Indian cuisine has few overlapping flavours. With such a diverse topography – from snow-capped mountains to arid deserts, from beautiful coastlines to leafy tropical forest – the variety of ingredients here are unlike those in any other part of the world. They are different from one another, even within the country, and this is reflected in the way the cuisine changes as you move from one region to another.

  • Serves

    2

  • Cook Time

    00 h 20 m

Ingredients

  • 120 g butter, divided
  • 4 burger buns
  • 2 potatoes, boiled and mashed
  • 1 medium-size onion, sliced
  • 2 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds
  • 2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp chaat masala
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp Indian black salt
  • ½ cup spicy peanuts
  • ½ cup nylon sev
  • ½ cup finely-chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • Salt to taste

For Date-Tamarind Chutney

  • 240 gm dates, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1½ cups water
  • ½ cup tamarind, seeded
  • 1/2 cup jaggery, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • Salt to taste

For Mint-Coriander Chutney

  • 3 green chillies
  • 5 tbsp water
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 1 cup fresh mint leaves
  • ½ cup fresh coriander leaves
  • Salt to taste

For Garlic Chutney

  • 8 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3 tbsp dessicated coconut powder
  • 1 tbsp white sesame seeds
  • 1 tbsp peanuts
  • 2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • Salt to taste

Preparation

For Date-Tamarind Chutney

  1. In a pan, boil water and add dates, tamarind, and jaggery until the mixture reaches the boiling point. This should take 3-4 minutes.
  2. Cool off the mixture and blitz it into a thick paste. Strain using a fine sieve and discard the molasses.
  3. Add red chilli powder, cumin powder and salt, and stir well.
  4. This will give you 200 g of chutney. Refrigerate until use.

For Mint-Coriander Chutney

  1. In a blender, add all the ingredients and blitz into a thick paste.
  2. Add more water if required.
  3. This will give you 100 g of chutney. Refrigerate until use.

For Garlic Chutney

  1. In a skillet over low-medium heat, combine the garlic, coconut powder, sesame seeds, peanuts, red chilli powder, sesame seeds, peanuts, red chilli powder and coriander. Dry-roast until the ingredients begin to emit a nutty aroma. Transfer to a food processor and blend into a coarse powder.
  2. Add the tamarind paste, vegetable oil and salt. Mix well. This will give you 80 gm of chutney.

For Buns

  1. Butter the burger buns and toast them gently in a hot skillet over medium heat. Set aside.
  2. In a medium-size bowl, stir together the potatoes, red chilli powder, coriander, chaat masala, cumin, black salt and salt.
  3. Divide the mixture into small portions and shape each into a flat cake.
  4. Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the remaining butter. Working in batches, add the cakes to the hot skillet and panfry on both sides until golden brown. Place a cake on a bun bottom. Top with sliced onion and 2 tbsp of date-tamarind chutney, 2 tbsp of mint-coriander chutney, and 2 tsp of garlic chutney.
  5. Place the spicy peanuts, pomegranate seeds, nylon sev and fresh coriander over this and serve immediately with the bun top.

Excerpted with permission from Tiffin, edited by Sonal Ved, Roli Books.

Written by

Sonal Ved

Editor Sonal Ved, an accomplished food writer, is currently the food editor at Vogue India. She has also written food features for various newspapers and publications in India, including Times of India, TimeOut (Mumbai), Uppercrust magazine, Verve magazine, Hindustan Times, Sunday Midday. In 2017, Sonal also published her first regional Indian cookbook, Gujju Goes Gourmet. She lives in Mumbai.

See more by Sonal Ved