Carina ClaassensThe Braai Freedom Fighter does not play games. It’s a robust burger with little interest in debate and it dominates your plate. You use 100% pure red meat (steak) to make the burger patties, and the sauce is made with the finest red ingredients known to braai kind – significant figureheads like red onions, red bell peppers, paprika, cayenne pepper and tomato. If the ferocity of the Braai Freedom Fighter scares you, enjoy it with a dollop of fresh sour cream, as the two complement each other very well
INGREDIENTS
- 1kg steak mince
- 4 hamburger rolls (buttered)
- 1 tot olive oil
- 2 red onions (sliced or chopped)
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed and chopped)
- 1t chilli powder or cayenne pepper
- 2 tots paprika
- 2 tomatoes (chopped)
- 1 tot tomato paste
- ½ cup beef stock
- 1t salt
- 1t black pepper
- Sour cream for serving
- Parsley (to garnish)
YOU’LL ALSO LOVE: GREEK LAMB AND FETA BURGERS
METHOD
1. Heat the oil in a potjie and fry the onions and peppers for about 4 minutes until they start to soften, then add the garlic. (Onions take longer to cook than garlic, so always fry onions before adding the garlic).
2. Add the chilli powder and paprika and toss to release their flavours. Then add the tomatoes, tomato paste and beef stock, and mix to combine them all. Bring to the boil, close the lid and simmer until you start to braai the patties. Stir the potjie every now and then and make sure it doesn’t cook dry. You want the sauce to thicken but you don’t want it to burn.
3. Form the 1kg of mince into four patties using your hands and braai over very hot coals for 8 minutes, turning only once. Grind or sprinkle sea salt and black pepper on both sides just before, or during the braai. The patties get no other binding ingredients or seasoning.
4. When you start braaing the patties, take the lid off the sauce and let it reduce to your liking, adding extra heat under the potjie if necessary to reduce it more rapidly.
5. During the final minutes of the braai, toast the insides of the cut and buttered rolls on the grid over the coals.
6. Assemble the burgers in this order; roll, patty, Braai Freedom Fighter sauce, dollop sour cream, chopped parsley.
This recipe makes four burgers
