Chef Farokh Talati strives for authenticity along with creativity for his Parsi fare
London born and based chef Farokh Talati has been working since the age of 16, "breathing new life into (his food) with streamlined techniques and methods” whether it be festive fare or everyday home Parsi cooking,” write Homi K. Bhabha and his daughter Leah in their introduction to Talati’s book Parsi. From Persia to Bombay: Recipes and tales from the ancient culture.
These recipes from the book have been reprinted with permission from the author. Talati describes his offerings as "no-nonsense food… documented in detail.” His wish is to "adhere to authenticity… but it is also vital to express yourself, allowing ideas and creativity to bubble forth,” his ultimate aim being "only deliciousness.”
So go ahead and try his delectable dishes.
Clockwise from top l: potato and vegetable cutlets; grilled sweetcorn, carrot and paneer salad;
baked paneer and boozy apricots; sweet potato mash; spicy chicken liver and hearts; toast pur bheja
POTATO AND VEGETABLE CUTLETS
Makes 6
Potatoes (600 g — peeled and cut into equal sized chunks, about 4 cm)
Ghee or vegetable oil (2 tbsp)
Green chillies (4 small — finely chopped)
Ginger-garlic paste (1 tsp)
Onion (1 small — finely diced)
Garam masala (1 tsp)
Green beans (60 g — chopped into very small pieces)
Frozen peas (60 g or fresh peas if you have them)
Carrot (1 — peeled and finely diced)
Coriander leaves (a small handful — picked and chopped)
Salt (1½ tsp)
Black pepper (½ tsp — freshly cracked)
Patyo sauce (6 tbsp — or any tomato sauce you have available)
Vegetable oil (500 ml — for frying)
Semolina (250 g — I prefer coarse semolina for texture)
Eggs (3 beaten)
Bring a pan of well salted water to the boil, then add the potatoes and boil for about 10-12 minutes until tender to the point of a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then spread them out on a baking tray and leave them to steam dry for five minutes (the less moisture there is in the potato, the easier it will be to work with). Then tip the potato back into the pan and mash until smooth.
Heat the two tablespoons of ghee or vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the chillies, ginger-garlic paste and onion and fry for eight minutes, until the onion has browned. Turn off the heat and stir in the garam masala.
Bring another pan of salted water to the boil and add the beans, peas and carrot. Boil for one minute, then drain and cool.
Tip the mashed potato into a large bowl with the chilli and onion, cooked vegetables, chopped coriander and salt and pepper. Mix well and divide the mixture into six equal sized balls.
Place a thumb into each ball and make a cup shape big enough to place a tablespoonful of the patyo sauce inside. Bring the sides of the cup over and around the sauce, closing and sealing the sauce inside. Ever so gently flatten the ball to form a burger shape, taking care not to squish out the filling.
Heat the 500 ml of vegetable oil in a wok or frying pan to 180° C. If you do not have a thermometer you can drop a small piece of bread into the oil; when it begins to fry and turn golden brown, the oil is ready.
While the oil is heating, put the semolina on a plate and cover each cutlet with it, ensuring an even coating all over. Dip the cutlets into the beaten egg, again ensuring the egg fully coats each one.
Fry the cutlets two at a time for four minutes per batch, turning halfway through the cooking time, until they are golden brown on the outside and piping hot inside.
Serve with yogurt stirred through with a little coconut and coriander chutney or mango pickle mayonnaise.
GRILLED SWEETCORN, CARROT AND PANEER SALAD
Serves 4 as a small plate
Corn (4 ears — cooked on the cob)
Carrots (4 large — peeled and grated)
Mixed herbs (a few fistfuls such as mint, dill, coriander and parsley leaves picked and chopped)
Chilli flakes (1 tsp)
Lemon and cumin dressing (100 ml)
Paneer (250 g)
Black or white sesame seeds (2 tbsp)
Sea salt and black pepper (freshly cracked)
Stand an ear of grilled corn upright on your chopping board and using a sharp knife with a swift downward stroke from the top run the blade between the corn and the cob, stripping the cob of its kernels. Repeat for the remaining corn, gathering the kernels in a bowl as you go.
Place the carrots in the bowl with the corn, and add the chopped herbs, chilli flakes and a few glugs of dressing. Season with a healthy pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Taste the salad and adjust the seasoning as necessary (maybe a pinch more chilli for extra heat, or a glug more dressing for acidity).
Serve the salad in your preferred platter with crumbled paneer over the top. Finally sprinkle over the sesame seeds to give a pop with every bite.
SWEET POTATO MASH
Serves 2 as a side
Sweet potato (1 — large, about 500 g, peeled and chopped into large chunks)
Cumin-coriander powder (½ tsp)
Ground turmeric (½ tsp)
Caraway seeds (1 tsp — lightly crushed)
Coriander (½ small bunch — leaves picked and chopped)
Cheddar (120 g — grated, optional)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the sweet potato. Boil for about 10-15 minutes until soft (alternatively, do this in a pressure cooker for six minutes). Drain the sweet potato chunks in a colander and sit the colander in the empty pan, allowing the potatoes to steam off and dry out a little.
