Japanese Inspired Turkey Burgers

I have made burgers out of ground turkey before but never thought they were great. Usually tasteless, dry, and would often fall apart while cooking. Today I had some ground turkey in the fridge and some nice fresh hard rolls so I set out to invent my own creation - Japanese inspired turkey burgers with a wasabi mayo. The juices of the vegetables keep the burger moist, the egg holds it all together, and the mayo has a little kick to it. Makes four burgers.

Ingredients for the burger patties:
4 hard rolls
1 pound ground turkey meat
1 small yellow onion
1 scallion (green onion)
2 stalks of celery
1 carrot
1 clove of garlic
1 T. fresh chopped cilantro
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. olive oil
1 egg
2 T. unseasoned breadcrumbs
2 whole water chestnuts from can
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper
a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

Ingredients for the wasabi mayo:
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 T. fresh chopped cilantro
1 T. white horseradish (or the wasabi equivalent)
1 t. soy sauce
1 t. olive oil
1 pinch black pepper

Preparing the burgers:
Finely chop the onion, scallion, celery, carrot, water chestnuts, and garlic. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add chopped items to skillet. Saute vegetables over med-high heat for about 5 minutes leaving them about 75% cooked still with a little crunch left. Remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl add the ground turkey, egg, soy sauce, breadcrumbs, cilantro, black pepper, and sesame seeds. Add sauteed vegetables to bowl and combine all ingredients with your hands. Don't over mix. Shape the mixture into 4 burger patties, try to keep them rather flat and of bigger diameter than the hard rolls because they will get taller, yet horizontally smaller as they cook.

Place patties in a hot skillet after prepping with a coating of olive oil. Make sure bottom sides are seared and browned before turning over to finish. It should take about 12 - 14 minutes to cook the burgers. Burgers should be a little soft to the touch. If they are firm they are overcooked and dry.

Preparing the wasabi mayo:
Use a hand blender to combine all ingredients: mayo, cilantro, soy sauce, horseradish, olive oil, and black pepper. Mix until homogeneous.

Putting it all together:
Lightly toast the hard rolls. Spread wasabi mayo over both tops and bottoms. Place patties on buns and serve.

Alternate ideas:
Instead of using this turkey meat-mix for burgers this mix is a great filling for steamed or pan-fried dumplings. Also, instead of a wasabi mayo on the burgers try a puree of a light vegetable oil, fresh mint leaves, and sugar.