Jardaloo Salli Boti, a Classic Parsi Meat and Apricot Curry
This is a story from my early days of cooking Parsi food. I remember one disastrous outcome to a dish that tasted nothing like my mom’s original delicious version, although I had followed the handwritten recipe every step of the way, or at least, so I thought.
In response to my frustrated questions about where I could have messed this up, I got my mother’s straightforward and always kind reply, “the only thing missing in your dish, Peri, is patience!”
Jardaloo Salli Boti, a Classic Parsi Meat and Apricot Curry
That’s a life lesson in Indian and Parsi cooking, especially relevant for the ever-popular, well-loved Parsi specialty Jardaloo Salli Boti, often a dish I love to showcase in my live group classes. Years later and having served it to hundreds of clients, this recipe is honed to a point where every layer of aromatics and spices is cooked to near-perfection and comes together in a delicious melange of Parsi flavors. Now, I’m sure most of you who have tasted this Parsi preparation before, are already running to fetch the ingredients to make this dish.
Traditionally made using mutton or lamb cubes, or chicken in more recent times; the unique Jardaloo Salli Boti is a Parsi cuisine classic, with strong Persian touches like dried apricot called Jardaloo, the tanginess of cider vinegar, and sweetness of jaggery or sugar, along with a blend of mouthwatering Indian spices and aromatics.
Prior to serving, this tangy-sweet-n-spicy Parsi meat preparation is topped with store-bought crisp ‘Salli’, known in different parts of the world as shoestring potatoes or matchstick potatoes, or potato straws.
