What are bun kababs

“Bun Kebab” literally translates to well, Bun and Kebabs. It’s a fried kebab in a bun, slathered with chutney and other delicious stuff hanging out of it. The kabab can either be vegetarian, like this one or made with meat or eggs. It’s one of THE most popular street style food in Pakistan and is somewhat slightly close to the popular Indian snack “vada pav”.

If you are a fan of Pakistani restaurant-style food, you will love my classic Kheer (rice pudding) and Karachi Tikka samosa recipe.

Ingredients

Don’t be alarmed if the ingredient list seems a tad bit long or a little foreign to you. There are only a few ingredients that you may not have in your pantry, and I will mention substitutes for them too.

• Green tamarind Chutney – The chutney for this recipe is a cross between a sweet tamarind chutney and a spicy mint green chutney. You will need tamarind pulp, Yogurt, Green Chilies (serrano), garlic, Salt, cumin powder, black pepper powder, coriander leaves, Mint leaves
• Split Chickpea (chana dal) and potato patties – This recipe uses a vegetarian patty. You can use a different chickpea to potato ratio if you prefer. Its boiled with ginger, garlic, button red chilies, cumin and carom seeds and of course, salt. And then potatoes, some coriander and onions are added. The extra tartness of the patties comes through mango powder (aamchoor) and chaat masala.
• Eggs – The highlight of this recipe is the beaten egg coating that is THE hallmark of the street style bun kababs.
• Cooking Oil and/or Butter – Any cooking oil of your choice to fry the egg coated kababs. You will also need butter or oil while toasting the buns, but this is optional.
• Buns – The best buns for a good bun kabab are the round buns with no sesame seeds.
• Veggies – Most common vegetables in a bun kabab are onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes. This is mostly a flexible topping and be as creative or as simple as you want to.
• Other condiments – Some versions use ketchup, mayo, a simple omelette or coleslaw in their bun kababs. Again, this is totally optional and upto your preference.

Substitutions

• Mango powder – You can use tamarind pulp instead (more details in recipe card)
• Chaat masala – Just skip chaat masala altogether and use 1/2 tsp of crushed red chili flakes
• Round seedless buns – Use dinner rolls instead.
• Eggs – I’d definitely not recommend skipping it. But IF for dietary restrictions, you cannot have eggs, use all purpose flour to coat the patties. You need something to coat the patties because they are delicate.
• Whole red chilies – Use Crushed red chilies
• Coriander leaves aka Cilantro – If you are not a cilantro fan, use parsley

Instructions

Making the Daal and potato Patties

Everything starts a day earlier, when you soak split chickpeas (dal) overnight or for 12 hours. Soaking dals are always important to get rid of any antinutrients. Just change the water once or twice.

NOTE: If you live in a hot humid climate, keep the soaked dal in fridge overnight rather than on the counter.

Drain all the water and transfer dal into a pressure cooker or a normal pot. Add all the boiling masala in the pot. Add 5 cups of water or as much needed for a pressure cooker.

The dal needs to cook long enough so that each grain can be broken up by hand. It should be that tender. IF there is still water left in the pot, dry it out at high flame. Don’t drain this water away, because it holds a lot of flavor and salt. You can also add your potatoes in the dal itself to boil it. I already had pre-boiled potatoes which is why I didn’t need to add it to my dal pot.

After your dal and potatoes have cooled down, chuck everything in a food processor, all seasonings, onions, coriander etc and just process till you get a smooth mix. And viola! your kebab mixture is ready.

My potatoes were boiled separately, so I had to make the patty mixture outside of the food processor.

You should end up with a smooth patty mixture. This is a great time to do a taste test to check seasoning and spices.

NOTE: IF you want, you can freeze your kebabs at this point to use for a later date.

After shaping your patties, you are going to prepare the egg coating. To do this, beat eggs in a bowl with an electric beater for 5 to 6 mins. Your eggs should look light and fluffy. Dip the kebabs in the frothy eggs and be very gentle while handling your kebabs now. Use a large spoon to coat the kebabs with eggs. Place the coated kebabs on a greased heated frying pan.

Flip the kebabs once the egg gets golden on one side. Add another tbsp of oil after flipping kebabs.

