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

Avocado Crab Cakes with Crushed Plantain Chips

Dear disappointing Boston restaurant, My hubby and I can rarely resist ordering crab cakes when we eat out, and I was really looking forward to trying your twist on our favorite appetizer during our recent visit to your restaurant. So, you can imagine our...

Walnut Crusted Pineapple Chicken

The last part of our trip was spent on the Lithuanian coast in several resort towns by the Baltic Sea. We were there pretty early in the season so it was still a bit chilly at the beach and I just got my feet wet, although Apolinaras actually swam a couple of days! We...

Pancetta and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

We just got back from our annual lab ski trip, where stayed in a huge house up in New Hampshire and hit the slopes and snowshoeing trails at Mount Sunapee. We all had a great time relaxing, hanging out, and enjoying some incredible meals. Everyone signed up to make a...

Creamy Lemon Summer Squash Pasta

So it’s official – I’m a triathlete! I finished my first sprint triathlon at the Cranberry Trifest yesterday. The race was a 0.5 mile pond swim, followed by a 11.5 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run. My official time was 1:28:00, which put me in the top fourth of my age...

Corn and Cheddar Polenta Cheesecakes

I hope you’re all having a lovely holiday weekend! I’m in Iowa right now visiting my parents and so far have squeezed in a few nice runs with my Dad (with some challenging hills - yes, Iowa does have them!) and some birthday shopping with my mom. It’s just been so...

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Lemon and Thyme

I’m on the hunt for new chicken recipes. We’ve been eating more poultry than usual lately due to my hubby’s weightlifting diet. While I haven’t joined him in slurping down protein shakes and chowing down on egg whites every morning, I try to keep things interesting...

Pecan and Coconut Crusted Tilapia over Tropical Rice

Before we left for Florida over the holidays, I tried to strategically plan our meals to use up every last bit of food of in the fridge. It’s always so sad having to throw out spoiled ingredients when you get back! We also scrubbed the fridge and rest of our apartment...

Caramelized Shallot Apricot Chicken Pizza

Shannon and I went on a shopping mission a couple months ago in search of mini-cheesecake pans from the Williams Sonoma outlet. We couldn’t find the pans, but the trip wasn’t a complete loss because Shannon scored a gorgeous stainless steel sauté pan and I scooped up...