Cannellette

Sometimes you just don’t feel like putting a lot of effort in your food. On those days an easy, healthy dish with only a few (pantry) ingredients is nice to have. 

For this chicken burger you only need chicken (minced, if available, otherwise you put it in the foodprocessor or slice it as finely as you can), rice wine, sesame oil, spring onion, soy sauce, lemon juice a bun, some sauces and lettuce and / or tomato. It’s as easy as that! You can make them on the griddle pan or on the barbecue, if the weather permits. You griddle pan will become a mess, I must warn you, but these burgers are definitely worth it. 

Lemony Chicken Burgers
Ching He Huang in China Modern

Ingredients
3 small chicken breasts
2 large spring onions, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp rice wine
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp brown sugar
1 dash of soy sauce
1 dash of sesame oil
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 white buns, for hamburgers, topped with sesame seeds
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp ketchup, chilli-tomato
1 baby gem lettuce, shredded
1 tomato, sliced

Method
1. Finely dice the chicken for the burgers and combine with the spring onions, lemon juice, rice wine, cornflour, brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and seasoning. Shape the mixture into two large patties and put them in the refrigerator - if you have time - for an hour or more so they can firm up a bit.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a griddle pan over a medium heat. Fry the chicken patties for about 3-5 minutes on each side - they should be light brown and tender. Remove from the pan and keep warm. 
3. Spread the buns with some mayo and chilli ketchup, put some lettuce leaves on the bun and place your burger on top of the lettuce. Add some slices of tomato if you like.


 

We also mixed in some chopped coriander leaves, this time, which adds a lovely extra ‘herby’ depth. I also often use my lemon black pepper, which adds some extra zing on top of the lemon juice.I topped my burger with a tiny bit of Sriracha sauce.

A satisfying, easy and healthy burger! I am sure you will find yourself making these often - they are also great for picnik or lunch sandwiches or just for a snack.

My mother in law brought me a seriously spicy piri piri spice blend. Even pointing at it made my eyes water. It tastes delicious, however, when you mix just a pinch of it through your ground beef or sprinkle it over some baked chicken. Spice blends are wonderful to spike up a relatively simple (or easy) dish. This made me remember a conversation I recently had with a colleague, she told me her (Greek) boyfriend never really liked spicy dishes, but when she made gyros and only sprinkled some cumin and coriander over the meat, it rocked his world. It is that easy to perk up a dish!

In the Middle East a herb called za’atar is used to perk up a common pita bread: the bread is dipped in olive oil and za’atar mixed with sumac, salt and sesame. This herb was already known and used in ancient Egypt as remains of one of the varieties of the herb was found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. And who can ever doubt a pharaoh?

As za’atar is probably not readily available everywhere, I’ll give you some other well-known spice blends you can easily make at home.

Ras el hanout is a well-known spice blend commonly used in Moroccan dishes. Many different versions exist, as the name already reveals: “best of the shop”. This is a streamlined version:

Ras el hanout

Ingredients
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Method
Combine the spices in a pestle and mortar and start grinding. Sieve your mix into a seperate bowl now and then and put the coarse pieces back into the mortar until you have a fine powder. 

The Indian spice blend Garam Masala is also very easy to make, as with Ras el Hanout many different versions exist. It is merely a matter of taste. This recipe by Camelia Punjabi is a wonderful basic blend.

Garam Masala

Ingredients
6 grams of cinnamon sticks
6 grams of cloves
6 grams of black peppercorns
the seeds from 1 black cardamom seed or from 4 green cardamom seeds
1 teaspoon of fennel seed
1 bay leaf or 1 curry leaf

Method
Heat a frying pan on high heat and toast the spices for 30 seconds or until fragrant (it will smell heavenly, believe me!). Put everything into a pestle and mortar and grind until powdered. You can store the garam masala for 3-6 months in a tightly closed jar.