Cooking the Channel: Chicken Burgers

By: Kirsten Vala

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Chicken Burger with Lemongrass and Lime from Bill's Holiday

We’re blazing our way through Cooking Channel recipes, one show at a time. Hope you’re cooking along! Leave links to your blogs and post pictures to Facebook.

Bill’s Holiday is a food-focused travelogue, following chef, cookbook author and restaurateur Bill Granger as he holidays across Australia. This recipe comes from the " Tropical North" of Australia (which I am almost too Northern-hemisphere-centric and American to comprehend). Find out when the next episode of Bill's Holiday is airing here, or watch out the video for this dish.

Fish sauce adds a little something extra to these burgers

Ingredients: All the fresh Asian flavors came together beautifully: lemongrass, lime, mint, cilantro, chili sauce. (It reminded me of Vietnamese banh mi.) I had never cooked with lemongrass! I had to watch how Bill chopped it up—you chop off both the tough root end and the green tops then peel away the outer layer and use just the inside bit that you’re left with. Also, fish sauce—it smells horrible but really adds a little bit of something special to the flavors here.

I’ll add a little less onion next time I make this. The recipe calls for "one onion," but if you watch the video, the onion Bill uses is on the small side.

Directions: My food processor came in handy for making this. I whizzed up some day-old bread to make fresh breadcrumbs. Then, instead of grating a whole onion (A great technique, but I can’t handle all those tears!) I popped the onion into the food processor as well.

Cooking time was a bit longer using my cast iron skillet. As always, but especially because this is chicken, I recommend using a food thermometer to determine doneness (165 degrees according to the USDA).

This spicy Asian-style slaw was great with and on top of the burger

The Side: I love how Asian salads can be refreshingly crunchy and cool, but also full of heat from hot chiles. The contrast is magical. This slaw tasted amazing, with mint, cilantro, celery, quick-pickled carrots and Napa cabbage. Not only was it the ideal side, but it tasted great piled on top of the burgers.

What do you think? Share any questions, problems or comments below, and we want to see your pictures on Facebook.

Next Week: Cook along with Sara as she makes Oven-Fried Chile Chicken from Indian Food Made Easy.

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