Everyone who knows me knows that I hate fusion food. This isn’t actually true. I tend to hate East/West fusion food when cooked by Western cooks who don’t know shit about the Eastern cuisine they think has influenced them. Meanwhile, my experience is that West/East fusion cooked by Eastern cooks who know what they are doing tends to work better.
So tonight, just to amaze you, I present my perfect West/East fusion Pittsburgh bar food: Chinese mini-steamed bun curried turkey burger sliders.
OK. First, you don’t need to do this with turkey. In fact, pork, beef or lamb are probably all preferable. But, the wife likes turkey burgers. So…
1. Start with some ground meat of your choice. Around half a pound.
2. Season with salt, pepper, and a bit of olive oil. I also add Rogan Josh spice mix from Penzey’s. It’s very Chinese to use fake curry power in Chinese food.
3. For a more Chinese feel, you could add ginger, scallion and a tiny bit of soy sauce to this.
4. Mix it all up, make 5 or 6 patties.
5. Buy some frozen plain mini steamed buns at Lotus or your favorite Chinese store. These are about 2 inches long per piece and come in a bag of 20 or 30. Heat some water and start these steaming. They’ll be done in about 5 to 10 minutes.
7. Pan fry the small patties until they are done. Just before they are done melt your favorite cheeseburger cheese on to them. Pepper jack, say.
8. Cut the patties so they’ll fit on the mini-buns. Slice each bun in half and put the burger in between. Top each one with ketchup if you want, or BBQ sauce if you want to be perfect.
Serve with anything you want. Now go munch them and play Halo.
Next week: Chicago Hot Dog Fried Rice with Eggs.
Great stuff! It’s only the fact that I’m a vegetarian that prevents me from trying this recipe.
I bet this would work with those deep fried tofu squares you can buy. Or maybe mushrooms.
Rogan Josh powder? That is so wrong.
I should send you some Indian-Chinese recipes to make your eyes bleed.