Chicken satay burgers

Method

1. To make the cucumber pickle, put 350ml/12fl oz water, the star anise, ginger, sugar, vinegar and salt into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn off the heat. Remove the ginger and star anise from the pickling liquid.

2. Mix the cucumber and red onion thoroughly in a large bowl before decanting into a storage container. Pour the pickling liquid over the prepared vegetables and leave for a few hours or ideally overnight, before draining thoroughly.

3. To make the satay spice paste, put all the ingredients into a blender and blend to a fine purée. If using a smaller food processor or handheld stick blender, you will have to work in batches, combining the batches once they’re done. Always mix lemongrass with some onion when blending – blitzing lemongrass by itself can be very hard work and you will be left with undesirable, hard fibrous strands. Set aside.

4. To make the patties, mix the chicken mince thoroughly with the satay spice paste and egg in a large container using a gloved hand. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

5. To make the peanut sauce, tip the peanuts into a food processor and, using the pulse action, grind until you get a rough, sandy texture.

6. Add the ground peanuts and the remaining sauce ingredients along with 50ml/2fl oz water to a medium-sized saucepan. Set over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring frequently to prevent the sauce at the bottom of the pan from burning. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Set aside.

7. To make the tomato sambal, put the chillies, garlic and oil into a bowl. Blend using a hand-held blender to a fine purée.

8. Heat the oil in a small non-stick saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chilli garlic purée and stir-fry for 8 minutes. Add the tomato purée, salt, sugar and 80ml/2½fl oz water. Stir-fry for 2 minutes then remove from the heat.

9. Once cool, decant into a clean glass jar to store.

10. Place a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, adding just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

11. Using a large ice-cream scoop, scoop out two balls of the chicken mix into the pan and flatten into a patty using a flat spatula. Repeat with the remaining mixture to create 3 more patties. Pan-fry the patties on both sides for around 8 minutes in total, flipping every couple of minutes.

12. To assemble the burger, cut the buns in half and toast cut-side down. Add enough peanut sauce to cover the base of the bun, then a cooked chicken patty, 2 tablespoons cucumber pickles, 1 tablespoon tomato sambal (or more, to taste) and the bun top, to finish. Serve with chips, if you like.