Burger with garlic yogurt
Hi all cooking lovers. I will from time to time post receipes from Cyprus and Greece.
This recipe originates from Asia Minor. (today’s west coast of Turkey). Thanks to Tasia who learned it from her mother, who learned from it from her mother who came to Athens from Smyrni (today’s Ismirn) back in 1922. The favorite burger of my family and ALL our friends.
You can use 100% beef minced meat in case you don't eat pork or if it's not available. You can grill it in your grill if bbq is not available. Satisfaction guaranteed!!!
Ingredients for 8 persons (You can adjust accordingly)
1 kilo of mincemeat, beef, pork or mixed.
8 spoonfuls olive oil
2 eggs
6 spoonfuls grounded yellow hard cheese (Kaskaval or kefalotyri type)
6 medium onions grounded
4-5 cloves garlic melted
2 small matured tomatoes
250 grams bread 4-5 days old, soaked and squeezed (Just the white part)
4 spoonfuls bread crumb rubbed.
4 teaspoons oregano.
Salt
Pepper black (to taste)
Preparation
We mix all materials with little water until they become a homogeneous mass. We should be careful not to make the mix very soft because the burger will break during the baking. If it needs hardening we add little bread crumb. We leave the mixture in the refrigerator to stand for 2-3 hours before we make the burgers.
We make our burgers in elongated (egg like) shape in order to be able to roll them or wrap them in our pitta and place them on a tray and with a little brush we apply olive oil on both sides in order not to stick on the grill.
We cook them on the barbecue (preferably on charcoal), on open grill and we continuously turn them in the beginning, so they do not stick. Also in the beginning we place the grill at the highest point and after we escape the danger of sticking we lower our grill.
Greek pitta is the best for this burger but we can use any kind of arabic, turkish or cypriot pitta. The thicker the better. They should be flexible so we can roll our burgers in them.
Garlic Yogurt
In 500 grams strained yogurt, (the more sour the better), we add half a cup of water, 4 spoonfuls olive oil, 2-3 big cloves garlic (melted), a teaspoon salt and white pepper. We mix well.
Ready, Steady, GO!!!
We apply garlic yogurt on our pitta, we place 2 burgers, thin slices of tomato, onion (if we like it), we wrap and enjoy. Personally I add some drops of Tabasco.
Bonne apetitte!
