Hanifia Hunter Beef Burgers. Four words that get me drooling. If you are from Karachi then you know the magic. The magic of their dry cured hunter beef, so good in the hunks that you buy. Even more special when they fry it up and pile on their special sauce. It's tangy, it's spicy, the kind of thing you want to swipe at and lick off your finger.

Never in a million years could I have reverse engineered that sauce without help. I once found a blog post that shared a variation of this recipe. I have tried searching for it by googling the ingredients but it seems to no longer be there. But to you who wrote the post with the 3tbsp of Vinegar, I want you to know that I owe you a great debt. As a word of caution this sauce on it's own isn't half as good as the sauce added into a pulled beef sandwich!

These Hanifia Sauce Sliders were part of my Eid Table last year and this year they have been part of my walk down memory lane. It is a nostalgic journey that has included Caramel Custard, my mother's cilantro chutney, her Bread Kheer, Deviled Eggs, Eclairs and now these.

How to Make Hanifia Sauce Pulled Beef Sliders

As much as I love this sauce I do not love the prospect of making Hunter Beef. It is very time consuming and I much prefer quicker fixes. So instead of making Hunter Beef I use my Kid Friendly Pulled Beef . The sauce takes minutes to put together, the Pulled Beef mostly happens in the Instant Pot. A little shredded lettuce is optional, but such a nice counterpoint. The sandwich is delicious.

The amount of beef in the Pulled Beef recipe and the sauce provided makes enough for 4-6 burgers depending on how much meat you like. There will be extra sauce leftover and it is SO good with fries!

most of a pulled beef slider with lettuce, sauce and some extra greens in the background

Print Recipe

5 from 8 votes

Hanifia Sauce (Copycat Recipe)

Author: Sarah Mir

Ingredients

1 ½ cup water
2 tbsp oil
1 ½ - 2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp red chili powder
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp salt
1-2 tbsp flour

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a small pot, whisk well to break up lumps
Bring to a boil, simmer till a thicker consistency - 5-10 minutes
Cool then drizzle over your your pulled beef (or hunter beef) and serve.

Notes

My tweaked version had vinegar at 1.5 tbsp and flour at 2 tbsp. Since then I've learnt that the official Hanifia recipe (thanks MH) has 2 tbsp vinegar and 1 tbsp flour. I prefer my ratios, but in the interest of authenticity I wanted to share theirs

This sauce pairs so well with this beef and a heaping of shredded lettuce. Make half the quantity if you want to make four beefy burgers with no extra sauce!