Jamie Oliver’s Morrocon Style Lamb Burger

I have been craving for a good, juicy burger for a while. As I don’t eat beef, it’s difficult to find a place where I can get a yummy and juicy burger to satiate my cravings.

When I came across this recipe, I was super excited as I love Jamie Oliver and his recipes.

I was going to make this burger for my Christmas bbq that I organise every year but I dropped the idea thinking it will be too time consuming. I was so wrong. This recipe is so easy and quick to make. I was bit skeptical about using yogurt sauce, but it turned out amazing. The only thing I will do differently is not add lemon juice to yogurt sauce. As yogurt is already tangy and sour, the lemon juice made it tangier. However, the combination of Moroccan spice rub on lamb and the mint salad is amazing.

I didn’t have any pomegranate and edible flowers so I didn’t use it. Also as the original recipe said Zaatar powder, I added thyme and sumac powder instead which are the main spices that make Zaatar mix.

Here’s my take on Jamie Oliver’s Moroccan Style Lamb Burger.

Ingredients (serves 3)

750 grams of Lamb mince

3 burger buns
3 tablespoons of plain yogurt
1 tablespoon of Harissa paste
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

Spice Rub
1 teaspoon black peppercorns whole
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 garam masala
2 sweet smoked paprika
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sumac powder
Salt as per taste

Salad mix
1/2 shredded iceberg lettuce
Handful of fresh mint, leaves picked
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil

In mortar and pestle, pound the spice rub to make a coarse powder. Set aside.

Take the lamb mince and divide into 3 equal balls. Roll the mince patties to smoothen it. Then flatten it into 2 cm thick patties. As I wanted to make it a big, juicy burger, I made 3 patties of approximately 250 grams mince. Lay out a grease proof baking paper (or a tray) on a kitchen bench. Put the patties on the paper and pat it with the spice rub ensuring both sides are covered. Set aside.

For the sauce, in a bowl add yogurt and mix Harissa paste, lemon juice and olive oil. Set aside.

Heat the grill pan on a medium heat. When hot, spray with olive oil. Add lamb patties. Cook on your barbecue or in a griddle pan for 6 to 7 minutes each side ( came out medium) or until done to your liking.

To assemble burger, lightly toast the buns. On the bottom bun, put the grilled patty.Add mint salad on top of the patty. Spread some yogurt sauce on the crown and cap it off on top of lettuce. I served it with some homemade hot chips. Enjoy

Jerk Chicken (Jamie Oliver’s Recipe)

I love Jamie Oliver and his recipes. He has always been my culinary inspiration. I love watching him cook food with so much passion, ease and love. Lately I’m watching his new series “Comfort Food” and loving it. This recipe is not part of that series though,

I had loads of chicken drumsticks in the fridge which I wanted to cook in a different way that would tingle my tastebuds. I found this recipe online and thought I would give it a go. I’m a sucker for hot food and also wanted to try allspice berries. I’ve heard of Jamaican Jerk Chicken but never tried it before. So I was pretty excited to try it. There were few different recipes for Jerk Chicken but I settled for this one.

It was superyum. I will definitely make this dish again with an authentic recipe as I loved the heat and the spiciness of this dish.

Ingredients
8 Chicken drumsticks
2 tablespoons of allspice berries powder
2 tablespoons of chilli flakes
10-12 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon of raw sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
4 jalapeños chillies
Few sprigs of fresh flat parsley
1 sprig of spring onion or scallion
Few sprigs of coriander
4 cloves of garlic
A thumb sized piece of ginger
1/2 lime
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons of oil

For Flatbread
250 grams self-raising Flour
250 grams yoghurt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 jalapeño chilli, finely sliced

In a mortar and pestle (or blender) pound garlic, ginger, peppercorns and chillies to make a fine paste. Add chopped parsley, coriander, spring and pound it well. Add allspice berries, chilli flakes, honey, sugar and oil and mix it well.

Wash chicken drumsticks and then Slit it in an angle with sharp knife as this will allow the spice rub to penetrate into drumsticks.
Put chicken drumsticks in a big bowl and add spice rub. Wear a food prepping latex gloves (as chillies are very hot and it burns your hand) and rub the spices thoroughly with drumsticks. Leave the marinated chicken for overnight or at least an hour before cooking.

Preheat oven at 200 degree celcius for 5 minutes. I used the grill and fan setting to grill chicken.
Lightly grease oven tray and add marinated chicken drumsticks. Put it in an oven any grill it 20-25 minutes turning it once after first 10 minutes.

For flatbread

Mix flour with baking powder and sift it in a bowl. Add yoghurt and start bringing it all together and knead to make it a fine and soft dough. Rest re dough for 10-15 minutes covered with a tea towel for it to become soft and elastic.

When ready to roll out the rotis, divide the dough into equal parts of 8 round balls.

On a flat surface, dust it with flour and take one ball of dough and roll it out to make round rotis about a centimeter thick. Stick it with sliced jalapeños.

In a hot non stick pan, toast the flatbread on one side and turn when you see tiny bumps. Press it gently as it will puff up the bread. Remove from heat when cooked.
Repeat the process for remaining balls of dough to make 8 flatbreads.

Serve Jerk Chicken drumsticks with drizzle of a fresh lime and flat breads in a platter.

Pukka Yellow Curry- Jamie Oliver recipe

Let me start by saying this, I love Jamie Oliver. He’s one of the greatest chef who has revolutionized the way people think, cook and eat food.

I’ve been a fan since day 1 when I started watching his cooking show called ‘Naked chef’. His cooking style inspires me because he does with so much ease. It is rustic, unpretentious and simple. I just love it.

So for last night’s dinner, I thought I will try one of Jamie Oliver’s recipe called Yellow Pukka Curry.

It looked easy, hearty and I had most ingredients in my fridge. I was little bit skeptical about adding chick peas. But to my surprise the curry turned out great. It was full of flavours and punch yet so simple to cook.

I did tweaked the recipe slightly as I was missing few ingredients but nonetheless it turned out so yummy.

So here’s my version of Jamie’s Pukka yellow curry.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

9 chicken drumsticks
3 tablespoons of oil
400 grams of canned chickpeas
Handful chopped coriander to garnish
2 tablespoon tomato passata (original recipe says 1 tablespoon tomato paste)
500 ml of water
1/2 chopped onion
Salt

Paste
1 and half medium sized red onion
Roots and stalk of a bunch of coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup of water
3 fresh red chillies
4 cloves of garlic
A knob of ginger (thumb sized piece)

(Original recipe says 1 yellow pepper but didn’t have that so I used red chillies)

In a blender add all the ingredients of the paste and grind it to make a paste.

In a pan with heavy base, heat oil. Add chicken drumsticks and fry and sear drumsticks for 10-15 minutes.

When it’s golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.

In the same pan, add onion and sauté it for 1-2 minutes. Add the paste mix and cook it until liquid evaporates and mix leaves the edge of the pan. Add passata, chick peas and salt and stir.

Add remaining liquid and cook it for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and cover the pan with a lid. Cook chicken for 45 minutes on a low heat.

Stir occasionally. After 45 minutes, add chopped coriander. Serve the curry with steamed rice.