Hey I was rereading the Edge books and your burger recipe with rice? Since many of us might be stretching our meat as well, can you post that recipe?
Laura
Okay, so this is a regional Russian recipe that happened when Southern Russians decided to merge the traditional Russian cutlet with Lula Kebab from Caucasus. You can make it easy or slightly more complicated.
1 lbs ground beef
1 -1 1/2 cup cooked rice. You are aiming for the same quantity of rice and meat by volume. They should be mixed roughly 50/50.
1 egg
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to your preference. I usually add enough pepper as if I were eating the whole thing.
Bread crumbs
Oil for frying
Mix spice into the meat. Add cooked rice, mix together. Add the egg and thoroughly work it into the mix. Really mix it in.
Heat about 1/3 inch of oil in the pan on medium. Form oblong hamburgers – they are easier to hold in hand than round ones. Dip each hamburger in bread crumbs so it’s covered on both sides. Fry in oil, first on one side, then on the other until done.
I usually fry for about 3-4 minutes per side. When it gets done, depends on the thickness of the hamburger, but usually when the bottom is nice and brown, it’s time to flip. I would do a sacrificial test hamburger. It shouldn’t be pink in the middle when you cut it. If your hamburger is brown on the outside but pink on the inside, cover the pan with a lid while cooking, to heat it through, but make sure to cook without a lid for the final minute, so it won’t turn out soggy.
Serve with ketchup or pickled onion. To make pickled onion, cut the onion into thin strips, add your favorite vinegar and a pinch of sugar, and let stand for a couple of hours or overnight.
These hamburgers are very good fresh. But they really shine as leftovers. The crispy coating dries and keeps the hamburger moist. When the kids were little, I would leave the plate on the middle shelf in the fridge and then I would see them running outside to play in the yard, hamburger in hand. It’s a meal in one and it doesn’t require a bun.
If you are feeling more adventurous, here is a recipe for Russian cutlets. This requires a meat grinder, or since we are in US, a meat processor. If you don’t want to bother, substitute onion powder for the fresh onion.
1 lbs of ground meat, any type, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, meat substitute if it can stick together. Whatever you want to get rid of.
2-3 slices of day old bread
1/2 cup milk or water
1 small onion
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of garlic
1 egg
Bread crumbs
In a bowl pour milk or water over the bread, set aside for 5 minutes. Meanwhile pulse the onion in a food processor as small as you can get it. In a bowl mix meat, onion and spices. Crumble the soaked bread and add it in there. Add egg. Smoosh everything. In Russia, everything would go through meat grinder.
Follow the Edge burger cooking method.
These guys have a different texture. The cooked rice ends up being crispy. The traditional cutlets are basically tiny fried meatloaves and they taste exactly like it.
What I posted are the base recipes. Feel free to experiment. If you liked smoked paprika, try adding that. If you want to try it with ground turkey instead of beef, go for it.
Best of luck! If you want other in-book recipes, let me know.
PS. You can see how tired I am by the amount of typos. Sorry.
OMG! I was wondering about the recipes for these just a couple of days ago. Thanks so much for sharing!
Tough times recipe tip:
If you can’t get eggs, but have tinned beans (or if you’re cooking for a vegan) – the thick water the beans come in is liquid gold – highly nutritious and it behaves just like egg whites in cooking.
You can use the liquid from the tinned beans (also known as aquafaba – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquafaba) as substitute egg white, as it mimics its properties in cooking. It even whips up and you can even make meringue (both for lemon meringue pie or even the crispy meringue).
Of course, you can also make your own when cooking your own dried beans. Don’t throw it away, it freezes really well.
Take care everyone and be well.
I so love y’all. Thank you so much for answering my request. Love these. My neighbor is always asking for my experimental hamburgers. I also discovered that a small potato per pound of beef (instead of rice) was loved as well.
I am so sorry your long-awaited vacation was cancelled, but you are certainly brightening your readers’ spirits with this post and the previous recipe post!
I’m not very good at cooking meat, but you write the instructions so clearly that I will be trying several once I can get to the store.
Meanwhile I would like to echo some others who requested Martha’s honey muffin recipe. Re-reading MAGIC TRIUMPHS now and I just love the scene where Conlan demands ‘huny’!!!
Thank you.
Oh yes, please! This would be a good one
When I was younger my Mom used to make “Porcupine balls” from raw rice, ground beef, and spices. I was not the biggest fan because the rice never seemed to cook fully and was always crunchy. These sound much more appetizing, yum!
We often had “porcupines” when the kids were little, but not so much any more. Had some about a month ago and the left overs were fought over. :-). You need plenty of tomato sauce and a good simmer time to get the rice cooked properly. I’m looking forward to trying the “Edge Burgers”!
Omygoodness!!! So excited and so glad i am not the only person who was very, very curious for this recipe!!!!
I would love the egg salad on garlic bread recipe from Clean Sweep. I know it seems simple but I’ve screwed “simple” up before.
Thanks!
I want the egg salad on garlic bread recipe, too, please! It seems so yummy in the book.
Just want to add that I adore the Edge books and they hooked me into the other series.
Edge burgers FTW! Thank you very much!
