Bun Kabab is a popular Pakistani street food. A shallow-fried potato and lentil patty is placed between a sweet bun. The patty is then smothered with a mint and tamarind chutney and topped with a piece of omelette. This quick and easy snack is immensely delicious.
Table of Content
What Is A Bun Kabab
Bun Kabab is a vegetarian slider. It's a filling and affordable snack in Pakistan and similar to the Vada Pav in India. It is both made with a meat patty (also called Shami Kabab) and a vegetarian patty such as this one.
The vegetarian patty is shallow fried, placed between a soft bun, slathered with some mint and tamarind chutney, topped with sliced red onions for sharpness and then finally the omelette is added to bind the whole thing together.
This Karachi style Bun Kebab is very easy and so addictive!
Looking for more Pakistani street food? Try my keema samosa, lahori fried fish, and easy jalebi.
The Components of Bun Kabab
- Vegetarian Patty: This is the main component, a flavorful patty made from lentils, potatoes, or a mix of both, or even a meat-based patty like Pakistani shami kabab.
- Omelette: A Pakistani-style spiced omelette is added for extra flavor.
- Green Chutney: Made from cilantro, mint and green chilies, this green chutney adds a fresh, spicy kick. I highly recommend making your own at home.
- Tamarind Chutney: Tamarind will balance the heat, with its tanginess. You can use a homemade tamarind chutney, or sub with tamarind pulp, concentrate or ready-made sauce since you just need a small amount.
- Milk Buns: Typically, soft, sweet buns are used in Pakistan. However, you can replace with slider buns, brioche hot dog buns or burger buns.
- Garnishes: Crisp, refreshing additions like sliced red onion, cabbage (even coleslaw), cilantro, and mint, add texture to the Bun Kabab. You can pick and choose whatever you want.
Pair these Bun Kababs with my mango mojito mocktail with a side of masala fries!
How To Make Bun Kabab
Let's make this easy Bun Kabab recipe and bring the street food flavors right to your table!
- Start by combining the lentils, potatoes and water in a pot.
- Cook till everything is soft and excess water has dried.
- Add chopped red onion, cilantro and remaining seasonings to the mixture. Mix well.
- Form round patties and keep aside.
- Dip in whisked egg and shallow fry the patties. Keep aside!
- Toast the milk buns from the bottom.
- Assemble the bun kabab by place a vegetarian patty on and drizzle some green chutney combined with tamarind sauce.
- Add an omelette, fresh cilantro and sliced red onions. If you wish you can add tomatoes and cucumbers too. Close the bun and serve hot.
FAQs
It's made with a spiced patty (vegetarian or meat), egg, some chutney and sliced onions, all served in a soft bun.
Bun Kabab is a Pakistani street food specialty featuring a spiced patty (vegetarian or meat) with chutneys and egg, a sweet milk bun.
Vada Pav, is a popular Indian street food, consisting of a spicy potato fritter (vada) served in a pav (soft bread roll) with chutneys and sometimes fried green chili.
The key difference is the patty type (lentil or meat in Bun Kabab vs. potato in Vada Pav).
More Vegetarian Recipes
- Chana Chaat
- Vegetable Pakoras
- Besan ki Roti (Gram Flour Flatbread)
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📖 Recipe
Street Style Bun Kabab
Ingredients
Potato & Lentil Mix
- ½ cup split chickpeas (chana daal)
- 1 cup water
- 3 red button chilies or dried whole red chilies
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ inch ginger
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 medium potatoes cut in big chunks
Patty Seasonings
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala
- 1 teaspoon mango powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 green chilies chopped
- 1 small red onion diced
- 2 tablespoon cilantro
- 1 egg for dipping
- ⅓ cup oil for frying
Omelette
- 4 eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil
Assembly
- ¾ cup green chutney
- ¼ cup tamarind chutney or 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
- 8 brioche hot dog buns or small slider buns
- 1 red onion thickly sliced
- fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Soak the split chickpeas for 3-4 hours prior to cooking.
- Add the split chickpeas, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, red chilies and water to a normal stainless steel pot and cook on medium-low till the lentil is 80% soft.
- Add the potatoes and simmer till both lentils and potatoes are fully cooked. Dry any remaining water. Mash the mixture with the back of a wooden spoon or grind it.
- To this mixture add the chaat masala, mango powder, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, green chilies, red onion, and cilantro. Mix well till everything is incorporated.
- Form into small patties. Whisk the egg till frothy and dip the patties into it.
- Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan and shallow-fry on medium heat till golden-brown on both sides. Remove on a paper towel.
- Mix your green chutney and tamarind sauce together and keep aside.
- Whisk the eggs with salt and red chili powder. You may need to divide the egg mixture so that you get one thin layer of omelette.
- In a large pan add the oil and half of the egg mixture. When cooked from one side, flip and cook from the other side. Take out and divide the omelette into four pieces. Now repeat for the remaining egg mixture.
- Toast the buns from the bottom.
- Start assembling! On the bottom bun add your lentil patty, pour some chutney, put some red onion slices & cilantro place the omelette and close it with the top bun.
- Serve with some extra green mint chutney and enjoy!
Notes
- You can also freeze the vegetarian patties before dipping them in egg. Just place them on a tray in a single layer. When they are frozen solid, transfer to a ziplock bag and store for 3 months.
Nutrition
PIN IT FOR LATER
S says
Hello
after cooking the lentil and daal together, should we drain the excess water or are we supposed to dry all the liquid on the stove itself?
Thank you
Chili to Choc says
Hi! You have to dry any remaining liquid.