Swordfish & Red Pepper Burger on Dholl Flat Bread with Vindaye Curry
Leaving the desert behind, we travel southeast to the island country of Mauritius. Just east of Madagascar, Mauritius is home to 1.3 million people on an island smaller than Luxembourg and just twice the size of Hong Kong. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
There are no indigenous people of Mauritius, it was uninhabited when it was settled by the Dutch in 1630 with the goal of harvesting ebony, and keeping the French and British from settling the island.
The Dutch brought slaves over from Madagascar to help harvest the ebony trees. But all of their efforts were unsuccessful. Cyclones, droughts, rats, and monkeys made agriculture difficult and the Dutch abandoned the island by 1710.
In the short time they were there, the Dutch did manage to destroy habitats of, introduce animals that killed, and hunt to extinction, the Dodo bird. The Dodo was a forest bird and a relative of pigeons and doves. It was a large flightless bird, approximately 3 feet tall. Since Dodos had been living without natural predators, they had no fear of the humans or the animals the humans brought with them. Estimates vary, but it is clear that the Dodo became extinct by 1690 at the latest and possibly as early as the 1660s. Today the extinction of this silly looking bird is a used as a cautionary tale for school children across the globe.
Ok, that’s a lot of history – just a few more points of history to cover because they relate to the food. After the Dutch left, the French settled the island and brought workers over from India. Even thought the British captured the island in 1810, the French never really left and today Creole is spoken by 87% of the population. Today approximately two thirds of the population is Indo-Mauritian.
So that brings us to the food. The cuisine is multi ethnic with dishes that can be traced back to Dutch, lots of French and Indian influence and a sprinkling of British and Chinese.
Because I like to find unique flavors for each country, I was drawn to a kind of curry that I’ve never heard of before. Vindaye is a curry made with vinegar and black mustard seeds.Vindaye is usually made with meaty fish that is almost pickled in the sauce. The mustard seeds give a bitterness that when combined with the acid of the vinegar is an explosion of flavor. Add in some spicy chilies and it just sounds too interesting not to try. Now how to translate that into a burger?
Clearly we’re going to start with fish. I played with the idea of cooking the fish in the sauce, but that seemed more like salisbury steak than a burger. I’m ok with fork and knife, open face burgers, but there are limits to how much I’m willing to stretch the definitions.
For the patty, I decided on Swordfish. I used my handy dandy meat grinder and ground the fish along with red bell pepper. The juiciness of the peppers cause the meat grinder to squirt fishy liquid at me, so beware when you’re grinding. The resulting patty looks almost like salmon because of the pepper juice.
For the bun I went with the traditional street food of Dholl Puri. Dholl Puri is a flatbread made with split peas, turmeric and cumin and it’s served stuffed with various fillings and/or with curries, pickles, and chutney. For some reason, I had yellow lentils in my head when the traditional base is yellow split peas. Yellow lentils are actually skinned and split green mung beans. I haven’t had time to remake the bread with split peas, but the lentil version was delicious. It was such a rich flavor and interesting texture – it was my favorite part of the dish.
Then the most important Vindaye. In my first attempt, I, foolishly, used whole seeds then ground them. The resulting sauce was so bitter, it was inedible. I forgot that fenugreek needs to be soaked overnight and/or cooked before using to soften the bitter. Since I was now out of time (fish in the fridge ready to go), I used ground spices instead, except for the mustard seeds which should be left whole. The mustard seeds are bitter, so if you don’t like that sour bite, you can reduce the amount. You can also amp up or down the acid with more or less vinegar. The sauce has a nice amount of heat and I liked the acidic punch of the vinegar. It worked with the curry flavors, but it is weird. I know I’m supposed to have a fancier food vocabulary, but the best way to describe this sauce is that it’s unlike anything I’ve tasted before. It’s bitter, acidic, spicy, and warmly curry flavored. I’m hoping one of you has tasted the authentic dish and can tell me how close this comes.
