Hello friends and not yet friends,
This burger is FAN-tastic and was actually inspired by a sandwich I had over ten years
ago at McDonalds. McDonald's in Hong Kong that is. What is so fantastic about it? The
buns. Which are not made of bread, they are made of savory delicious glutinous rice. Soft
on the inside and crispy on the outside.
Get it? FAN-tastic? Yup, we have some serious dad humour going on here
Go ahead and use your favourite vegan burger in
this recipe. Store bought like I'm doing today
or make your own. Like maybe this portobello
lentil burger.
But first thing's first. Rice. You want to use
glutinous rice for this.
It's also sold as sweet rice and is much
chewier and stickier than regular white rice.
Before you cook the rice, wash it. You want to
get rid of the loose starches. Add water, swish
it around, drain and repeat until the water
runs clear. Drain it one last time, then you
can take it to the stove and add one cup of
water to your one cup of rice.
Actually this is a tiny bit less water as I
assume some of the rinsing water was still
clinging to the rice.
Let the water come to a boil, then turn the
heat to the lowest setting, cover it and let
that cook for 15 minutes or until the water is
all absorbed and the grains are fully cooked.
Then let it stand off the heat for about 10
minutes.
You'll also need a couple of shiitake
mushrooms, rehydrated. You can soak these
overnight in cold water or if you're like me
and can't plan ahead for the life of you, you
can soak them quickly in hot water for about 20
minutes.
Wood ear fungus AKA black fungus is totally
optional but I like it. And before you say ew,
remember it's just a mushroom.
Along with the mushrooms to flavour the rice,
you'll need one minced scallion, Chinese
cooking liquor, dark soy sauce, garlic powder,
white pepper and salt.
When you have those ready, heat up a pan over
medium high heat and add a bit of oil when it's
hot. We're going to stir fry the mushrooms,
wood ear fungus, and scallions together until
the scallions turn bright and we lose some of
the moisture.
After about a minute, add the garlic powder,
white pepper and salt.
Turn off the heat.
Then lastly, the dark soy sauce and cooking
liquor. This will bubble up right away so stir
everything together quickly.
Add this to your cooked rice.
Fold the ingredients together gently. We want
to thoroughly mix but not squish the rice.
Now we can form the rice into bun shapes.
Get a wee bowl of water ready, some parchment
or wax paper, your burgers of choice and some
kind of scoop for the rice.
Use your burgers as a guide so you know how big
to make the rice buns.
My veggie burgers are a pretty decent size so
I'm using about 1/3 cup of rice for each side
of the bun.
Wet your hands before you shape the rice so it
doesn't stick to your hands. If it starts
sticking you can always moisten your hands a
bit more.
This recipe made enough for two burgers and a
little bit. Which is plenty for me and my
boyfriend.
To finish these, ideally as your burgers are
cooking, heat up a pan over medium high to
crisp up the rice patties.
Add a bit of oil. This was a little much. You
don't need this much.
And when it's hot, add your patties.
Cook for a minute or two on each side, just until you see
these crispy bits.
These are actually super good on their own with
a little sweet chili sauce. You can make the
rice into smaller balls too for a crispy, chewy
snack.
But we're making burgers which is even more
FAN-tastic. hehe.
Wrap these in some wax or parchment paper to
make it easier to hold and eat.
Was this a bit of a process? Yes. Was it worth
it. Definately. The deliciousness of a meaty-
vegan burger with the goodness of rice. Rice is
way more filling than bread so make sure you
have the stomach room!
Thanks so much for watching this video. Please
give it a thumbs up if you liked it and let me
know what kind of fast food you'd like me to
veganize next.
Bye for now!