SATAY BURGERS

1 HR, PLUS PICKLING & MARINATING

SERVES 4 For the cucumber pickle

– 1 star anise – 2.5cm ginger, sliced lengthways into 3 or 4 pieces

– 125g white sugar – 75ml white rice vinegar

– 2 cucumbers – 400g red onion

For the simple chilli sauce

– 60g dried chilli flakes – 2 tbsp dark brown sugar

For chicken satay patties

– 500g boneless, skinless chicken thigh, minced in a food processor

– 75g satay spice paste (see left)

– 1 egg, beaten

For lentil satay patties

– 250g moong dal lentils, soaked overnight and drained

– ⅛ tsp cornflour – 75g satay spice paste (see left)

To serve the burgers

– oil, for frying – 4 good-quality burger buns, to serve

– peanut sauce (see left)

Bring all the pickle ingredients (apart from the cucumber and onion) to the boil with 350ml water and a teaspoon and a half of salt, then turn off the heat. Remove the ginger and star anise.

Cut the cucumbers in half straight through the middle, and then halve again lengthways. Use a spoon to deseed them and finely slice into crescentmoon shapes, ideally no thicker than 5mm.

Cut the red onion into eighths, then slice them into crescent-moon shapes, ideally no thicker than 5mm.

Mix the cucumber and red onion thoroughly in a large bowl before decanting into a storage container. Pour the pickling liquid over and leave at least overnight before draining.

Add the chilli sauce ingredients to a medium saucepan with half a teaspoon of salt and 420ml water, then bring to the boil. Switch off the heat and leave for an hour.

Bring to the boil again and simmer over a medium heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and use a hand blender to blend into a sauce.

To make chicken satay patties, mix the chicken mince thoroughly with the satay spice paste and egg in a large container. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight.

Place a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, adding just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Using a large icecream scoop, scoop out two balls of the chicken mix into the pan and flatten into patties using a spatula. Pan-fry on both sides for around eight minutes in total, flipping every couple of minutes.

To make the lentil satay patties, blitz the drained lentils, cornflour and satay spice paste in a food processor with an eighth of a teaspoon of salt until you have a fine paste.

Place a large frying pan over a medium heat, with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Using a large ice-cream scoop, scoop out two balls of the lentil mix into the pan and flatten into patties using a spatula. Pan-fry on both sides for around five minutes in total, flipping every minute.

To assemble the burgers, cut the buns in half and toast cut-side down. Then add enough peanut sauce to cover the base of each bun, a cooked chicken or lentil satay patty, two tablespoons of cucumber pickle, a tablespoon of chilli sauce (or more, to taste), and finally the top of the bun. Eat immediately!