Indian-style burger with red bell pepper mango chutney
Last week, some of our neighbours were moving and had to get rid of a few stuff, among which dozens of cookbooks. They told me I could grab what I wanted, so I left with 8 great recipe books. I was so excited to go through all of them! One of my favorite is about Indian cooking (Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking, a really great book but since it’s from 1996 I am not sur whether you could still buy it or not). I just love Indian food but, as a friend told me, it’s not the easiest to mimic at home. Luckily the recipes in this one are quite easy to make and the instructions are great. While scrolling through it I came across a recipe of a lamb “burger”, served on Naan bread with a homemade red chutney, and it really made me want to try it! The recipe looked simple enough, yet quite out of the ordinary (it’s not your usual cheeseburger-with-French-fries, although I love that too ;-)). I followed the recipe and made a few changes, for example adding some mango to the chutney to make it more sweet, and it was delicious! I’m thinking it could be a nice meal to make for when you have people over, as it is easy to make a large amount of it and almost everything can be prepared in advance. Plus it is quite uncommon and different so you would impress your friends 🙂 At home we just love lamb, but I know it’s not everyone’s favorite so it can totally be substituted for ground beef.
Serves 4:
For the chutney:
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- +-30 fresh mint leaves
- ½ mango (medium size), diced
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp paprika or cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2-3 tbsp almonds (or walnuts), chopped
For the burgers:
- about 1 pound (450-500g) ground lamb or beef (as fine as possible)
- 1 small green chili (I chose the least spicy I could find), seeded and finely chopped
- 2-3 handfuls of fresh cilantro, chopped, or 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp chickpea flour (or other type of flour)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 Naan flat breads or pita breads or classic burger buns
- sour cream or plain yogurt
- lettuce or other sort of fresh veggies, such as green cabbage or shredded carrots
Make the chutney (if you can, make it in advance, so the flavors can mix better): in the bowl of and electric chopper, pour all the chutney ingredients and pulse into a thick sauce (some chunks may remain). Add salt and pepper if needed, and keep in the fridge in an airtight container.
Make the meat patties: start by heating the chickpea flour in a warm frying pan (not greased) until it takes a light brown color. In a large bowl, mix by hand the ground meat, chopped chili, flour, egg, cilantro, cumin, and salt. Form 8 meat balls and flatten them into small burger patties. Grill in a greased frying pan right before serving.
Make the “burgers”: reheat the Naan flat breads for about 5′ in the oven at 400°F/200°C or as instructed on the package (bread must be warm but must stay soft and NOT turn hard). Pour some sour cream or plain yogurt and some veggies at the center of each bread. Add two burger patties on each (whole or cut in halves), and top with a few tbsp of your homemade chutney. It is easier to eat it folded in half as you would with a taco. Enjoy!
