to spend a fortune at some overpriced restaurant. I made quite a lot, so he actually ate it for lunch and dinner!

So, here’s the recipe for:

Homemade Herbed Hamburgers

Homemade herbed hamburgers

Ingredients

For hamburger

600gm minced port & chicken

2 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 tbsp black pepper

2 tbsp mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped

2 tbsp light soy sauce

3 – 4 tbsp instant oats (or you could use breadcrumbs if you want)

For special sauce

3 tbsp peas

3 tbsp diced carrots

2 large onions, diced

2 tbsp garlic, diced

5 no. fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp oyster sauce (or mushroom sauce)

1 tbsp light soy sauce

4 tbsp soya milk (sugarless)

1 tbsp chicken stock

a dash of pepper

2 tbsp corn flour

5 -6 tbsp water

Instructions

Prepare your minced meat and mix it together

1. Prepare your mince meat and mixed it together

Add the garlic powder

2. Add the garlic powder and mixed it around

Add in the mixed herbs and black pepper

3. Add in the mixed herbs and black pepper and remember to stir it and mix it in evenly

Add in the sauce

4. Add in the light soy sauce

Stir in the oats

5. Stir in the oats and mix well

6. Heat up some oil in a pan. Form meat patties with a ladle and slide it into the hot oil.

Fry it, both sides, until it turns brownish like this and remove from heat.

7. Fry the meat patties, on both sides, until it turns brownish like this and remove from heat.

I know you must be wondering why there’s also a ’special sauce’ ingredients. Well, instead of just serving up the hamburgers as well, burgers, I thought I might as well use the leftover oil in the pan to create a special sauce as toppings for the meat patties to be served as a main dish, like this:

Hamburgers as a meat patty main dish with special sauce

So, now that you’ve fried all of your burgers and there is some oil left. Don’t throw it out! Use it to make the special sauce as it would have all the added flavours of the meat. Right from the start, I used olive oil and I didn’t use much oil so ended up, I have about 3 tbsp of oil left in the wok which is just perfect for the sauce.

Now, on to the sauce:

Get your ingredients all ready

1. Get all your ingredients ready

Mix the sauces together in a bowl

2. Mix the sauces together in a bowl

Add in the soya milk and then the corn flour

3. Add in the soya milk and then the corn flour

4. Stir and mix the sauces well. The corn flour is to thicken it so that it won’t be so watery.

Sautee the garlic and onions

5. Sautee the garlic and onions in the same pan used to fry the burgers. If you look, you'd notice that there's still some bits of meat from the burgers I fried earlier.

Add in the rest of the ingredients

6. Add in the rest of the ingredients

7. Then add in the sauces and stir.

Let the mixture simmer over medium to low heat for several minutes

8.Let the mixture simmer over medium to low heat for several minutes

9. Then it is done, ready to be served with the meat patties / hamburgers.

You just pour it over the hamburgers and serve

You just pour it over the hamburgers and serve

But if you prefer something you can eat on the go, then you don’t need to prepare the sauce. Just serve the meat patties as the filling for a hamburger sandwich.

A hamburger sandwich

So, there you have it. One herbed hamburger, two different ways to serve it!

13 responses so far

13 Responses to “Homemade herbed hamburgers, two ways to eat it”

  1. Tom .::. The Food Flunkyon 17 Nov 2008 at 5:23 am

    Lovely fresh, clean ingredients! and a great use of oats …

    What bread did you use by the way?

    Once again another delicious post …

    Tom .::. The Food Flunky

    Tom .::. The Food Flunky’s last blog post..A pint of bitter please – sobering tax reality check at Project Orange bar, Clapham

  2. Jessieon 17 Nov 2008 at 9:39 am

    Oh, super yum! These look great! I love what you did with them. :D

    +Jessie
    a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse

    Jessie’s last blog post..How to Make Sourdough Bread, Part 3: Grilled Cheese with Prosciutto

  3. Reenion 17 Nov 2008 at 10:36 am

    These look fantastic! Full of flavor. I use oats a lot too in place of bread crumbs. Gives it a nice flavor.

    Reeni’s last blog post..From Pumpkin to Pie

  4. HoneyBon 17 Nov 2008 at 11:20 am

    Great pics and the burgers look so yummy!

    HoneyB’s last blog post..Pretty in Pink

  5. MySimpleFoodon 17 Nov 2008 at 10:59 pm

    Nice post. I will try out this recipe!

    MySimpleFood’s last blog post..Mee Suah for my birthday

  6. Foongon 17 Nov 2008 at 11:20 pm

    Tom: thanks. I used natural wholemeal bread I bought from a natural bakery. We don’t trust bread from the normal bakeries because of the high amount of preservatives and chemicals they used.

    Jessie: Heheh..thanks.

    Reeni: Yep, I simply love to use oats and oat bran in most of my cooking. It is ‘healthier’ and tastes better.

    HoneyB & MySimpleFood: thanks.

  7. Geraon 18 Nov 2008 at 3:50 am

    Hi Foong!

    The results to the food critic…are a scrumptious hamburgers and for me two different ways to serve give only 1 result, will be vanished soon!

    Gera’s last blog post..Why Food Bloggers and Foodies Should Enter Into the Twitter World

  8. xinon 18 Nov 2008 at 11:12 am

    wow this looks so delicious! i have tried making minced meat patty and cook with potato, but i never tot it could turn into burger patty as well! thanks for the tip. will try out….when i am not lazy…

    xin’s last blog post..Chicken Rice at Restoran Yat Yeh Hing, Kelana Jaya

  9. PenangTuaPuion 18 Nov 2008 at 2:25 pm

    great recipe, I like hamburger too, but need to get my wife to prepare this to me…

    i better sleep earlier and hope to dream for it,.. :P

    PenangTuaPui’s last blog post..Penang Food | Curry Mee – Jalan Datuk Keramat

  10. sgfoodloveron 19 Nov 2008 at 12:55 am

    hello i like burgers this meat patty really looks good man haha!

    sgfoodlover’s last blog post..Java Kitchen

  11. Foongon 20 Nov 2008 at 12:15 am

    Gera: Heheh…the goal of cooking it is for it to vanish soon!

    xin: do try it out as it is much, much better than those frozen hamburgers.

    PenangTuaPui: Haiya, be nice to your wife lor and maybe she will make it for you.

    sgfoodlover: thanks!

  12. Freyaon 23 Nov 2008 at 1:01 am

    I’m not too keen on minced beef but I love the idea of combined pork and chicken instead! Yum!

    Freya’s last blog post..A Cocoa Carrot Cake

  13. Spicy chicken burger | The Food Siteon 05 Jan 2009 at 8:09 am

    [...] Food Critic simply loves burgers so other than the herbed burger, I decided to try making a different type of burger. This time around, I used only minced chicken [...]