Tongue-tingling (Mala) grilled chicken burger
Our Mala Grilled Chicken Burger is a hot, umami-rich delight that will leave your taste buds tingling. With Sichuan peppercorns providing a gentle, subtle numbing sensation, each bite offers a captivating contrast of savoury, sweet, spicy, and salty flavors. The crispy exterior and juicy, flavourful grilled chicken thigh create a perfect texture combination.
Equipment
- 1 Lidded BBQ
Ingredients
- 8 whole skin-on & deboned chicken thighs you could use chicken breast
- ½ tsp salt per kg for the dry brine
- 8 brioche burger buns or the buns of your choice
Dry rub
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1½ tsp fennel seeds crushed in a pestle and morter
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp red chilli flakes
- 1½ tsp sichuan peppercorns crushed in a pestle and morter
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise for binding the dry rub onto the chicken
Burger toppings
- 1½ tsp crispy chilli oil per burger. See the recipe on the blog. The recipe link can also be found at the end of this post
- 8 slices American (plastic) cheese
- 8 tsbp mayonnaise
- Green leaf batavia lettuce leaves or the buns of your choice
Instructions
- Dry brine the chicken thighs with ½tsp table salt per kg of chicken. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Add the mayonnaise and dry rub to a bowl and mix together to make a paste.
- Add the chicken to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Light up your coal using a charcoal chimney and set up the grill for indirect grilling.
- Place the marinated chicken on the opposite side of the grill to the lit charcoal and close the lid.
- Cook the chicken thighs until the reach an internal temperature above 75°C.
- Bring the chicken thighs directly over the hot coals and sear until you get a nice char.
- Warm up your burger buns.
- Build your burger with the toppings of your choice, we used crispy chilli oil, cheese, mayonnaise and batavia lettuce
Notes
Crispy Chilli oil recipe can be found here: https://www.haloodiefoodie.com/?p=5978