Mini falafel burgers with yogurt and mint sauce

Lebanese cuisine is a real delight, I really like to prepare dishes based on this gastronomy and enjoy them with friends on summer nights. And is that who dares to prepare copious preparations with the heat that run?

For this reason and because I know that you love to surprise your diners, I propose you 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. Therefore, today, I bring you mini falafel hamburgers . Yes, falafel, a fantastic option to get out of the chickpea vinaigrettes and thus eat legumes in a different way.

And not only that, I imagine that you are thinking that falafel is fried, but this is not the case, it is falafel made on the grill , 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 at hand the Gefu press that will be your great ally today.

Gefu mini burger press and wooden board

Ingredients

For 8-10 mini burgers:

• 250 g dried chickpeas
• ½ chopped red onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• ½ bunch of fresh cilantro (leaves only)
• ½ bunch of fresh parsley (leaves only)
• 2 tablespoons 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 lamb's lettuce
• pickled red onion
• extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:

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

Le Creuset skillet frying 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, place them in a food processor together with the garlic, onion, tahini, coriander, parsley, cayenne, cumin, pepper and salt. We crush until we get a homogeneous but not too fine texture.
3. Pour the mixture into a bowl, season with salt if necessary, mix with the breadcrumbs and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
4. After half an hour we will verify that the hamburger dough has enough consistency to form a ball without sticking to the hands. If not, we could add some 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 same hamburgers and make our work easier (you can follow the same recipe in the usual hamburger version, with 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 , for 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 constantly turning them in order to get them to brown as well as cook well on the inside.
6. While the hamburgers are cooking, we will prepare the sauce. To do this, all you have to do is mix all the ingredients in a bowl and season. We booked.
7. Once we have the hamburgers ready, we will heat the buns open in half in the skillet.
8. Finally we assemble the mini hamburgers, for this we pour a spoonful of sauce on the base of the bread, place the hamburger on top of the sauce, then add pickled onion and crown arugula and lamb's lettuce. We close with the other bread cover and so 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 prepares their hamburger as they like.

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