Lamb Pita Burgers Recipes

Steps:

• Lightly crush the chickpeas in a large bowl with a potato masher. Tip half into another bowl, mix with the hummus and peppers, then set aside. Add the mince to the remaining mashed chickpeas, along with the chopped mint, the cumin seeds and some seasoning. Mix with your hands until well combined, then shape into eight small burgers.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the burgers - or fire up the BBQ and brush the burgers with oil - and cook for 5 mins on each side until golden and cooked through. Meanwhile, toast the pitta bread. Split each pitta in half and fill with some red pepper hummus, the remaining mint leaves, two burgers and some pomegranate seeds.

Steps:

• Add the coriander, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of salt to a small mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the spice mixture to the lamb stew meat and use tongs to coat the meat in the spices. Set aside.
• Heat an electric pressure cooker to the sauté setting and add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pot. Once the oil is shimmering, add the stew meat in batches, being sure not to overcrowd the pot. Brown the meat on all sides, about 4 minutes, then remove to a plate. Add an additional tablespoon of oil, if needed, before adding another batch of meat. Once all the meat has been browned and removed from the pot, add the red wine to deglaze, stirring and scraping the bottom to release any brown bits stuck to the base of the pot. Once the alcohol smell has burned off, 1 to 2 minutes, add the canned diced tomatoes and the browned meat. Stir to combine.
• Place the lid on the pressure cooker and seal. Set to high pressure according to the manufacturer's instructions. Once at high pressure cook for 15 minutes then allow the pressure cooker to naturally release for 10 minutes before manually venting the rest.
• While the lamb cooks, add the fresh chopped tomatoes, cucumber, onion, parsley, dill, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper to a medium bowl. Toss to combine and set aside until ready to assemble.
• To assemble, slice each pita in half and open to create a pocket. Slather each side of the pocket with hummus, then add in a few pieces of romaine lettuce, covering the hummus. Next add a few spoonfuls of the cucumber-onion mixture and top with a few pieces of cooked lamb. Continue the process with the remaining ingredients.

Steps:

• Mix first 5 ingredients together in medium bowl. Season yogurt sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
• Mix lamb and next 5 ingredients in large bowl until well blended. Season generously with salt and pepper. Shape mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick patties.
• Preheat broiler. Place lamb patties on broiler rack and broil until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.
• Open pita bread rounds; line bottoms with trimmed tops, if desired. Place lettuce, burger, then large spoonful of yogurt sauce in each round. Serve, passing sauce separately.

Steps:

• Wash, trim, seed and chop peppers.
• Heat nonstick pan large enough to hold peppers and burgers until it is very hot; reduce heat to medium high, and add oil. Add peppers, and saute until they begin to soften.
• Meanwhile, chop onion finely, and mince garlic; chop fresh thyme leaves; pit the olives, and chop. Combine with lamb, pepper and bread crumbs, and shape into 4 patties. Add lamb burgers in between the peppers, and saute on both sides until they are pink in the middle.
• Slice about an inch off the top of the pitas, and heat two of them in the toaster oven until they are hot but not crisp, just a couple of minutes.
• Wash, trim and slice tomatoes; wash, trim and chop scallions.
• When peppers are cooked and burgers are done, stuff each pita with a burger, a quarter of the tomatoes and scallions, and some of the peppers. Serve the remaining peppers on the side.
• Toast the remaining two pitas, and repeat the stuffing process.