Lebanese cuisine is an authentic delight, I really like preparing dishes based on this gastronomy and enjoying them with friends on summer nights. And is that who dares to prepare copious elaborations with the heat that runs?

For this reason and because I know that you love to surprise your guests, I propose some hamburgers in a mini version, which you already know are always a claim and if they are not the usual ones that we have in mind, they will always be a success. For this reason, today, I bring you mini falafel burgers . Yes, falafel, a fantastic option to go beyond chickpea vinaigrette and thus eat vegetables in a different way.

And not only that, I imagine you are thinking that falafel is made fried, but this is not the case, it is grilled falafel, of course , in my Le Creuset skillet , ideal for everything you have in mind and more; and as if that were not enough, accompanied by a creamy and refreshing sauce that you will want to prepare for everything and always have on hand.

You dare? Have the Gefu press at hand that will be your great ally today.

Gefu mini burger press and wooden board

Ingredients

For 8-10 mini burgers:

• 250g dried chickpeas
• ½ red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ cup of breadcrumbs
• ½ bunch fresh cilantro (leaves only)
• ½ bunch fresh parsley (leaves only)
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• 3 teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 and ½ teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8-10 hamburger buns
• Arugula and canons
• pickled red onion
• extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:

• 250g Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
• 12 mint leaves, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper

Le Creuset skillet pan , Pallarès carbon steel pallarès kitchen knife and wooden board

Elaboration

1. We start by hydrating the chickpeas, soaking them for at least 8 hours.
2. Once hydrated, we place them in a food processor together with the garlic, onion, tahini, coriander, parsley, cayenne, cumin, pepper and salt. Blend until smooth but not too fine a texture.
3. Pour the mixture into a bowl, adjust the salt if necessary, mix with the breadcrumbs and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
4. After half an hour we will verify that the dough of the hamburgers has enough consistency to form a ball without sticking to the hands. If not, we could add a little more breadcrumbs to dry the mixture. Next we will form the mini hamburgers, for this we will use our Gefu mini hamburger press , as you already know, it is an ideal manual press to get all the hamburgers the same and make our work easier (you can follow the same recipe in the usual hamburger version, with the hamburger press ). Keep in mind that this time we will have to moisten the base of the press to help us unmold them.
5. Once we have the mini hamburgers ready, we will cook them on the grill in our Le Creuset skillet , to do this we will heat it with 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Once hot we will cook the hamburgers; It is important to cook them for about 6 minutes on each side without turning them constantly in order to get them to brown as well as cook well inside.
6. While the hamburgers are cooking we will prepare the sauce, for this all you have to do is mix all the ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. We booked.
7. Once we have the hamburgers ready, we will heat the buns open in half in the skillet.
8. Finally we make the assembly of the mini hamburgers, for this we pour a spoonful of sauce on the base of the bread, on the sauce we have the hamburger, then we add pickled onion and crown arugula and lamb's lettuce. We close with the other bread lid and thus we have a dinner ready to enjoy on these delicious summer nights.

Wooden board and round porcelain plate Revol

If you want you can have the burgers formed in advance and cook them at the time of serving. I also give you the idea of ​​presenting all the ingredients on a tray, Emile Henry's are ideal , and that everyone prepare their hamburger as they like.

And now it's your turn to tell us, what is your favorite burger? Do you like vegetable burgers or are you more into classic burgers?