Health blogger and health foods producer, Cara-Lisa Sham, said her favourite way to celebrate any food is to put her cooking skills to the test by getting a little fancy in the kitchen.
“If you are health conscious like me, this is hands down the best way to put a healthy and nutritious spin on a traditionally unhealthy favourite. Just think, sesame seed salmon steak burgers wedged between crispy baked sweet potato halves, or how about chickpea patties, topped with feta, avo and home-made pesto, enjoyed atop a low carb bun,” she said.
For the ultimate vegan or vegetarian burger, she highly recommends Dukes in Greenside, Johannesburg.
“There are plenty of vegan burger patties, from soy and tofu based, to lentil and chickpea variants. Some burgers are even made completely from veggies, so the options are endless. Frys burgers are well flavoured, while woollies veggie patties can work really well in place of meat”, she added.
Even though Cara-Lisa is a big fan of vegan recipes, she decided to share with us her ostrich burger lettuce cups in honour of celebrating National Burger Day.
Cara’s Low Carb Teriyaki Ostrich Burger with Sweet Potato Fries
(Serves 4-6)
6 ostrich patties
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan pink salt to taste
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
½ ginger root-chopped
½ cup water
2 tablespoon xylitol
8 large butter lettuce cups
4 sweet potatoes – cut into thin julienne strips
½ cup home-made pesto
Prepare ostrich marinade:
Combine soy sauce, water, sesame oil and xylitol in a small bowl and whisk thoroughly until well combined.
Prepare ostrich patties:
Place ostrich patties on a large baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Baste each patty with generous amounts of teriyaki marinade. Cover and allow flavour to seep in for 1-2 hours in the fridge.
Prepare sweet potato fries:
Place sweet potato strips into a medium sized baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Himalayan salt. Oven bake at 180 C for 20min until cooked through. Once cooked change oven to grill and allow browning for 5 minutes until crispy. Remove from heat.
Cook ostrich patties:
While the sweet potato fries are cooking, place ostrich patties on warmed braai and grill for 5-6 minutes aside. Once char grilled and fragrant, remove from heat. If you do not have a braai facility, simply oven grill for 10 minutes (turning in between)
To serve:
Place washed lettuce cups on a plate. Top with sliced cherry tomatoes, ostrich patty and generous spoonfuls of home-made pesto.
Serve together with 1 cup sweet potato fries.