Mumbai Burger
Street food is on everyone’s lips, and because we are huge burger fans it comes in handy! Lately, we are especially keen on Asia burgers with steamed buns and marinated tofu. But since we are always looking for new taste adventures, we had the idea to create an Indian burger. We already had a rough vision: we wanted to create the buns from naan dough and just like the flatbread fry in a pan. The patty should be made of potatoes, and, of course, you can’t miss diverse chutneys in the Indian cuisine. We were surprised when we found out that something similar is served on the streets of Mumbai. The dish, called Vada Pav, actually is a kind of burger, and a very popular and cheap snack in Maharashtra. This inspired us and we baked the patties for our Mumbai Burgers like Vada Pav in chickpea dough. This way, the potato patty stays sappy, yet does not fall apart while frying. We added a sweet sour chutney with carrots and onions, a fresh fruity coriander mint chutney and marvelous spicy coconut flakes.
For the buns dissolve the yeast with the sugar in water. Stir in two thirds of the flour. Add salt and ghee and mix well. Add the remaining flour and knead for at least 10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. If it is too sticky, add a bit more flour; if it is too dry, add a bit of water. Cover the dough with a moist towel and let it prove for at least an hour at a warm place. After the time passed, roll out the pastry on a floured work space to 2cm, and with a round biscuit cutter (Ø 8cm) cut out 4 circles. Cover the dough pieces and let them prove again for another 30 minutes. Heat a big pan and fry the buns without oil for 5 minutes from each side. Best, cover the pan.
You can use the idle time perfectly to prepare the other components. For the carrot onion chutney, slice the carrots and split the onion. Finely chop the apricots and ginger. Loose the cardamom seeds from the pods and grind them with the cumin seeds. Sauté the onion in the coconut oil, stir in all spices and salt and add carrots, apricots and ginger. Shortly braise the mix and deglaze with vegetable stock and the vinegar. Let the chutney reduce on medium heat for about 20 minutes, until all fluids are vaporized.
For the coriander mint chutney, chop the shallot and the garlic, sauté in coconut oil, and let it cool down. Core the chilis and roughly chop them. Chop all ingredients in a blender.
For the coconut chili flakes, chop the garlic and sauté in coconut oil. Mix it with the other ingredients in a blender.
Peel and quarter the potatoes and cook them in salted water until done. Core the chili and chop together with ginger, garlic, and curry leaves. Loose the cardamom seeds from the pod and grind them with cumin seeds, coriander seed, cloves, black pepper and fennel seeds. Add 1/2 tsp. curcuma and the black mustard seeds to the spice blend. Heat 2 tsp. ghee in a pan and sauté the chopped ingredients together with the spices. Add the drained potatoes to the pan and fry for about 5 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and roughly rice the potatoes, season with salt and let it cool down. Chop the coriander and mix with the potatoes.
Combine the chickpea flour with the remaining 1/2 tsp. curcuma, salt, and backing powder. Together with water and lime juice, mix to a smooth and chewy dough. From the potato mix, form 4 patties, coat them with the chickpea dough and deep-fry in plenty of oil until they are golden.
At last, build the burgers! Spread a bit of the carrot onion chutney on the bottom part of the burger bun. Put a patty on it, spread some coriander mint chutney, and scatter some coconut chili flakes. Finally, cover the burger with a few sprouts and finish it by putting the upper part of the burger bun on top.
FoR 4 Servings
FOR THE BUNS
8 g fresh yeast
1 tsp coconut sugar
120 ml lukewarm water
200 g spelt flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ghee (vegan: virgin coconut oil)
FOR THE CARROT ONION CHUTNEY
100 g carrots
1 red onion
12 dried apricots
5 g ginger
2 pods green cardamom
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp virgin coconut oil
250 ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp cider vinegar
FOR THE CORIANDER MINT CHUTNEY
1 small shallot
1 clove garlic
1 bunch coriander
1/2 bunch mint
1 green chili peppers
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice syrup
1/4 tsp salt
FOR THE COCONUT CHILI FLAKES
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp virgin coconut oil
25 g desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 pinch ground turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
FOR THE PATTIES
400 g waxy potatoes
1 green chili peppers
1 tsp chopped ginger
2 cloves garlic
6 curry leaves
1 pod black cardamom
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 cloves
10 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
2 tsp ghee (vegan: virgin coconut oil)
1/2 bunch coriander
60 g chickpea flour
100 ml water
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
ADDITIONALLY
50 g mixed sprouts (e.g. radish, alfalfa, broccoli)