The next city selected by the generator was Karachi, the capital of Pakistan.
Here’s some stats:
| Country | Pakistan |
| Founded | 1729 |
| Area | 3527 km^2 |
| Elevation | 10 metres |
| Population | 20.3 million |
Let’s learn a bit about the cuisine. Wikipedia tells us the following about Karachi cuisine:
The cuisine of Karachi is strongly influenced by the citys Muhajir population, who came from various parts of British India and settled primarily in Karachi after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Most Urdu speaking Muslims have traditionally been based in Karachi, hence the city is known for multi cultural tastes in its cuisine. These Muslims maintained their old established culinary traditions, including variety of dishes and beverages.Karachi cuisine is renowned for its cultural fusion, due to various empires and peoples living in this mega city. As a result many multi ethnic cuisines collaboratively had an influence on the style of Karachi food. The Pakistani cuisines such as Sindhi cuisine, Punjabi cuisine, Pashtun cuisine, Kalash cuisine, Saraiki cuisine, Kashmiri cuisine, Balochi cuisine, Chitrali cuisine and other regional cuisines have also influenced the cuisine of Karachi.
After a bit more looking around I landed on a recipe I wanted to try, the Bun Kebab. The dish spiked my interest because it’s essentially an indian hamburger which sounds pretty awesome:
A bun kebab consists of a shallow-fried spicy patty called shami kebab, onions, and chutney. The chutney is made up from tamarind (imli), salt, cumin powder, whole red chillies, and/or raita in a grilled bun. Bun kebab patties are typically composed of ground beef or mutton, ground lentils, powdered cumin seeds, and an egg batter. Although they can be vegetarian. The patties are fried in ghee or oil. A bun kebab can also be served with a fried egg or omelette and topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, or onions.
I landed on the this recipe which actually uses a vegetarian patty made out of Chana Dal (Chickpeas).
The recipe wasn’t very difficult. Basically you soak and cook the chickpeas, then blend them into a puree. From there you add a bunch of spices to the mix and make two types of sauces. I decided to make it a little more complicated by also making burger buns. I’ve never really liked the store bought ones, which either feel, cheap, artificial and full of preservatives or overly sweet and fatty for Brioches. This recipe wasn’t very complicated either, you basically mix oil, flour, eggs and then throw balls in the oven after a quick proof.
The end result was pretty great. The taste of the patty was quite similar to falafel which makes sense considering the chickpea base. All in all I’d make it again, and think it’d be a particularly good choice for a vegetarian friendly BBQ recipe.
Here’s an awe inspiring photo, hope it inspires you to make a Bun Kebab:
