Indian inspired Turkey Burgers w/ Sweet & Baked Potato Fries and Yoghurt Dipping Sauce

turkey burgers with oven fried potatoes and yoghurt sauce

Well that is a very long title :).

I had a little more than half a pound of left over turkey from last night's pasta, so I thought I would put it to good use by making burgers out of them. I also had one lonely sweet potato and one baking potato in the pantry which I thought would make excellent oven-fries. You will notice that the veggies (green pepper and green onions)

The inspiration for the dipping sauce came from Rachael Ray. I was once watching an episode in which she made the sauce for some potato fries. I did make it with different spices so it tied well with the burger.

Eventhough this post is long, it won't take more than 45 minutes to pull this all together (not counting the baking time for the fries).

For the Fries

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• 1 each baking potato and sweet potato
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• salt, to taste

Method
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• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine the salt and spices in a small bowl.
• Peel and cut the potatoes into 1/4th inch thick pieces.
• Rub the olive oil and the spice mix directly on to the potatoes, lay them on a single layer on the baking sheet.
• Cook in the oven for about 40-45 min, until the fries are tender and crispy.

For the Yoghurt Dipping Sauce

If you have home made yoghurt and it is made with low fat milk, drain it for a couple of hours in a cheesecloth so all the water comes out and you have thick yogurt. If you use store bought yoghurt or use yoghurt made with whole milk, you can skip this step. To make the sauce, for 1 cup of yoghurt, add some chili powder to taste and about 1/2 tsp of crushed dried mint and mix well.

For the Burgers

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• 0.6-0.7 lbs of lean ground turkey
• 1/3 cup very finely chopped green pepper
• 1/3 cup very finely chopped scallions/green onions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp red chili powder (or less)
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 pinch cumin powder
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 tsp dried mint
• 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
• 2 tbsp plain bread crumbs
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• slices of pepperjack cheese (optional)
• lettuce and tomato to assemble the burger

Hardware
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• one small mixing bowl
• one electric/stove top grill pan or a skillet

turkey burgers frying on the grill pan

Method
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• Mix all of the ingredients, except the olive oil together and form into patties (depending on the size of the buns). I used the normal size buns and I could get 3 patties out of the mixture.
• Put brush the patties with some olive oil, put the rest on the pan and fry on each side for about 6 min or so until well cooked.
• If using cheese, put cheese directly on top of the skiller during the last 30 seconds or so. At the same time, also put the buns, tops down so they warm up.
• Assemble the burger with lettuce and tomatoes. Serve with fries and the yoghurt dipping sauce.