Asian Chicken Burgers

Not too long ago, I hosted an "ethnic" week in our house. I cooked up some indian food. I made some thai food. I made some mexican food. It was quite fun and a nice adjustment to the normal weekly meals. For the most part, my ethnic week stuck with traditional meals. But my asian night went outside the box. I had spotted these chicken burgers in an issue of Food Network magazine and was excited to try them. I have had good experiences making chicken burgers in the past.

This recipe did not disappoint. They were very good, incredibly flavorful, unique and interesting. It was very easy to mix up. I highly recommend using the hoisin sauce because the burgers seem to be missing without them. As a side, I mixed up an "asian inspired brown rice" dish, that apparently took over my whole plate. It's not normally something you would eat with a burger, but it somehow worked... at least for this night. Try this tasty dish out next time you want something different.
Asian Chicken Burgers
from Food Network magazine
Ingredients

• 1 small carrot
• 1 small red onion, halved
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 Tbsp grated peeled ginger
• 4 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tsp hot Asian chili sauce, such as sambal oelek
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• juice of 1 lime
• 4 whole-wheat sesame hamburger buns

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mist a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Grate the carrot and 1/2 onion into a large bowl. Add the chicken, panko, 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce, ginger, 3 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sambal oelek and mix until combined. Shape the chicken mixture into 4 patties and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, thinly slice the remaining 1/2 onion. Toss with the mushrooms, sesame oil, lime juice and the remaining 1 tsp soy sauce in a bowl. Mix the remaining 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce and 2 tsp sambal oelek with 1 Tbsp water in another bowl.
4. Warm the hamburger buns in the oven. Serve the burgers on the buns with a drizzle of the hoisin-sambal sauce and some of the mushroom mixture.