Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Thai Burgers with Plum Sauce and Spicy Slaw

Main Dishes

I’ve slowly been working on a few recipes to go with my recap posts about our amazing trip to New Zealand, but I haven’t even started to go through all our pictures. The task just seems too overwhelming…but today I have a little teaser post – Thai turkey burgers inspired by the ones we enjoyed at Fergburger in the bungee jumping capital of the world, Queenstown! Queenstown is a beautiful resort town on the Southern Island of New Zealand with amazing skiing.

We arrived in Queenstown late one night after a long 5 hour drive and immediately headed to Fergburger, which had been recommended to us by multiple Kiwis during our trip. Mmm, the burgers really spot. And they’re also huge – see they were almost as big as my head! Apolinaras got a burger with a Thai plum sauce that I immediately became smitten with and it inspired today’s recipe. I gave mine a little twist and topped my burgers with a spicy slaw. Ok, back to sifting through all our pictures!

Thai Burgers with Plum Sauce and Spicy Slaw
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Spicy Slaw:
1/2 cucumber, coarsely grated
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 cup thinly sliced roasted red peppers
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt

Plum Sauce:
1/3 cup plum jam
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced

Burger Patties:
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup grated red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt

Assembly:
6 whole wheat hamburger buns, split and toasted

Directions:
To make the spicy slaw, mix shredded cucumber, carrot, and red pepper in a medium bowl. Mix rice vinegar, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt in a small bowl. Pour dressing over veggies and stir well. Place in the fridge for an hour to allow the flavors to meld.

To make the plum sauce, mix plum jam, rice vinegar, and garlic in a small bowl and stir until smooth.

To make the burger patties, heat oven broiler. Place ground turkey, grated onion, garlic, and salt in a large bowl and gently mix all the ingredients together with your hands; form 6 burgers that are slightly larger than your buns. Place patties on a large cookie sheet and broil for 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until cooked through and no longer pink in the center.

To assemble the burgers, place a patty on top of the bottom half of each bun and evenly spread the plum sauce on top of each burger. Drain any excess liquid off the slaw and spread evenly on the burgers. Add the burger tops and serve. Makes 6 burgers.

Nutrition: 383 calories, 10.0g fat, 2.2g fiber, 26.7g protein per serving
Cost: $1.97 per serving

Bacon and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breasts over Sweet Potato Hash

I’m always on the hunt for new chicken recipes and often times will just write “chicken” on my blog recipe idea list as motivation to dream up something new! Stuffed chicken is one of our favorites, and I especially love using a little mascarpone cheese in the filling...

Farfalle with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese Sauce

This pasta has Apolinaras’ name written all over it. I guess you could call him my muse from time to time. He looooves mushrooms and was so happy when I encouraged him to go ahead and put the pricey fresh shitakes in the grocery cart the other day. When I told him I...

Southwestern Pepper Jack Mac & Cheese

Can you believe I never had mac & cheese growing up? I was actually first introduced to the blue box in college by my good friend Susie. We lived together the summer in between our sophomore and junior years and used to come home from our respective labs during...

Summer Veggie Pasta with an Eggplant and Ricotta Sauce

Our apartment balcony is filled with foliage. My plant tending days ended after the demise of Petey, a plant my good friend Britt and I attempted to care for in college, so I’m lucky that Apolinaras has a green thumb! He’s already dreaming of the day we have a real...

Eggplant and Orzo Stuffed Red Peppers

Whenever I ask Apolinaras where he’d like to go out to dinner, he inevitability suggests his favorite BBQ place in Boston, Blue Ribbon. I have to admit that I’m a pretty big fan too, and actually just writing this post is making me crave some pulled pork and burnt...

Mediterranean Eggplant Stacks

You may have noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a Mediterranean kick lately – chickpeas, roasted red peppers, and feta have all been making me very happy and this dish is no exception. I wanted to come up with a fun vegetarian main dish to serve at an upcoming dinner...

Shrimp Tacos with Corn Salsa

There are some things I never pass up and one of them is corn on the cob. I will eat it anytime, anywhere, even if I don’t have any floss with me. The deliciousness is definitely worth having a few annoying pieces stuck in my teeth! Of course, fresh summer corn is...

Caramelized Pineapple Pulled Pork Flatbreads

I hope everyone is enjoying the long holiday weekend! Apolinaras and I are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary with a mini vacation in Portland, Maine, and the eats have been phenomenal so far. I’ll have a full recap soon! In the meantime, I thought sharing...