Stack all the fried kebabs in a plate ready for assembly.

Making the Green Tamarind Chutney

The chutney in this recipe is different from the regular mint chutney or the sweet tamarind chutney. This is a specifically street style food chutney which works with a lot of other street food too. Its sweet and spicy at the same time and literally takes 2 mins to whip up. Just put all the listed ingredients in a blender and viola! Its ready!

Assembling Bun Kababs

The street style bun kebabs are almost fried in oil. I think we can dial it down a notch at home, mostly because we eat it pretty regularly. Toast both sides of the bun in the same frying pan. With butter is alwaysss the way to go but of course, skip it if you want.

Add a layer of chutney on the toasted buns, and any other veggie you want. Place the kebab and now top it off with some onions. Here’s where you can go crazy and do as many toppings as you like. Add ketchup or cucumber or tomatoes or coleslaw or a fried egg! Close the bun kebab with top toasted bun and digg innnn!

Expert Tips

• Always make sure to dry all the water of the boiled dal and make it as dry as possible. IF you are dal is very wet, it can break the patties.
• Use a tablespoon of oil when adding egg coated kababs to the frying pan, the eggs tend to absorb all the oil, so you want to be careful. Add another tablespoon after you flip the kababs.
• The kababs are towards the delicate side. Handle with a little care when your dipping them in egg. A flat spatula is best
• If you are making these for a high tea, you can easily fry the kababs in advance, like about 2 3 hours in advance, and simply assemble them when needed.
• Dipping the onions in vinegar or lemon juice will keep them fresh for longer and take care of that bitterness they hold.
• Toasting the buns both sides will keep them crispier for longer and the inner side won’t get soggy quickly after you’ve slathered it with chutney.

FAQS

Can I exclude eggs / etc ingredients from the recipe?

Eggs play an important role in keeping the patties hold their shape. If you are planning to skip eggs, I’d recommend coating the patties in plain flour before frying. Keep in mind, that they are going to be delicate, as they aren’t meant to be fried on their own.

Can I skip potatoes from the recipe?

Potatoes act as a binding agent, I will NOT recommend skipping it.

Is this recipe too spicy?

Pakistani streetfood is definitely on the spicy side. Reduce the heat by excluding green chilies from the chutney and reducing the red chilies by half.

Why do my patties break?

These patties are generally delicate to begin with, so improper handling or technique can cause it to break. First of, make sure to always use dal with all the water from the boiling pot drained, and be gentle while flipping and dipping the patties. If you still find your patties break, add 1 tsp of cornflour in the patty mixture.

Similar Recipes

Dahi Baray and how to batch freeze
Mix Chaat
IF you are looking for more burger options, try the Fish burger recipe

Print

Bun Kebab

A popular Pakistani street style burger made with split chickpea and potato patties, chutneys and a toasted bun.

Course Breakfast & Brunch, Snack, Snacks, Sides and Starters

Cuisine South Asian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 18 kebabs

Calories 300kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

Split Chickpea (chana dal) Boil masala

• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 cup split chickpeas chana dal soaked overnight
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ajwain carom seems
• 8 to 10 whole button red chilies
• 2 + 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cups water

Kebab mix

• 2 medium potatoes boiled* 500 gm
• 1 cup coriander leaves (cilantro) or half a bunch
• 1 big onion
• 2 tsp mango powder / khattayi powder*
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp chat masala

Green chutney

• 4 tbsp tamarind pulp
• 6 tbsp Yogurt
• 4 Green Chilies serrano
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1/2 cup Coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup Mint leaves
• Water to dilute if needed.

