Pork Burger Tuesdays & a Mini Pork Burger Recipe

A friend of mine is always excited come Tuesday as it's her Pork Burger Tuesday and I can always see her excitement through her FB post every Tuesday or even the night before. To be honest, I'm jealous that I'm thousand of miles away and is not able to try this spectacular pork burger which I suspect is only sold once a week at a night market or something.

Pork burger is not something that you can get very easily at restaurants even in the US; unlike hamburgers. So, I decided to satisfy my curiosity, subdue my jealousy and make my own version of pork burger. I had just chopped up some pork to make my own ground pork so I'm all set with the main ingredient. Making my own ground pork is not something I do often, but the 2 grocery stores nearest to me do not have them. Well, one of them do have ground pork but it's extra lean ground pork which I've tried in the past and did not appreciate the leanness and thought it lacked flavors. With the pork at the grocery store going on sale, I decided to grab a package and chopped them up to make my own ground pork! Anyway, rummaging through the fridge and the pantry to see what I can do; I decided to make cute mini pork burgers. I didn't have any mini burger buns, so I cut out some english muffins and improvised. I found a bag of baby spinach and avocado (love avocados in sandwiches!!) in the fridge, and added those as condiments to my burger. A slice of tomato for color (not a big fan of raw tomato but it gives great color to food...) and voila; a pretty delicious mini pork burger! Here's the recipe!

MINI PORK BURGER / SLIDER RECIPE
*Makes 2 mini burgers

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Ground Pork
• 1/2 Small Yellow Onion, Chopped ( About 3 Tbsp)
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Chopped (About 2 Tsp)
• 1/8 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1/8 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/8 Tsp Salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin 
• 1 Stalk Green Onions, Chopped
• 2 Slider Buns / Mini Burger Buns, Toasted
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 1/2 Tbsp Butter (Optional)
• Spinach Leaves (Condiments for burger, optional)
• Sliced Tomatoes (Condiments for burger, optional)
• Thinly Sliced Avocado (Condiments for burger, optional)

Method
Heat about 1 tbsp of boil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Sautee chopped onions until soft, then add chop garlic. Continue sautéing until the onions are brown. Transfer entire mixture into a bowl and add the ground pork, black pepper, garlic powder, salt, cumin and green onions. Combine the mixture and ensure that the ingredients are well mixed. Divide the pork mixture into 2 and shape them into a ball. Then slightly flatten them into a disc (roughly the size of your buns), keeping the edges smooth. Make a little dent in the middle of the burger patties so that the burgers cook evenly.

Heat remaining 1 tbsp of oil and the optional 1/2 Tbsp of butter in the same pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, place the patties onto the frying pan and let the patties cook for about 3 minutes then flip to continue cooking the other side for another 3 minutes or until the patties are brown and are cooked through. The patties should feel somewhat firm when done.

Sandwich the patties with the toasted mini burger buns and accompany with the optional condiments. Serve immediately!

June's Comments: Some chopped fried bacon in the burger patties would also be yummilicious! Bacon makes everything better!!

Simply June