Mauritian Burger
Swordfish Burger with Dholl Puri and Vindaye Sauce. A spicy dish with a kick of acidity and lovely warm curry flavors. It is based on the traditional Mauritian Vindaye, an unusual curry dish with black mustard seeds and vinegar.This recipe can be adapted easily to your tastes, increase the spice by using more or hotter peppers, increase the acid with more vinegar and less cooking down of the vinegar. I used swordfish, but it would work with any meaty white fish.
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.
