Don't bother about calories the next time you crave for patties stuffed with cheese, veggies and grilled meat. Chefs are coming up with multi-grain bread, low-fat recipes to allow you to indulge. Also try Sri lankan, Mediterranean and lebanese flavours, says Divya Kaushik
That juicy thing smeared with cheese, swathed in sauces, almost exploding with crunchy fillings, emanating the aroma of freshly-baked bread and grilled meat has been the daal roti of the Americans. It is difficult to trace the time when burgers became an essential part of our eat-out menu. It progressed over a period of time and now having burgers is not a fancy choice, rather they are a delicious and healthy option many prefer in the city. They do not want the tikki stuffed and cheese loaded buns we have been going crazy about, Delhiites want the authentic and healthy burger, may be something that they tried at a Café in london.
“After travelling across Europe I realised what we are having in India in the name of burger is nothing close to the actual one. There are street side burger bars, offering varieties, healthy or loaded with calories is your choice completely. A lot of attention is paid to the bread and the eateries maintain that the juiciness of the burgers is retained. When I returned I tried out burgers at the most expensive restaurants here, but I was not satisfied. This was over three years ago. There has been a significant change now, with major joints realising that their guests are well-travelled and an informed lot. So they are making changes accordingly,” says Sharad Gupta, a 30-year-old management professional.
A look at the event calender of last few months will reveal that there have been burger festivals at most of the happening places in the city. There are special burger joints too in the Capital now.
Willi Haueteur, executive chef of The Imperial shares that his burger festival was a huge hit “People even in Western countries are going for healthy burgers and the trend has come down to India. We have multi-grain bread burgers. The filling can be anything, but the juiciness and the freshness of the burger has to be maintained,” he says. In his special menu he included burgers like Patty Melt (famous New York burger, served on rye/caraway bread and topped with grilled onions and cheddar cheese); Torpedo burger (a breaded fish and crab cake, crunchy fried and served with dijon mustard, grilled smoked ham and tomatoes) and some vegetarian specialities.
Chef Dalip Kumar at The Pink Room launched a weight watcher burger. It uses grilled chicken and low-cal cheese with heap of veggies. “We prefer fries made out of sweet potatoes than full of fat potato fries. We also skip the frozen veggie burger patties — which are often loaded with salt and some toxins. We go easy on the cheese. Skip the fat-free stuff, because “no fat” means the cheese won’t melt easily. I also suggest using a block of cheese instead of thin slices, try grating it for even coverage. Make your own bun with whole-wheat flour — you’ll avoid preservatives and get a fiber boos. Or go bun-less and serve a burger in a lettuce wrap, on top of a salad, or even between two slices of zucchini,” says Kumar.
People look forward to regional specialities as well. The ongoing festival at Hard Rock Café has burgers of Mediterranean, Sri lankan, Thai, Mexican, lebanese and Indian flavours.
Each burger is complete with the spices from the region and is served with the condiments and dips that represent the cuisine.For example, their Thai burger has kafir lime, basil. Their Mediterranean burger has varied herbs.
“Considering that burger contributes to 45 per cent of our sales, we have paid special attention on variety,” informs Chef Cyrus Irani from Hard Rock Café. Elf Cafe lounge also serves California burger from America, sea food meat steak from Brazil and crispy lamb and goat cheese burger from Britain.