Assembling

• 12 Round buns or pav without sesame seeds
• 2 medium thinly sliced onions
• 2 eggs
• kebabs
• Cooking oil for frying kebabs
• chutney
• ketchup optional
• 2 Cucumber sliced or other veggies optional

Instructions

DAL KEBAB PATTIES

• Soak split chickpeas (dal) overnight or for 12 hours. Change water once or twice. (see notes)
• Drain all the water and transfer dal into a pressure cooker or a normal pot.
• Add all the boiling masala in the pot.
• Add 5 cups of water or as much needed for a pressure cooker.
• Cook the lentils for about 30 mins or so, to soften the dal. Check a single grain to see if you can break it with your hand. It should be that tender. Dry out the excess liquid. (you can also chuck in potatoes in the dal to cook them together if you don’t want to boil the potatoes separately)
• Allow the dal/potatoes to cool down, then add it to a food processor. Add all the other ingredients mentioned for the kebabs.
• Process till you get a nice smooth patty mixture.
• Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly
• Make round medium sized patties (that fits in the buns you have)

CHUTNEY

• Add all ingredients for chutney in a blender and blend away to make a smooth chutney. You can add more yogurt or tamarind if you want.
• Adjust the seasoning according to your liking. Add water if you want a thinner consistency.
• Set aside

ASSEMBLING

• Break 2 eggs in a bowl and beat with an electric beater for 5 to 6 mins, until the eggs turn nice and frothy.
• Place a frying pan on stove at medium flame with about a tbsp oil.
• Dip the kebabs in the beaten eggs. Use a large spoon to coat the kebabs. Place the coated kebabs on the heated frying pan.
• Flip the kebabs once the egg gets golden on one side. Add another tbsp of oil after flipping kebabs. Set aside.
• Toast buns with or without butter in the same pan.
• Add a layer of chutney on the toasted buns, place kebab and sliced onions on top. Add ketchup or cucumber or any other condiment of choice. Close the bun kebab with top toasted bun and serve hot with more chutney and onions on the side.
  

Notes

• If you live in a hot humid climate, soak the lentils on the counter for 4 hours, and soak overnight in the fridge.
• If you don’t have mango or khatai powder, add 1 tbsp of tamarind paste during the last 10 mins of boiling the split chickpeas
• You can boil the potatoes together with the dal as well.
• This recipe is definitely spicy, reduce red chilies and green chilies by half if you can’t eat spicy food.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 464mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g

The post Street style Bun Kebab appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

STEPS TO PUT TOGETHER A CRISPY FISH BURGER

The components of this recipe are as follows.

• Tartar sauce
• Fry sauce or burger sauce
• Fish coating and frying
• Assembling the burger

1st component – Quick Tartar Sauce

The tartar sauce in this recipe gives the fish burger that elevation it needs to make an average burger, LIPSMACKING GOOD.

To put this tartar sauce together, all you need are the ingredients and a food processor.

Process garlic, capers and dill in the processor finely. Then add all the remaining ingredients in the processor. And thats it! Pulse it for a minute and you have your sauce ready!

SUBSTITUTIONS FOR INGREDIENTS IN THE TARTAR SAUCE

• You can use greek yogurt instead of Sour cream. Don’t use regular yogurt, as it has a lot of water. Incase you only have regular yogurt, put it in a cheesecloth to drain its water.
• I personally prefer capers for this tartar sauce. But if you don’t have them, you can use pickles, jalapeno pickles, dil pickles or gherkins.
• IF you are on a clean diet, skip out the mayo and use a little fresh cream instead.

2nd Component – Fry Sauce

Fry sauce also known as burger sauce is a condiment that goes really well with fries and burgers etc. It is super easy to put together and has numerous recipes out there.

I use these ingredients for my fry sauce

• Mayonnaise
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Pickled Jalapenos chopped
• Sundried tomatoes chopped

You can skip sundried tomatoes if you don’t have any. But I’d definitely recommend to have everything else on hand.

Just dump everything in a bowl and whisk with a spoon. Your fry sauce is ready!

3rd Component – Preparing the crispy fried fish

Selecting the fish

For this recipe, ofcourse you need a boneless fish. I used Dori for this recipe, but you can also go ahead and use Cod, Tilapia or any white fish that you have access too. I cut the fish into bun size squares. If I am using frozen fish, I don’t thaw my fish completely. Infact, I add the frozen fish into the marination. Water content isn’t a big problem in this recipe, so you don’t have to worry about patting your fish dry etc.

For coating the fish we need 2 layers, a liquid batter in which the fish will be dipped. And another dry layer of cornflour and flour that forms a nice thick layer on the fish.

