Dirty lamb burger, sliced onions and aloo pakora
A flavour-packed lamb burger, spicy onions, pakora, tamarind sauce and mint chutney all stuffed into a brioche buns makes for a absolute treat of a dirty burger!
Tips: If possible, when sourcing the lamb shoulder mince look for a good percentage of fat.
Ingredients
For the spicy onions
- 250g/9oz red onions, sliced as thin as possible
- 1 lime, juice and zest only
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú tomato ketchup
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú mango chutney
- 10²µ/â…“o³ú ginger paste
- 10²µ/â…“o³ú garlic paste
- 20g/¾oz chopped fresh coriander

- 10²µ/â…“o³ú chopped fresh chilli

- 5²µ/â…›o³ú chilli powder
- salt, to taste
For the lamb burger
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú chopped coriander stalks and leaves
- 1kg/2lb 4oz minced lamb shoulder 

- 3 tbsp grated ginger
- 3 tbsp crushed garlic
- 5 green chillies (with seeds), finely chopped
- 2 small red onion, finely chopped
- 4 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp mild chilli powder
- 1 tsp fine salt
For the aloo pakora
- 500g/1lb 2oz potatoes
- 
150²µ/5½´Ç³ú gram flour
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chopped ginger
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (or dried)
To serve
Method
To make the spicy onions, place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mix well and leave for 2 hours. The spicy onions can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.
To make the lamb burger, mix all the burger ingredients together well, with clean hands, in a large bowl. Divide the burger mix into 6–8 even balls.
Rub some vegetable oil onto your hands if you need to, so the burgers don’t stick, and mould into burger shapes. Set aside in the fridge on a plate until you are ready to cook the burgers.
To make the aloo pakora, wash the potatoes thoroughly under running water and then cut the potato into julienne (thin matchsticks).
Put the gram flour, turmeric, salt, ginger, chilli, cumin, chilli powder and coriander in a bowl and mix together.
Measure out 100ml/3½fl oz of water – you may not need it all.
Add the potatoes to the spice mixture, then add a splash of the measured water in small increments, mix until a thick batter forms.
Heat a pan with oil for shallow frying until medium-hot ensuring that the oil is not too hot about (about 155C to 165C). CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.
Now add the potato batter (about 1 tablespoon blobs) gently into the pan and flatten slightly using a spatula and allow them to cook undisturbed for 3–4 minutes, or until golden-brown, before flipping and allowing to cook for another 3–4 minutes, or until golden-brown on the other side. Repeat to use up all the batter.
While the aloo pakora is cooking, cook the burgers. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat, and drizzle in a little oil. Carefully put all the burgers in the pan then turn the heat down to medium, cook for 4 minutes on one side, then flip overusing a spatula and cook the other side for 3–5 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for a minute on kitchen paper.
In the same pan (making use of any excess fat and spices in the pa), turn up the heat and then toast the cut sides of the bun lids in the hot pan for 30 seconds, or until slightly browned.
To serve, build each burger with pakora on top of one half of the bun, then the lamb burger, followed by the spiced onions. Serve right away with tamarind sauce and mint chutney on the side.
