Recipe: Anas' Classic Cheeseburger

It's time for a rich, juicy burger. Homemade. Scrumptious. And because sometimes we want to eat delicious, messy food.

Revel in the taste of a Classic Cheeseburger with a secret sauce. Chef Mohammed Anas of BeyondBurg, Palace road, Bengaluru, recommends his recipe for a meat burger with cheese and also provides the details of the ingredients of a unique, uplifting condiment to jazz up the offering.

Chef Anas was not destined for a career of creating wonders in the kitchen. He was on the road to a less colourful job in the aviation management industry. But when, on a lark, he started working in his brother's restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram, he ditched aviation for the love of cooking.

After perfecting his skills in a few restaurants over a two-year period, he and his partner, Ajmal Jaseem, started up a burger kiosk in Bengaluru in 2017, that grew in popularity and into a chain of three restaurants in three cities, with more on the anvil -- eateries are planned in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Meanwhile, until an outlet opens near you, whip up his recipe for a traditional burger, like how they were invented back in Hamburg, Germany, in around the 1860s, when they were called Rundstück Warm or a warm bread roll. An alternate version of the history of the hamburger suggests it got its name when folks migrating to America tucked into them on the Hamburg America Line ships in the 1840s and 1850s.

Classic Cheeseburger

Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the burger patties:

• 500 gm buffalo keema or mince (80 per cent lean, 20 per cent fat)
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• Oil for frying the patties

Secret burger sauce:

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce or ketchup
• 2 tbsp sweet pickle relish, available for purchase online
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper powder

For the assembly:

• 4 hamburger buns, each sliced in half
• A few pats butter
• 4 slices cheddar cheese
• 4 leaves fresh lettuce
• 4 slices tomato
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• A few slices dill pickle or gherkins

Method

For the secret sauce:

• In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, ketchup, sweet pickle relish, white vinegar, sugar, salt, and the black pepper powder until well combined.
  Keep aside.

To prepare the patties:

• In a large bowl, mix the ground buffalo meat with the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper powder.
  Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts and shape into burger patties, about ¾ inch thick.
  Make a small indentation in the centre of each patty to prevent puffing up during cooking.

To cook the patties:

• Preheat a grill or a skillet (frying pan) over medium-high heat.
• Lightly oil the grates or the skillet.
• Cook the patties for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare, or until they reach your desired level of doneness.
• In the last minute of cooking, place a slice of cheddar cheese on each patty and cover to melt the cheese.

Toast the buns:

• While the patties are cooking, lightly butter the insides of the hamburger buns.
  Lightly toast on the grill or in a toaster.
  Keep aside.

Assembly:

• Spread a generous amount of secret burger sauce on the bottom half of each bun.
  Add a leaf of lettuce, followed by a slice of tomato.
  Place the cheesy patty on top of the tomato.
  Add a few slices of red onion and the pickle slices.
  Place the top half of the bun on the burger.
  Serve these classic cheeseburgers immediately, with your favourite sides like fries, onion rings, or a fresh salad.

Chef Anas' Note: The chef offers a special tip. He says for an extra burst of flavour, consider adding crispy bacon or an additional special sauce of your choice.

Chef Mohammed Anas hails from Kerala, but lives in Bengaluru, when he is not travelling between his restaurants in Kozhikode and Kochi.

• REDIFF FOOD