Monster Bonzo Beef Burger

…and, if you think that’s a mouthful, take a look at the burger itself! A tower of beef, lashings of cheese and our famous onion rings make for the ultimate indulgence. Perfect for a Summer braai: grill two beef patties of your choice and let Chef Louis show you how to recreate the Monster Bonzo at home.  

Ingredients

• 2x 200g beef burger patties
• 1 fresh sesame burger bun, lightly buttered and toasted
• 1 Tbsp mayonnaise (we use Hellman’s)
• 1 Tbsp burger relish, or your favorite tomato relish
• Lettuce, as required
• Freshly sliced tomato (we use one slice, but you may place as many as you like)
• Freshly, thinly sliced onion as required
• BBQ sauce, as needed
• 4 slices of bacon
• 2 slices of cheddar cheese
• Crispy onion rings (we’ll show you how we make ours!)
• Generous helping of French fries

Method

1. First, place your beef burger patties and bacon on a grill. We recommend a braai as the smokey flavor enhances the flavour of the final product. Keep an eye on the patties and bacon while you continue building the rest of your burger.
2. As the burger patties are grilling, lightly butter and toast the burger bun.
3. On the bottom half of the bun, start by placing a generous helping of your favorite mayonnaise in the centre. No need to spread it.
4. Top with lettuce. Iceberg lettuce is a good choice, as it is sweeter than most other lettuce. Then, add a slice of tomato and freshly sliced onion to your liking.
5. Add a dollop of your favorite tomato relish to the top half of the bun and set aside.
6. Once your burger patties are cooked to your preference top them with the bacon, two slices on each patty, and then one slice of cheese on each patty. Keep them on the grill/braai until the cheese has started to melt.

Now, to stack your burger…

7. Place one patty on top of the bottom half of your burger bun, then add the second patty on top of the first one. Top with at least three crispy onion rings and your favorite mushroom or cheese sauce. Add the top of the burger bun and secure with a skewer.
8. Enjoy with a helping of crispy French fries.

And, now, the famous Fig Tree onion rings!

Beer Batter for Onion Rings

Ingredients

• 125ml (half a cup) rice flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp salt
• ± 100ml beer
• 1 to 2 onions
• 100g lightly seasoned flour (flour, with a bit of salt and pepper)

Method

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
2. Add the egg.
3. Add enough beer to make a batter. The thinner the batter, the lighter the texture.
4. Place enough oil into a pot and heat it to around 180°c to fry your onion rings.
5. Peel the onion and cut into thickish slices.
6. Separate the onion rings from each other.
7. Coat each onion ring in the lightly seasoned flour.
8. Dunk each union ring individually into the batter and then carefully drop each onion ring into the hot oil. Make sure you drop the onion ring away from your body, so you don’t get burnt.
9. Fry the onion rings until golden brown and crispy.
10. Drain on a piece of kitchen paper and serve while hot.

Chef Louis’ Tips

• If you like thickly battered onion rings, make the batter thicker. But, it should never become a dough that you can pick up out of the bowl.
• If you prefer a tempura-style batter, make the batter thinner simply by using more beer or milk.
• Don’t be too concerned about the alcohol in the beer. Most of the alcohol will evaporate when you fry the batter. But, you can always use an alcohol free beer: the carbonation is what is important.