Sev to Sali Gosh: Here are some Parsi dishes that make Jamshedi Navroz special

Jamshedi Navroz falls on March 21. Parsis in Hyderabad and Secunderabad have already spring-cleaned their houses and are making a list of all the dishes to be prepared. The first dish eaten for breakfast on any auspicious day is Sev. This is eaten with sweet yogurt.

Sev

Ingredients:

300 grams very fine vermicelli

3 tablespoons oil or ghee

4 tablespoons sugar dissolved in 1 1/2 cups of water and boiled to a thin syrup

1 tablespoon raisins fried

A few almonds, sliced and fried

Mixed cardamom and nutmeg powder, enough to sprinkle over the sev.

Method

In a non-stick frying pan heat the oil or ghee.

Fry the vermicelli until brown.

Add sugar syrup and cook, covered, on slow fire for 5 to 10 minutes or until the vermicelli is soft and all the water absorbed. Shake the pan, do not stir or the vermicelli turns lumpy.

Boil almonds in water for 1 minute. Cool slightly, then remove the skin and slice the almonds very fine.

Fry almonds gently in a little oil in a frying for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not allow almonds to brown much. Remove and keep aside.

In the same oil fry the raisins for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove.

Place cooked vermicelli in a serving dish, sprinkle with cardamom and nutmeg powder, and top with almonds and raisins.

Another popular Parsi dish is ‘Patra niMacchi’. Pomfrets are used to make parcels of fish which are covered with chutney and wrapped in banana leaf. Other fish like betki or salmon can also be used but every Parsi foodie will swear by Pomfret for this slightly laborious dish.

Patra Ni Macchi

Ingredients:

10 large slices of Pomfret, cleaned. Add salt and juice of lime to these.

1 tsp. turmeric powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

Banana leaves cut in pieces and lightly oiled on one side.

For the green chutney:

For the green chutney:

1 tbsp. ginger - garlic paste

3 bunches of coriander leaves

A few mint leaves

4 green chilies,

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

tamarind pulp according to taste (or juice of 1 lime)

½ cup mint leaves

Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

Marinate fish with turmeric and chili powder for 30 minutes. Grind all chutney ingredients into a paste. Apply chutney to each slice of fish. Wrap each piece of fish in the oiled pieces of banana leaves and tie them with string. Steam these packets for about 20 minutes or till the fish is cooked.

Navrozlunch consists of yellow lentils and steamed white rice. With this many Parsis like to eat a spicy dish of kolmino patio or spicy prawns cooked with onions, tomatoes, spices, jaggery, and vinegar. Also very popular is the dish of Sali gosh or mutton with potato straws.

Sali Gosh Recipe

Ingredients:

1 kg mutton, cut into medium pieces

4 onions chopped and fried golden brown

1 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste

2 tomatoes, finely chopped

3 chopped green chilies

1 bunch coriander leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tsp. turmeric powder

250 grams potato straws called sali

3 spoons oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Add ginger-garlic, salt, chili, and turmeric to the mutton and marinate for 30 minutes. Heat oil and fry the chopped onions. Add tomatoes, coriander, and green chilies and fry. Add meat. Stir fry till brown. Add 1 cup water and pressure cook for half an hour. Serve with potato straws or sali.

Parsis are very fond of sweet dishes, which is due to the influence of Gujarati cuisine. A little jaggery or a dash of sugar is added along with vinegar to give a unique taste to most dishes. Most vegetable dishes have a little extra in the form of egg or cubes of mutton added to them! One of the few dishes without any additions is the very popular vegetable stew. This is served as a side dish at Parsi weddings and navjotes or thread ceremonies.

Vegetable Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 kg sweet potatoes/or yam/ and ¼ kg potatoes

¼ kg carrots¼ kg red pumpkin ¼ kg green peas, shelled and boiled.

4 small tomatoes, chopped and pureed

¼ kg onions, finely sliced.

Half pod garlic, 5 dry red chilies, and 1 teaspoon cumin seeds – ground to a paste together.

Water 1 cup.

1 teaspoon salt.

A few drops of Worcestershire Sauce.

1 tablespoon sugar and vinegar to taste.

Oil as required.

Method

Peel sweet potatoes or yam, potatoes, pumpkin and carrots.

Cut all into tiny cubes.

Pour oil into a frying pan and heat.

Fry and cut vegetables separately in it and keep aside.

In another pan, fry the onions in oil till golden brown.

Add the ground paste to onion and cook for 2 minutes adding 1 tablespoon water, if it sticks to the bottom of the pan.

Add all the fried vegetables and mix well. Add the peas. Add salt and water and cook, covered, on a slow fire for 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes and continue cooking till the stew is almost dry. Add vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, and sugar, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Parsis also serve ‘chicken farcha’, a chicken dish in which pieces of chicken are dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried, ‘gravy cutlets’ where cutlets are made of meat mince and served along with a thick, tomato gravy, ‘jadaloo nu gosh’ where mutton is cubed and cooked along with apricots. The list of Parsi dishes is as long as it is varied.

When the Parsis first arrived in India 1300 years ago to escape religious persecution in Persia, they arrived in boats and landed on the coast of Gujarat. The Ruler there sent a bowl of milk to symbolize that he had no room for the new arrivals. The Head Priest of the Persians dissolved sugar and sent the milk back to show that if they were allowed to stay on in Gujarat, they would sweeten their surroundings. The sweet tooth of the Parsis translates deliciously into the dessert called ‘Lagan nu Custard’, a baked custard that is served on auspicious occasions.

Lagan nu Custard

Ingredients:

4 cups milk

2 cups cream

1cup sugar

½ cup mixed sliced almonds and pistachio nuts

½ tsp. vanilla essence or rose water

4 eggs beaten well

Method:

Boil milk and sugar till milk reduces to one-third. Cool and add beaten eggs and essence. Add cream, vanilla/rosewater, and nuts. Stir well and bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes or till firm. This is served warm.

Parsis follow the principle of ‘Good thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds’. And most of the time the thoughts and words are about food. For such a minuscule community, with a worldwide population of 54,000, their contribution to good food has been large.