pork burgers & cauliflower rice

 

Every night I watch an episode of "Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives" on either Cooking Channel or Food Network. And every night I see all of the burger joints Guy Fieri visits and all of the mouthwatering burgers and sandwiches and burritos and waffles and etc. etc. that I've been craving and it hurts. And sometimes I wish to reach in the television and just take whatever he's eating and eat it myself. 

But I really have been craving burgers. I could do without the bun and the dressings and cheese, but I needed some burger in my life. Rather than the ordinary burger, I was craving the Japanese rendition of the burger, also known as the Hamburg (Hambāgu) Plate. Soft and juicy with bits of caramelized onions packed within the meat, pair it with some grated radish and steamed rice and you're good to go. 

Yeah I know I made a pork burger, not an actual burger that's 100% beef, but I guess this is our recreation of the supposed-to-be Hamburg. Just without the sauce and the rice and buns and all. 

Pork Burgers

adapted from norecipes
yields 8 patties 

Ingredients: 
 
2 lbs ground pork
1 small onion finely diced
1 clove minced garlic
1 oz silken tofu
2 tbs stir fry sauce (We used a vegetarian mushroom sauce, you can get this at any Asian market)
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs soy sauce
1 egg white
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp tapioca starch 

Directions:

- Drizzle olive oil in a pan and sauté half of the onions and all of the minced garlic until the onions are brown and caramelized.Let cool to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground pork with the sautéd onions and garlic, the other half of raw onions, tofu, stir fry sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, egg white, salt, black and white pepper, and tapioca starch and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. The meat should appear to be getting stickier and more compact.
- Drizzle a bit more olive oil on the same pan you sautéd the onions and garlic with and heat up the pan. Form the patties with your hands into ovals or circles (whatever you like) about 1 inch think and put them directly on the pan at medium heat.
- Pan fry them until they form a dark brown crust and then use a spatula to carefully flip them over to brown the other side.
- If you like your patties well done (like my madre and I do), turn the stove to low heat and cover the pan with a lid and let it steam until the patties are done.
- Remove and serve.

Cooking cauliflower rice is as simple as it gets, besides cooking actual rice (ah the perks of having a rice cooker). It's super easy, healthy, and yummy, and I suggest you use a blender or food processor to crush up the cauliflower florets because it took me about half and hour to chop a GIANT head of cauliflower to tiny rice-size pieces. Excuse my run-on sentence.

Cauliflower Rice

yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower
1 tbs olive oil   
2 tbs water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

- Rinse off the cauliflower and cut off the florets (it's okay to have some of the stem too). On a cutting board or flat surface, chop the cauliflower into tiny pieces until it looks like rice (or as stated above, use a food processor!).
- Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add the cauliflower rice in. Cook at medium low heat and cover the cauliflower with a lid to let it steam.
- Once the cauliflower has softened up, add in the two tablespoons of water, turn the stove to low heat, and put the lid back over the pan to let it cook for about 1-2 minutes more.
- Uncover and add the salt and pepper to taste. The cauliflower should be soft yet crisp. Remove and serve as rice!