The ingredients for the liquid batter are shown above. I dumped all of these in a large bowl and whisked to form a smooth batter. Then I added my fish fillets and coated them completely in the batter. White fish is very delicate so it doesn’t really need a lot of time for marination. 15 mins is more than enough.

After 15 mins, coat the fish into the dry coat of all purpose flour. Make sure you press the dry mix onto the fish properly to make sure the whole fish is covered nicely.

PROTIP: Always lightly dust the tray or plate with flour which you are placing your coated fish in. Also don’t shake off the excess flour from the fish.

How to fry the fish

Once your wish is coated, it is time to fry. Fish is a delicate protein, especially the white fish varieties. The best way to handle such a fish is to deep fry them in hot oil for 5 to 6 mins max. Flip over after 3 mins and take the fish out as soon as you get your golden color. Don’t let the fish sit in the hot oil for too long, it may get hard and over cooked. Of Course the thickness of the fish fillet will affect the cooking time of the fish. MY fillets were roughly 1/2 an inch thick.

You can also bake the fish in the oven if you don’t want to fry it.

4th component – Assembling

Finally! its time to assemble and dig in!

For assembling the burgers these are the layers I added to my crispy fried fish burger

• Toasted buns
• A layer of tartar sauce
• A layer of iceberg lettuce, onions and cucumbers or cabbage too
• A juicy crispy fried fish fillet in the middle
• A slice of cheese (optional)
• More pickles (optional)
• A layer of fry sauce
• Finish it off with bun.

How to keep your burgers warm?

IF you are preparing a big batch of burgers, it’s a good idea to assemble your burgers in advance. Here are a couple of things you can do to serve restaurant level hot fresh burgers.

• Wrap your burgers immediately in foil.
• Preheat your oven at 60 C C and place your wrapped burgers in the oven to keep them warm till you are ready to serve.
• If you’ve fried french fries or wedges etc, place them in a tray in the oven too.
• If you plan to re-heat it in the microwave later, then use a wax paper to wrap the burger instead of foil. Only heat for 30 secs at high.

How long can the burgers stay in the fridge?

Any cooked seafood can safely stay in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. The sauces can stay upto a week in the fridge, if they are kept covered.

Can I freeze the fillets before frying?

Definitely! But the marinate has lemon, vinegar etc which can cook the fish even in the fridge. IF you really want to prepare in advance, I’d say you can freeze the fish for upto a week but shouldn’t do more than that. Don’t thaw your fish, just let it sit in the counter for 10 mins and then fry like you would normally do.

Sides that will go SUPER WELL with these crispy fish burgers

• French fries or steak fries.
• Cole slaw
• Corn on the cobs
• Tartar sauce and fry sauce
• Russian salad
• Potato salad.
• Pasta salad

Other similar recipes that you may like

Lahori fish fry
Dynamite shrimps
Pakistani prawn masala
vegetable sandwiches
Chicken Tikka Nachos

Print

Fish burger

A crispy fried fish fillet assembled with veggies and sauces to give a delicious fish burger.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Continental

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 10 burgers

Calories 648kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

Fish marinade

• 2 kg any white fish fillets cut into burger size
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp paprika powder
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 cup all purpose flour

Fish dry coat

• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt pr to taste

Tartar sauce

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper crushed or powder
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp dill chopped
• 1 tbsp capers or any pickles
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Fry sauce

• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1 large jalapeno 24gm
• 1 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes optional

Assembly

• 10 burger buns
• Iceberg leaves or any salad leaves
• sliced cucumbers
• Oil for frying
• sliced onions
• any vegetable of your liking

Instructions

Tartar Sauce

• In a chopper, add garlic, lemon juice, dill and capers. Process it till everything is chopped finely.
• Add the remaining ingredients and process again to get a nice tartar sauce. Set aside

Fry Sauce (burger sauce)

• Add all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside

Prepare Fish

• Add all the ingredients for fish marinade in a large bowl and whisk together to form a smooth mix.
• Drop in your fish and make sure they are all fully coated. Let it rest for 15 to 20 mins.
• In another bowl, add in all the ingredients for fish coat and mix together.
• Pick up one piece of fish and drop in the fish coat bowl. Coat the fish piece properly pressing the coating deep into the fish. Flip over multiple times.
• Lightly dust a clean tray with the coating mix. Place the coated fish in a the tray. DO NOT SHAKE OFF excess flour mix.
• Deep fry fish in hot oil at high flame. Fry till fish turns golden brown. About 5 mins.
• You can also bake the fish. Spray a baking tray with oil and place your coated fish on it. Make sure to spray oil on top of the fillets too. Bake at 200 C (400F) on the lowest rack. Flip the fillets over after 7 mins.

