Chicken Tikka Burger

For #UKBBQWeek 2020 the theme of Saturday 4th July was burgers.

Too often people try and improve on a burger by making it bigger, adding more cheese and more bacon, making it impossible to eat and to be honest, doing very little innovation. I wanted to get away from this so we made 5 different burgers and cooked them all on our live cook we've done every Saturday during lockdown. The 5 burgers were:

1. Albondigas burger
2. Korean Chicken burger
3. Chicken tikka bhaji burger
4. Thai pork burger
5. Spicy bean burger

Hopefully these 5 burgers teased your imagination and got you thinking about what you could be cooking on your Egg.

The Chicken Tikka burger uses a few recipes we’ve cooked as part of our live cooking series. The chicken is marinaded in Parmjit’s chicken tikka, the burger bun is our favourite bhaji recipe. Added to this is a new pea and paneer recipe as well as an aubergine pickle dip.

Put all of this together and you have an Indian style burger my freind Nigel in Portrush would love. 

Method

The day before

1. Take your chicken breasts and place between two layers of cling film.
2. With either a rolling pin or a flat tenderising hammer, flatten out your chicken until it is just under a cm thick, starting from the middle and working out.
3. Now put your chicken in the Parmjit’s chicken tikka to marinade and place in the fridge overnight.

On the day of the cook

For the Onion bhaji bun

1. Setup your Big Green Egg for a direct cook either with a cast iron searing grid or a cast iron plancha. Set the Egg to 200°C.
2. Heat some vegetable oil (1.5 inches deep) in the dutch oven. When it reaches 180°C (test with your Thermapen), carefully lower in two portions of the onion bhaji mixture the size of a burger bun top.
3. Cook the bhaji for about 3 or 4 minutes a side until it is golden brown. Set aside on a plate with kitchen roll to catch the surplus oil.

For the Aubergine pickle yogurt dip

1. Take 2 tbsp Aubergine pickle and put into a small bowl.
2. Add 4 tbsp of greek yoghurt and mix in.

For the pea and paneer fritter

This is a recipe taken from the excellent book Charred by Genevieve Taylor. This makes 12. They freeze well if you’re not going to use thenm all at once.

1. Setup your EGG with a plancha or cast iron pan to cook at 200°C.
2. Drizzle a little oil onto the surface and place a fritter onto the oil. 
3. Cook for about 3 minutes a side.

For the chicken tikka

1. Take your chicken fillet and remove any excess marinade.
2. In the same pan or plancha as your pea and paneer fritter, place the chicken and cook for 3 or 4 minutes a side. 

Assembling your burger

1. Place one of the onion bhajis on your plate.
2. Top with your chicken then your pea and paneer fritter. 
3. Put a good spoonfull of the aubergine pickle over the fritter and then sprinkle with corriander leaf.
4. Top with your second onion bhaji.
5. Serve with a carrot and almond salad.