Ingredients
500g beef mince
2-4 tbsp rendang curry paste
1 tsp salt
Black pepper
Frisee lettuce
4 tbsps crispy shallots
4 burger buns

Ingredients for the pickled cucumber
100ml rice vinegar
100ml water
100g sugar
½ cucumber, sliced into rounds

Ingredients for the sambal
8 dried red chillies
200g tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 large red chilli, very finely chopped
2 echalion shallots, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
1 tsp ginger
½ tbsp of lemongrass paste (or 1 lemongrass stick very finely chopped)
3 tbsps oil
1 tbsps coconut or palm sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsps tamarind paste

Ingredients for the sambal mayonnaise
6 tbsps mayonnaise
1-2 tbsps sambal
Salt

Method
Start by soaking the dried chillies for your sambal in boiling hot water for half an hour.

Move on to your pickles.  Put the cucumber into a small heatproof bowl.  Put the vinegar, water and sugar into a small saucepan and heat on medium until the liquid starts to bubble.  Pour the pickling liquor over the cucumber and put to one side.

For the sambal, heat half of the oil in a frying pan and cook the tomatoes, chilli, dried chillies, shallots, garlic, ginger and lemongrass until soft.  When they are soft, put them into a food processor along with the sugar, salt and tamarind paste and pulse until all is combined but still slightly chunky.

Return to the pan with the remaining oil and cook to remove the liquid.  When done, the sambal will turn a darker red and be sticky like a sauce or chutney.  Put to one side to cool.

Into your beef mince, add the rendang paste and give everything a really good mix.  Take a small tsp of the mince and cook, making sure you season and cook both sides.  Check if the curry flavour is defined enough, if it does not add another tbsp or two - each paste has have a different depth of flavour and so it is difficult to say exactly how much you need. When you are happy with the taste, weigh out the mix so each burger is equal weight, it should be about 125g.  Shape into burgers and put into the fridge.

You now need to cook either outside over fire or inside. If you are cooking outside, wait for the flames to die down on the coals and to turn white hot then cook for around 3 minutes per side, seasoning as you go and turning twice.

If you are cooking inside then it depends on how big your pan is to how many patties you can cook at one time, you don’t want to over fill as the burgers do need space to caramelise.  You can either cook in 1 pan if big enough, in 2 pans at the same time or, heat the oven and cook in batches. When you are ready to cook, if your pan is not big enough, put your oven on to 180c and put a greaseproof lined lipped baking tray into the oven. 

To cook, take a frying pan and put in a tbsp oil, when hot put in the patties and push down with your spatula.  Cook on a medium heat for 3-5 minutes until they are brown, season and turn, cook again for 3-5 minutes and season and turn again for a final 3 minutes.  Your burger should now be cooked perfectly but if it is not, just carefully cook a little longer.

Meanwhile, make your sambal mayo by adding everything together and stirring.

Toast your buns.  On the bottom half of your bun add a spoonful of sambal mayo and top with the lettuce and then your burger, followed by your pickled cucumber.  On the top bun put a spoonful of sambal and the crispy onions.  Put on the lid.