Weekend Cooking: Thai Pork Burgers and Pineapple Relish

The cake is a Beyblade inspired cake. No idea what I was doing!

It's hard to believe but the little chef turned 13 a couple of weeks ago! That's right...I have a teenager in the house.

For his birthday celebrations we said that he could have family and a couple of friends over for dinner, preferably a barbecue. He got to choose the main dishes of the menu and make them, and then we made the other standard stuff like sausages and potato salad. We also had some spiced roast beef which took a bit longer to cook but was oh so good!

For his choice, he chose Curtis Stone's Thai Pork Burgers with Pineapple Relish, and I have to say the burgers were awesome and I wasn't the only one who thought that. I wasn't quite as thrilled with the accompanying Thai flavoured slaw. That was however probably my own fault because I made one batch as per the instructions and then tossed it together and thought it looked too dry so made up another lot of dressing and then it was a bit too strong!

It looks like a lot of ingredients below but if you follow the instructions it actually came together quite easily.

The little chef did all the preparation except for the slicing of the vegetables which I got left to do.

In the video that I have included below, Curtis Stone includes a tip for checking how hot a chilli is and also for making burgers. I have a tip of my own. I usually use a quarter cup measuring cup to ensure evenly sized burgers. They come out perfectly shaped and equal every time. Of course, two weeks after the event I suddenly remembered that somewhere in this house there is a Tupperware Hamburger Press that I could use too!

I can definitely see us making the burgers again for a barbecue even when it is just the two of us!

For dessert we had melted chocolate that we dipped pineapple, strawberries, marshmallows and snake lollies into....yum, and then my sister did her normal stellar job of making a birthday cake as seen above.

Thai Pork Burgers and Pineapple Relish

For the Burgers

650 g Pork Mince
2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp Fresh Ginger, finely chopped, peeled
2 tsp Fish Sauce
2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1/4 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Olive Oil

For the Relish

2 cups Diced Fresh Pineapple, cut into 1cm cubes (about ½ pineapple)
1/4 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Water
1 tsp Fresh Ginger, finely chopped, peeled
1 Red Chilli, seeded and finely chopped

For the Slaw

1 Carrot, peeled and julienned
100 g Snow Peas, ends and strings removed, julienned (or substitute with 100g steamed green beans, julienned)
1 small Pak Choy, end trimmed
1 cup Wombok Cabbage, julienned
1 Spring Onion, cut into 2mm slices, greens and whites separated
1/4 cup Fresh Mint Leaves
1/4 cup Fresh Coriander Leaves

For the Vinaigrette

1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Lime, zest and juice
2 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3 tbsp Olive Oil


For the pineapple chutney, place all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low simmer and cook covered until liquid has almost completely evaporated and pineapple is soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and pulse to form a chunky consistency, reserve.

Mix all the ingredients for the burger (except the olive oil) in a medium mixing bowl until just combined. Form the mixture into 4 burger patties.

Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat and brush patties with 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook patties for 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from pan and rest for 3 minutes.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients in a mixing bowl along with the whites of the spring onions.

Toss all ingredients for the slaw in a large mixing bowl with enough of the vinaigrette to coat.

Mound the slaw onto serving plates, place a burger next to the slaw and spoon the pineapple chutney over. Serve.

By the way, a couple of weeks ago I was talking about wanting to try the recipe for Pasta Pomodoro and compare it to a similar sounding recipe from a four ingredients or less cookbook. We made the Pomodoro this week, and oh my goodness, there was no comparison. It was oh so good, and the little chef is already asking when we can make it for dinner again, so I guess that makes it a winner all round!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.