Assemble Burgers

• Lightly toast buns if you want.
• Layer fry sauce on the bottom bun.
• Place lettuce , other toppings and a piece of fish on the burger.
• Layer the top half of the bun with tartar sauce and close the burger.
• Wrap the burger with foil or a wrap to keep it warm.
• Serve with fries, both sauces and salad on the side.
  

Notes

Refrigerate the sauces after covering them. You can consume these for a week easily.

Wrap unused fried fish in foil and keep in refrigerator. You can safely refrigerate it for 3 to 4 days

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 648kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 124mg | Sodium: 1293mg | Potassium: 780mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 244IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 131mg | Iron: 4mg

The post Crispy fried fish burger with tartar sauce appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

So Basic!

That would be the ingredients I am referring to. Cabbage, iceberg, capsicum, cream and mayo are all things you probably already have in your fridge. Go give this a shot

BONUS: TRICK TO PREVENT SOGGY BREAD

So like with any cold cut sandwich, this sandwich also runs the danger of making the bread a little soggy from the inside. To counter this, what I like to do is, I like to grill or toast only the inner side of the bread lightly and layer it with a very thin layer of butter. This acts as a water lock to an extent and keeps your sandwiches fresher for longer.

PREPPING BEFORE HAND

If you are like me, then you probably like getting things done way ahead of time. If you plan on making these for a high-tea, then a good point to note is to not mix the sauce with the veggies. You can cut the veggies and make the sauce and store both separately. This is because as soon as vegetables mix with salt or sugar, they release water which will make your mixture runny. You can however prep them in an hour in advance, just not over night.

Mayo is healthy right? Substitutions

If it were up to me, I would TOTALLY state this as a healthy recipe because you know veggies! But apparently mayo and bread don’t qualify as very healthy. But hey you could always make the following substitutions and make this recipe a part of your fitness menu:

HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES

• Mayonnaise – More fresh low fat cream
• Sugar – With Stevia or Honey
• White bread – Multi grain bread

VARIETY IS KEY

What other vegetables go well with this creamy base? I’ve added tomatoes, shredded carrots and cucumbers in the past and they go really really well with the other veggies and sauce. Hey let me know if you try any other others that work out for you.

Easy Creamy Vegetable Sandwich Recipe

Print

Creamy Vegetable Sandwich

An easy combination of cabbage, mayo and bread makes a delectable evening snack

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American, Fusion Food

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 141kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 1 medium bell pepper
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup chopped iceberg lettuce
• 1 tbsp heaped fresh cream
• 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tsp vinegar
• 4 bread slices brown or white of choice

Instructions

• Mix sugar, black pepper powder, vinegar, cream and mayonnaise together in a bowl
• Toss in the vegetables and mix well. Your sandwich filling is ready
• Coat the inner side of your bread with mayonnaise and use the vegetable filling to make sandwiches. Your cold cut sandwiches are ready!

Notes

If you want to prepare the sandwich filling ahead of time, chop the vegetables and make the sauce and store separately. The salt and the sugar may lead the vegetables to release water and make the mixture runny hence are stored separately. When it is time to serve the sandwiches, then mix the vegetables with the sauces and makes the sandwiches. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1servings | Calories: 141kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 311mg | Potassium: 216mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 485IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 1mg

Easy Creamy Vegetable Sandwich Recipe

While you are looking at sandwich recipes, check out these cold cut sandwich recipes too:

The Dagwood Sandwich 

The cucumber Sandwich

Also, feel free to browse other recipes on our blog by clicking here. Until next time!

The post Easy Creamy Vegetable Sandwich Recipe appeared first on Butter Over Bae.