Parsi: From Persia to Bombay

Editor Keith Kendrick cooks a Parsi dish with chicken, spices and potatoes

Iroast chicken a lot. It’s my teenage kids’ favourite meal, so I like to experiment with it. I hadn’t thought to brine the bird first – until now, that is, thanks to Farokh Talati’s cookbook Parsi and its section on the ‘equilibrium brine’. In a nutshell: put the meat in a container, on a set of scales. Cover with water, then divide the combined weight by 100 and multiply by three. This means you’ll need to add 3 per cent of salt to the water. Then, put it in the fridge for six to 24 hours. The results are tender, succulent and flavourful. It’s the perfect way to prep a chicken for Farokh’s recipe below. The book is the St John Bread and Wine head chef’s selection of Parsi recipes, inspired by his travels through India and time spent in his family kitchen. If you’re unfamiliar with the cuisine, it’s a combination of Persian and Indian, featuring dishes such as patrel (stuŠed, fried taro leaves), dhansak (meat and lentil stew) and aleti paleti (spiced chicken liver). Farokh, whose major cooking influence was his grandfather, says, “Around the seventh century, during the Arab conquest of Persia, a small group of Zoroastrians fled persecution by sailing to the islands of Gujarat. The Parsi community has adapted ways of cooking and eating, borrowing the best aspects.” Born in London, Farokh went on a quest to discover the food of his heritage after visits to India “pestering aunts and uncles to let me cook with them.” He adds, “I ate Parsi food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and wrote down every detail of what I’d seen and eaten.” Now you can do the same, thanks to Farokh’s book.

Parsis have adapted ways of cooking, borrowing the best aspects