Moroccan Style Lamb Burgers with Honey, Chilli Tzatziki

Lightly spiced Moroccan style lamb burgers with a lovely honey and chilli tzatziki that’s perfect for the glorious summer days.

When the sun is beaming with little wisps of cloud peppering the skies, and the kids running amuck in the garden is there anything better than making foods perfect for dining outside.

This where you want to keep it simple and keep the recipe simple as to allow you to spend that quality time outside as well. This may involve the BBQ if you have one and exactly what I had taken full advantage of.

Asking my kids what would they like was a simple task and imagine them saying in tune, and in sync ‘BURGERS’

If I am totally honest I do enjoy a good burger on the BBQ and I secretly shouted in time with them.

The concern for me was we always have beef burgers. Don’t get me wrong you really cannot beat a good burger but I wanted to do something different and not with beef so I went for lamb.

Now thinking of how to build a nice lamb burger that will cook nicely on the coals and remain nice and moist in the middle I had a vision of some subtle spices coming through.

This is where looking at my spice rack I went for some Moroccan style spices, well more spices from all over to be perfectly honest. I wanted to bring some warmth, a little sweetness but overall some spices that would be enhanced by cooking on the BBQ. The spices I decided to go with were cumin, coriander, paprika and garam masala. This would all be brought together with some honey and lemon juice.

The question is; did they work and how did the kids enjoy something completely different to the normal beef burger?

They devoured every mouthful for which I was pleasantly surprised.

To really finish off these lamb burgers I tweaked a classic Greek sauce tzatziki. Keeping simple with the base of yoghurt, cucumber, salt and mint I added some honey and chilli which overall and topping the lamb burgers really did bring all of the flavours together. All the spices and the honey also encourage the burgers to get a beautiful crust on the outside which is packed full of flavour too.

And there it was our coming together to end a glorious day of great weather, these lamb burgers, on top of a few rocket leaves, dressed with some tzatziki in a toasted sesame bun with a side of spicy sweet potato wedges.

Moroccan Style Lamb Burgers with Honey, Chilli Tzatziki

Lightly spiced Moroccan style lamb burgers with a lovely honey and chilli tzatziki that’s perfect for the glorious summer days.

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 35 mins

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

Moroccan Lamb Burgers

• 500 g Lamb mince
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. dried coriander
• 1 tsp. Smoked Paprika
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1 Garlic clove crushed
• 1 tbsp. Honey
• ½ lemon juiced

Honey Chilli Tzatziki

• ¼ cucumber deseeded and grated
• 200 g Greek natural yoghurt
• 2 tbsp. fresh mint chopped
• 1 tsp. red chilli finely chopped
• 1 tsp. Honey
• ½ lemon juiced

To Serve

• 4 seeded burger rolls sliced in half
• Handful of rocket leaves washed

Instructions

 

• In a large bowl mix, together all of the lamb burger ingredients and then form in to 4 evenly sized patties about 1 cm thick. Place on to a plate and wrap in cling film until required. These can be kept in the refrigerator if preparing early or can be left on the side prior to cooking. If storing in the refrigerator take out about ten minutes before cooking.
• At this point you can light the BBQ and allow the coals to heat up. The burgers can be cooked when the coals have turned a greyish colour. If they are too hot then there is a chance of burning the burgers or at worst undercooking.
• While the coals are heating up mix all of the tzatziki ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and taste. You can add more lemon and salt as your palette allows. Place in a serving bowl until required.
• Place the burgers on the BBQ and cook for about 5 minutes each side or until cooked all the way through. Don’t mess around with them too much but allow to cook and form a crust or they will break up if trying to turn too early. This can be tested by cutting one open in to the middle and making sure the mince is not raw still or if you have a food thermometer ensure they are cooked to 70C.
• If you’re not using the BBQ the burgers can be cooked in a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat for about 5 minutes each side.
• With the burgers cooked place on a plate and allow to rest for a few minutes while you toast your sesame seeded buns.
• To build place some rocket on the base of your bun followed by your lamb burger and then topped with the tzatziki sauce.