Thai Shrimp Burgers

Thai Shrimp Burgers

(serves four)

1 lb/450g raw shrimp

1/2 cup/30g Panko breadcrumbs

zest of 1 lime

zest of 1 lemon

1 medi­um-hot red chilli, fine­ly chopped

1 stalk lemon­grass, fine­ly chopped

1‑inch knob gin­ger, grated

2 cloves gar­lic, fine­ly chopped

hand­ful chives, fine­ly chopped

hand­ful cilantro/coriander, leaves only, fine­ly chopped

juices of lime and lemon

tiny squirt clear honey

1 tbsp Worces­ter­shire sauce

1/2 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp mirin

plen­ty fresh black pepper

sprin­kle sea salt

4 bread rolls

3 tbsps mayonnaise

squirt hot chilli sauce, to taste

4 hand­fuls arugula/rocket

In a food proces­sor, pulse the shrimp until the tex­ture of ground meat.  Tip into a largeish bowl and sprin­kle on all the ingre­di­ents up to the juices.  In a small bowl, mix the juices, hon­ey, Worces­ter­shire and fish sauces and mirin, then pour over the shrimp and mix every­thing well.  Form into four burg­ers and sprin­kle with the pep­per and salt.  Set in fridge, cov­ered with plas­tic wrap, for at least an hour, but up to six.

Heat your grill to 400F/200C and grill four about 5 min­utes per side.  More reli­able than tim­ing is the way the burg­er feels.  Pressed with your fin­ger­tip, it should have the resis­tance of the tip of your nose.  Err on the side of cook­ing longer as you real­ly don’t want under­cooked shrimp.  At the end of the cook­ing time, cut the rolls in half, remove as much of the inside bread as pos­si­ble and save for bread crumbs lat­er.  Grill the rolls cut side down till crisp.

Mix the may­on­naise and chilli sauce to the hot­ness you like.  On each open roll, pack in the arugu­la.  Top with the burg­ers and a dol­lop of spicy mayo, and close with the top half of the roll.