Sweet & Sour Chicken Pita Burgers

Name: Sweet & Sour Chicken Pita Burgers
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 2 garlic cloves; 1/3 cup green onion, roughly chopped; 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves; 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated; 1/2 cup canned pineapple chunk, reserve the juice for later; 2 teaspoons soy sauce; 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks; 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs; 1 egg; 4 pita bread, toasted; 1/2 cup pineapple juice, previously reserved from canned pineapple; 1 tablespoon cornflour; 1/3 cup ketchup; 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar; 1/3 cup canned pineapple chunk, chopped up; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 2 tablespoons sugar or 2 tablespoons Splenda granular

Submitted by Sarah_Jayne

"Who couldn't use another burger recipe? This one is for when you fancy something a bit different. It is packed with herbs and topped with a tangy sweet and sour sauce. These burgers are different, easy, pretty healthy and, best of all, yummy! This make four pretty big burgers. The cooking time includes the 30 minute chilling time."

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Ready In:: 50mins
Ingredients:: 17
Serves:: 4

ingredients

2 garlic cloves
¹⁄₃ cup green onion, roughly chopped
¹⁄₂ cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
¹⁄₂ cup canned pineapple chunk, reserve the juice for later
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
¹⁄₂ cup dried breadcrumbs
1 egg
4 pita bread, toasted
Sweet And Sour Sauce
¹⁄₂ cup pineapple juice, previously reserved from canned pineapple
1 tablespoon cornflour
¹⁄₃ cup ketchup
¹⁄₄ cup rice wine vinegar
¹⁄₃ cup canned pineapple chunk, chopped up
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar or 2 tablespoons Splenda granular

directions

Put the garlic, green onions, cilantro leaves, ginger, pineapple chunks and soy sauce into a food processor and blitz for about 45 seconds to 1 minute until everything is chopped up very finely. You want the mixture to almost be a paste.
Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and set aside.
Put the raw chicken into the food processor, in batches if necessary, and whiz for a minute or so until it is very finely chopped up and looking close to ground chicken.
Put into the bowl with the first mixture and add in the breadcrumbs and egg.
Use your hands to combine all the ingredients, making sure everything gets well mixed in with each other.
Form into four burger patties and put into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes or longer.
Once the burgers are ready either cook them in a skillet with a bit of oil for 5 minutes on each side or cook on a Foreman type grill for about 10 minutes. Either way make sure the chicken is fully cooked before finishing.
While the burgers are cooking put the pineapple juice into a small bowl and mix with the cornstarch. Put to one side.
Put the ketchup, rice wine vinegar, pineapple chunks, soy sauce and sugar or Splenda into a saucepan.
Turn the burner on to a medium high heat and stir just to combine the ingredients.
Pour in the pineapple juice mixture and stir until the mixture thickens up. This only takes a matter of minutes so keep a close eye on it because it can very easily burn.
Toast the pita breads and split them open lengthwise.
Stuff them with whatever you like in your burger. We went with just some crisp lettuce.
Then put one burger into each pita and spoon on the amount of sweet and sour sauce to fit your taste. Keep a napkin handy because they can get messy!

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Reviews

So different from other contest entries, this entry really drew my attention. The preparation was a bit of an adventure but with a happy ending. I was very nervous in preparing the burgers as the mix was very wet and I had a difficult time imaging that it would actually hold it's shape. I ended up adding an extra 2-3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs as a bit of insurance, and popped them in the freezer for 20 minutes. Rather than cooking them on my indoor grill, I cooked them in a pan with a teaspoon of oil which gave them a nice sear and helped them stay in shape. If you are not concerned about calories, then another teaspoon as I did have a little sticking even using a non-stick skillet. The sauce itself was very easy to prepare and came together in a snap. I loved the chicken burger and that the flavors were just delicious together and could see a bit of cayenne added for a little bite to complement the herbal flavors. Did not care for the sauce at all and tasted alone, I was ready to leave it off. It was gloppy and the flavor was a little odd. That said, it really balanced nicely with the burger as a full bite. For me, I would probably try and do some reworking by serving this with grilled pineapple cubes and a simple chili sauce mixed with a small amount of rice vinegar. Thank you and good luck.

justcallmetoni

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Sarah_Jayne

I am originally from the Philadelphia area of the United States but have been living in London, UK since 1996. I now have dual American and British citizenship. I became a widow at the age of 27 in 2004 but have managed to fall in love again and was married again on July 19, 2008. I have a double major honors degree in sociology and politics and am slowly working my way through a Masters. I am a wanabee writer but until that dream becomes a reality I work in internet marketing where I build websites for profit. So, it is nice to come to a site like this and just enjoy being on the internet rather than using it as a work environment. I am a BBW (big woman) but over the past two years I have lost over 80lbs and am working my way down the scales slowly but steadily. These days, I am trying to eat a lot less meat. So, I am trying to have as many vegetarian recipes in the week as I can manage. I have started a blog - <a href="http://weekendcarnivore.com/">Weekend Carnivore</a> where I blog about trying to eat a mostly vegetarian diet. I share a lot of my discovered recipes there. If I make one of your vegetarian recipes and I managed to take a good photo of it, chances are I will blog about it and tell everybody how much I enjoyed it. These are banners and buttons from Zaar events in which I have participated: <img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/RSC%20Banners/RSC11-Participant.jpg"> <a href="http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/Missymop/?action=view&current=metermaids.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/Missymop/metermaids.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/PAC08Main.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/adoptedspring08.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src=http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m445/mliss29/vegnswap1/group14tomato.jpg> <img src=http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m445/mliss29/vegnswap3/group07kiwi.jpg> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/cookbookZWT.jpg" border="0" alt="I am alw">

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