Thanks for The recipes! I am self isolating but will write these down for later. Hey Ilona or anyone, are you getting knitting done or catching up with older unfinished projucts? I am using t the rule of one new project done, then finish two unfinished . I have a lot of unfinished stuff but usually undone because something urgent came up, like emergency birthday gift or dino slippers for sick toddler. But entirely my fault for being seduced by a nice yarn stash. like I ‘ll knock out something new for abreak, THEN go back and finish theold project.
my Sicilian grandmother made something very similar to your tiny meatloaf. They were made like a meatball in their seasonings and instead of being left round or smooth flat and then Brown in olive oil in fry pan. The basic recipe is this:
One pound of ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken or a combination of
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
1/2 – 1 tbl oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder
Pinch of cinnamon
1/4 -1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
Olive oil
Mix all the ingredients together so that it’s firmly stays together but it’s not hard meatball and it’s not mushy and sticky. Make small round meatballs and then smoosh them flat in the palm of your hand so they’re like tiny little hamburgers. Fry and heated olive oil until dark brown on both sides and then drain on a paper towel. They can be eaten more or after they’ve cooled in the fridge. They can be dipped in marinara or used in salads. Really they’re very versatile and you can do whatever with them.
FYI: these truly are a sicilian meatball. The Italians use to make fun of the Sicilians because they said they didn’t know how to make around ball that they were too stupid and they would flatten their meatballs. Personally after reading lots of different cookbooks on the history of Sicily and its food I think it was the Spanish Moors influence as well as other Middle Eastern cultures influence, it was to ensure that the meat was cooked through. A lot of Italians like to put meatballs into their sauce raw and uncooked and Sicilians don’t generally do that. We cook our meat first then it goes into the spaghetti sauce to cook for hours.
Котлеты!! I was just thinking of whether to make those. Do you prefer the edge ones or the Russian ones? And do you put dill in the Russian ones?
I prefer the “edge” ones. The regular ones get soggy and taste too dense.
Thank you so much for those recipes! Great for freezing too!
Thank you for the receip3.
We made the carnitas recipe you shared and my whole family loved it! Thank you!
Cool! Thank you for sharing, I am always happy to try new recipes.
Yum! I was looking for an alternative to our usual meatloaf for the weekend and this looks fantastic.
These sound great. How about cooking them in the oven instead of oil?
Thank you!! Looking forward to trying these.
Yummm.
What about doing any of these options and then doing a brown/mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles? And make the mashed potatoes go further by adding a batch of mashpotato flakes to 1or2 rough mashed potatoes. A little leftover creamcheese, seasonings, herbs, finely chopped other veges, can really make the flavor pop.
Dessert is a must for the kids-jello and a can of fr ui t.
Canned fruit-save water or syrup(diluted) for kids to drink instead of all your milk.
My mom would stuff the rice meat mixture into stuffed peppers or cabbage rolls. The meat bread mixture was called snitzle and is essentially individual meatloaf. She’d add some chopped parsley into hers.
Being Mexican we would have tacos a lot when we were kids. Being poor we didn’t have a lot of budget for ground beef. Mom would always grate at least one potato into our ground beef to “extend” the taco meat. Then add all your spices. I always include salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, cumin (a little goes a long way) and chili powder. I usually grate a tomato if I have fresh or put in tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes also. Best tacos ever! Even with the potato. You won’t be able to tell. 🙂
Made Edge Burgers for dinner tonight they were a huge hit! Thank you for the recipe. I’m always looking for new stuff to make. I love it when my kids think I am some genius in the kitchen.
I’ve been making a rough version of your “edge burgers” and “salad Oliver”(except I call it Salad Ilona ) for a few years now. They’re always a hit ????, my kids’ tummies thank you.
Glad to have the actual recipe for the burgers! My ratio of rice to meat was wayyy off lol I’m gonna make it your way this week. Can’t wait to try it ????
Thanks for the recipe. I made these tonight and they were a big hit!
Made these last night gluten free with ground turkey! Amazing total win. Made half fried and half air fried in instapot. Both awesome!! Are them over salad very yummy definite new recipe to do often.
I made these and my family loved them! And, it greatly helped to stretch out the meat. Our local grocery will only sell you two packages of meat and two cartons of eggs, max, right now, so stretching out the meat is important! Thanks!
What is the rice burger recipe called? I like to look up variations of recipes to see how they can be modified. I am drawing a blank when I look up Russian rice burger. I do find recipes for котлеты but nothing with rice.
Made these tonight and they were a big hit with the whole family. Thanks for posting 🙂
Growing up, we always stretched our sloppy joes with nice, cheap, instant rice. After frying the hamburger, you just throw in as much uncooked instant rice as you need to help stretch your meal, then stir in your liquids (tomato sauce, spices, however you make sloppy joes) and let the liquid soak into the rice to cook it. If your rice is still too crunchy, you just add a bit more water and let it cook in. Eat it on a bun or bread, and you would never taste anything but the meat and sauce.
Oma use to make hamburger patties. I think they were the second ones. They had just a different taste than what we normally make – they came from the Ukraine. She’d make piles of them, and we’d have them, fried dough (there’s a German word for it – they are in my Mennonite cookbook) and fresh watermelon. To your pickled onion, add fresh cucumbers. Dh loves those pickles. They just sit in a bowl in the fridge and I refill over the summer. I have the meat grinder you mentioned 🙂 It was Opa’s.
Thank you I made a ton of these and they were delicious! Much better midnight snack for me than cookies which is what I have been eating.
Do these freeze well? I made too many.
Thank you for posting this!! I tried it tonight (the Edge version) and it has become our family’s new favorite burger. 🙂