Tip the sweet potato chunks back into the pan and add all the remaining ingredients. Season well with a good pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper, then mash (with a masher, whisk or even a fork) everything together until smooth and fully combined.
If you have any leftovers, make them into sweet potato cakes and pan fry them until crispy on the outside, then top with a fried egg.
SPICY CHICKEN LIVER AND HEARTS
Serves 4
Chicken livers (600 g)
Chicken hearts (400 g)
Vegetable oil (100 ml, plus 2 tbsp)
Onion (1 large — thinly sliced)
Ginger-garlic paste (2 tbsp)
Tomatoes (2 large — finely chopped)
Cumin seeds (1 tsp — lightly crushed)
Dhansak masala (2 tsp)
Garam masala (2 tsp)
Jaggery or caster sugar (20 g — chopped)
Apple cider vinegar (2 tbsp)
Worcestershire sauce (2 tbsp — plus extra if needed)
Coriander (a handful of leaves picked and chopped)
Salt
Before you begin, clean the livers and hearts. To clean the livers, slice away any sinew and white bits that hold the different lobes of the liver together. For the hearts, you just want to slice away the first few millimeters of white fat and sinew at the top of the heart.
Rinse the livers and hearts in cold water and drain them in a colander. Use some kitchen paper to dry off the last of the water.
Pour the oil into a large frying pan or a wok and heat it over high heat.
Meanwhile, season the livers and hearts with salt. When the oil is hot, add the hearts to the pan and fry for one minute, then add the livers and fry for a further two minutes (the hearts are denser muscle and take that little bit longer to cook and color up). Tip the contents of the pan into a bowl and set aside.
Add the extra two tablespoons of oil to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the onion, chilies and ginger-garlic paste. Fry for three minutes, then add all the juices and oil from the livers and hearts that have collected in the bottom of the bowl. Continue to cook for a further three minutes, until the onions soften and become translucent.
Add the tomatoes, cumin, dhansak masala, garam masala, half a cup of water and half teaspoon of salt. Cook for a further 10 minutes with a lid placed loosely over the top until the tomatoes have cooked down and become pulpy. If things start to catch during that time, lower the heat and add a splash of more water.
TOAST PUR BHEJA
Serves 2
Calf brain (1 or 2 lamb brains)
Ghee or vegetable oil (3 tbsp)
Shallot (1 small — finely chopped)
Ginger-garlic paste (1 tsp)
Tomato (1 small — finely chopped)
Ground turmeric (¼ tsp)
Dhansak masala (1 heaped tsp)
Green chillies (2 small — finely chopped)
Coriander (a small handful of leaves picked and chopped)
Well-buttered toast of choice (4 slices)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Place the brains in cold water for 30 minutes to get rid of any blood and impurities. Remove from the water and, using a small knife, begin peeling away any membrane and bits of blood — if you peel away carefully, much of the membrane will come off in one piece. Trim sparingly as everything is good to eat, even if it is a bit visceral at this point. I promise things get better. Chop the cleaned and trimmed brains into bite-sized chunks.
Heat the ghee or oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the shallot and fry for two minutes, until softened a little. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for a further two minutes, until everything starts to turn a light golden color.
Turn up the heat to high and add the brains, gently folding them in the pan to combine — be careful as too much stirring will turn the delicate chunks to mush. Fry the brains for one minute, then add the tomato, turmeric, dhansak masala and a few generous pinches of salt and ground black pepper. Gently fold and turn the brains for three minutes, allowing the tomatoes to simmer and break down and the flavors to intensify.
The brains will now have the appealing texture and appearance of scrambled eggs. Take the pan off the heat, throw in the chilli and coriander and fold everything through. Spoon the mixture lavishly on the toast and scarf down while piping hot.
BAKED PANEER AND BOOZY APRICOTS
Serves 4
Paneer (250 g — unpressed)
Eggs (2 large)
Lemon (½ — zest and juice)
Orange (½ — zest and juice)
Caster sugar (60 g)
Vanilla extract (1 tsp)
Apricots (10 — dried, soaked overnight in 125 ml brandy)
Nutmeg for grating
Preheat the oven to 200° F/180° C
Beat the paneer, eggs, lemon and orange zest and juice, sugar, vanilla and a few tablespoons of brandy from the soaked apricots together in a bowl until evenly mixed.
Place the soaked apricots in a layer over the base of a 12 cm baking dish. Pour over the paneer mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 160° F/140° C and bake for a further 25 minutes, until the top is golden and slightly burnt in patches, and the paneer has set firm. Allow the baked paneer to cool for 10 minutes, then finish with a little nutmeg grated over the top before serving.