curry burgers

I love burgers. Burgers with bacon and avocado, burgers with blue cheese and mushrooms, teriyaki burgers, pot-sticker burgers, taco burgers...you name it, I will happily try to burger-ize it. So when I was making my shopping list this week and the idea of curry burgers struck me, it was on like Donkey Kong!

For these prototype curry burgers, I just added a tablespoon of garam masala, half a grated onion, some garlic powder and some salt to a pound of ground beef. I mixed it well with my hands and formed it into patties, then cooked them off in a hot pan. I served them with roasted cauliflower and a salad, thus:

I love radishes, by the way.

While the method of "grate onion, mix with meat and spices" produced a burger that was perfectly enjoyable, it wasn't quite as curry-tastic as I was looking for. Part of making a great curry is getting good color on your onions, because it gives a really nice depth of flavor. Another part of great curry is letting the spices toast in the fat with the onions briefly before adding the meat and coconut milk - that releases the essential oils and really opens up the spice flavors. The way I made these burgers threw both those elements out the window, and the dish suffered for it. Next time, I'm going to take the little extra time to brown the onion and toast the spices, THEN add them to the burger meat. I'll let you know how it turns out.