These Rice Beef Burger with Kimchi and Wasabi-Mustard Mayo is both a reader requested recipe, as well as a post for the Foodies+ Fusion month over on Google+.
Foodies+ is an almost 300 000 strong food community that I run on Google+. We like to have monthly themes and challenges in the community, and this month is all about fusion food.
I’d been wanting to post a recipe with these rice burger buns for ages. We have them from time to time, as we just love compressed rice dishes of all kinds.
Let’s take a look at how we made these Rice Beef Burgers
The Rice Buns
The rice buns themselves are pretty straightforward, they can be made with any type of rice, but are especially good when you use short grain sticky rice like for sushi or risotto. Thai sticky rice is good too. In this recipe here, we are using sushi rice. I’ve lightly seasoned them with some Shichimi Togarashi, the Japanese 7 flavour spice mix. Click here to read more about it. You can make your own, use shop bought or leave it out.
The rice buns are pretty firm but still need to be handled with care. You could leave them as they are, once you’ve formed them. Or you could lightly fry them, just to brown on either side, which is meant to “strengthen” them. I don’t personally notice any difference in the actual integrity, just on the top outer layer of the rice buns. So I never bother to fry them.
For quick assembly of our rice beef burger, and ease, I suggest you cook your rice hours earlier or even the day before, so you are not hanging around for the rice to cool. From the rice buns with your hands or with a burger press, whatever is easier for you. I use a burger press because I have a few!
The Beef Burgers
I resisted all temptation to jazz up the beef patties to make them “more Japanese”. For eg, I thought about adding one or more of the following: wasabi, shichimi togarashi, katsuobushi and nori.
In the end, I kept them simple, made with onions and seasoned with salt and pepper. Because after all, the pièce de résistance is meant to be the kimchi and spiked mayo. It’s so easy to go overboard with flavours though, isn’t it?
A note on the beef: when making burgers, meatballs and kebabs, be sure to get fatty minced meat. It needs to be a minimum of 10% fat, preferably, 15%. Doesn’t have to be 20%, but go with that if you like. The reason for this is that the fat in the beef keeps your meatballs, et al, moist. Lean mince will give you dry, chewy, burgers, meatballs and kebabs.
Toppings
Kimchi
I had a small amount left of our homemade cabbage kimchi (pogi kimchi), and I really, really fancied it. The combination of kimchi and meat is simply irresistible to me. You can use any type of kimchi you like, although it is the cabbage one that seems to be the most common outside of Korea.
Now I don’t expect you to make your own kimchi to enjoy this rice beef burger, just go ahead and get a good shop bought version. In my experience, those are always found in “ethnic” shops, not our big supermarkets. I am, however, planning to do a post on homemade kimchi very soon, so look out for that!
Wasabi-Mustard Mayo
So, I had to have mayo on the rice beef burger, because… well, just because. Given the fact that I was doing a fusion recipe, it needed to be spiked with wasabi. Use whatever wasabi you can get your hands on, the fresh root would be great, but that’s expensive! I get them from the guys at The Wasabi Company, but not often, as it costs £12 for a small tuber.
This wasabi powder is what I tend to use when I don’t have fresh wasabi root at home. It’s mainly horseradish, with about 10% wasabi. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?
What about the mustard? Mustard and beef are a match made in heaven. And when I tasted the wasabi mayo, I felt that it still needed more of a kick and body, so in went the mustard. No need to be picky, any mustard you have at home is fine, powdered or not, doesn’t matter.
Everything else in our Rice Beef Burger with Kimchi and Wasabi-Mustard Mayo
Vegetables
Lettuce lined buns are a must when making burgers. The added freshness is the perfect foil to the rich, meaty meat and sauces. Cucumbers, tomatoes and onions are also always good, for the same reason.
Added Chilli Sauce
If you are chilli crazy like me, and your kimchi isn’t spicy, then by all means reach for some chilli sauce. Sriracha would be great in this.
Cheese
Cheese is just one of those ingredients that you cannot go wrong with. I didn’t use it in the picture but I love cheese with kimchi and chilli sauce. Seriously. When I was younger, my granny used to make me a sandwich that had butter (on the bread), homemade sambal and/or pickles and a slice of cheddar. Oh man, it is still on of my favourite light lunches or snacks when I’m feeling ravenous.
Sambal is a word that doesn’t have a direct English translation. It refers to any spicy chilli condiment, sauce and sometimes, side dish, and is a word used in Malay, Indonesian and Sri Lankan/Maldivian cuisines. Although in the latter, it’s spelled sambol. Here, on LinsFood, we have a wide variety of them, including:
- Sambal Belacan (Red Chilli Condiment)
- Sambal Petai
- Eurasian Prawn Sambal Bostador
- Sambal Ijo – Indonesian Green Chilli Condiment
- Sambal Matah, Indonesian raw, spicy shallot salsa
How about it, have you tried a burger with rice buns? Naturally, they are gluten free, which is a bonus if you are that way inclined!
Lin xx
Rice Beef Burger with Kimchi and Wasabi-Mustard Mayo, a delightful Japanese/Korean fusion burger recipe. I know this is pretty calorific. That's because we are using a whole lot of rice to make the buns. Halve the amount of rice and make thinner buns, if you like. But they won't be as sturdy. Or serve them as an open sandwich, as in the top image here.
Total time doesn't take into account the cooling of the rice after cooking.
Rice Beef Burger with Kimchi and Wasabi-Mustard Mayo
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition information
It’s my kind, a fusion (the west meets the east with rice burger) of a fusion (then kimchi)!
I can see this rice as buns pairs well over bread buns with a presence of kimchi.
It’s not just a fusion by replacing the ingredients from one another, but a very well thought out one.
I’ve been thinking of making a rice burger for last a few days, haven’t even had it since I was a kid. Now seeing this, my mind is in a full mode for a recipe! Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you, I am ver pleased with this particular combination myself!
Wow, this is a meal! I’ve tried rice bun and shrimp before so burger with wasabi and kimchi would be a different story for me, and it sounds exciting!
Rice buns? Very interesting. Rice Beef Burger with Kimchi and Wasabi-Mustard Mayo certainly looks and sounds delicious!
From the look of this dish, I can tell that it is very delicious and fulfilling. Will share the recipe with my friends.
I have only heard about the cabbage kimchi yet . This can be really great side dish . Thanks for sharing I would love try this recipe.
Oh my i love this, super creative and a great new way to introduce rice to a new dish.
Rice as burger bun? Sounds so delicious! Adding kimchi makes this dish super. A must-try.
Rice Beef Burger with Kimchi and Wasabi-Mustard Mayo?? Well, I’ve never heard about such a meal but it is definitely looking too delicious! It is such a full meal no doubt…beef burgers even make it yummier!
I’ve never thought of using rice instead of a bun, this looks delicious… I’m off to make some lunch 😉
MMMM I am one hungry lady now! I cannot wait to give these a try, thanks so much for sharing!
I love rice very much and making it as a bun for a burger is sounds good to me. It makes more especially because of adding kimchi as its additional toppings.
Thank you, Geraline, we do love our rice too!
Such a delicious recipe, love the mix of all those fantastic and fragrant ingredients.
Thank you for your visit and comment on my blog, I am following you on Google+, Instagram and Pinterest and I would love if you could do that too and continue following and supporting our work.
Regards,
Flo
Hi Florentina, thank you. I’ll go look for you on those platforms.
You had me at kimchi! This looks like a great meal to put together. I would not have thought to do this! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you, Elaine.
I really love the idea of rice buns! I really want to try them out with a veggie sushi recipe!
That sounds like a great idea, serving them alongside sushi!