It's fingerlicious good

YUMMY TREAT

E wondered which is the fastest moving food when it comes to fast food in Delhi? Nope, it is neither pizzas, nor is its noodles and frankly it leaves behind the good old French fries. The most popular food is the humble burger.

As is customary, the burger too has undergone its share of  ‘Indianisation’ for how long could have the original, bland version supported the used-to-spice-in-life Indian palate.

There are numerous varieties of Indianised hamburgers now available and they begin with the regular aloo tikki burger, chicken burger, vegetable burger, paneer tikka burger, lamb burger etc.

And it isn’t the McD’s who are making fast buck out them. The roadside chap who stocks up on hotdogs, ‘petteis’ also finds that his burgers disappear the quickest.

The burger available with them is frankly is nothing beyond being two pieces of sesame buns stuffed with ‘aloo tikki’ coupled with a slice of tomato and onion each and selling at just Rs 10.

Ashwin Rajan, a software developer in an MNC, and a self-confessed burger junkie often experiments with all the varieties available in burgers. “I just love burgers. It is a great dish, kills your hunger pangs instantly and is so amazingly tasty. I mostly eat the burgers offered by McDonald’s and KFC. They have great variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian burgers.”

Many variants of the hamburger have been created over the years, some of which have become very popular in restaurant chains that have tried to reproduce the success of McDonald’s.

Poppy Agha, a chef with The Second Sin said Indianised burgers are very popular. “The most popular burger in our restaurant is the open burger sandwich. It’s quite popular as smoked salmon bagels are popular world wide and widely appreciated too.”

The open face smoked salmon burger is constructed using a toasted bun, layered with the special créme fraiche, topped with salmon, capers and dill. The final touch comes with a touch of salmon roe. At a not-so-cheap rate of Rs 450, the open burger is quite popular even with 20-somethings.

Another eatery offering varieties in burger is Café Delhi Heights. They have Juicy Luicy burger with a lamb filling; Delhi burger which is vegetarian and Open Chicken burger. These attract a large number of burger lovers to our place, says Sushil Bohra, manager of the restaurant. “Even though it is junk food, people love burgers. It is great dish to quell hunger pangs.”

Although, the hamburger which adds on loads of calories, junk food lovers are in no mood to give away their favourite dish!