The final burger came together well, the flatbread had a yummy earthiness and a really cool texture, very silky with just a little bit of grain to it. The swordfish was mild and fresh tasting – a good counterpoint to the strong flavors of the bread and topping. The Vindaye sauce was a blast of flavor. I think this burger is going to be polarizing – if you like the sauce, you’ll like the burger. So for those who like bold flavors on the acidic and spicy side, this could be just the dish for you!
If you like this burger, you might enjoy my Kiribati Burger. It’s got the curry and fish, without the burst of acid and heat. It’s like the gentle cousin of the Mauritian burger.
©Copyright 2023 Linda Monach
Mauritian Burger
Equipment
- Meat Grinder If you don't have a meat grinder, you can use food processor or chop the fish finely with a sharp kitchen knife
Ingredients
Dholl Puri Inspired Flat Bread
- 1/2 cup Yellow Lentils (rinsed and drained)
- 1 1/2 cup Water
- 1/2 teas Ground Cumin
- 1/2 teas Ground Turmeric
- 1/2 cup All purpose flour gluten free all purpose flour can be used
- 1/4 teas Kosher salt
- 2 Tbsp Peanut Oil
Vindaye Inspired Curry Topping
- 2 Tbsp Black mustard seed
- 1 Tbsp Ground cumin
- 1 Tbsp Ground fenugreek seed
- 1 Tbsp Dried curry Leaves (crushed)
- 1 Large onion (chopped to 1/2" pieces)
- 2 Fresh Piri Piri Peppers (chopped to 1/2" pieces) or other hot red pepper
- 1 Jalapeno Pepper (chopped to 1/2" pieces) or other hot green pepper
- 2 Tbsp Peanut oil
- 1/2 cup White wine vinegar can substitute cider vinegar for more punch
Mauritian Burger
- 1 lb Swordfish (chopped into 2" chunks)
- 1 Red bell pepper (Chopped into 2" chunks)
- 1/2 cup All purpose flour gluten free all purpose flour can be used
- 1 Large pinch of salt
- Flat Bread from above
- Vindaye Curry from above
- Fresh cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
Dholl Puri Inspired Flat Bread
- Bring lentils in water to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover tightly. Cook for 5-7 minutes until lentils are soft.
- Drain lentils and let cool. Place lentils, spices, flour and salt in a food processor. Pulse until a dough like texture forms.
- If you don't want your fingers to turn yellow, you should put on disposable gloves before the next step.
- Divide the dough into four equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Flatten each ball into a circle on wax paper.
- Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. When oil is shimmering, peel the bread disks off and add them to the hot oil. Cook until lightly browned, flip and brown the other side. Then place the bread disks on a wire rack until ready to use. Retain the oil in the pan.
- Note: These can be made in advance and are still delicious at room temperature.
Note: These can be made in advance and are still delicious at room temperature.
- Heat the oil in another non-stick pan. When the oil is shimmering, add the first 7 ingredients (mustard seed through jalapeño pepper). Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Cook covered over medium heat until onions and peppers are soft (about 10 minutes).
- Add the vinegar. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Taste as you go along and adjust vinegar and or spice as needed.
- Note: The curry topping can be made in advance and reheated for serving.
Mauritian Burger
- Grind the swordfish and red pepper together in a meat grinder. Add the cilantro, flour and salt to the swordfish and peppers and mix to combine ingredients. Form four patties out of the mixture, place on wax paper and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Using the pan from the flat bread (add more if you need it). Heat oil until shimmering. Add the swordfish patties to the heat and cook over medium heat until nicely browned and cooked through.
- To plate, place the flatbread disks on each plate, add the cooked burger patty, spoon the curry generously on top and sprinkle with chopped cilantro if you wish. If I weren't allergic to beer, I would have paired this burger with an Allagash White or a Hefeweizen. Since I am allergic, we paired this with a nice Sancerre, but the flavor of the sauce over powered the wine a bit.
