Salli boti is a quintessential mutton dish cooked by the Parsi community, mostly based in Mumbai. In Parsi, salli means fried potatoes and boti means chunks of meat. So salli boti is a mutton dish served with fried potatoes, usually french fries or shoestring fries. It is a semi dry spicy mutton curry that is slow cooked with various spices and often served with steam rice. Salli boti is served on every special occasion celebrated by the Parsi community. It is a very popular dish in Mumbai even outside the community.
2 lbs mutton (goat meat), either bone-in or boneless. You can also use lamb meat.
2 medium onions , finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes , pureed
2 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp ginger paste
4 green chillies. Use 2 if you want to lower the spice level
½ cup plain yogurt, beaten
2 tbsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chilli powder. To reduce the kick, use Kashmiri chilli powder
2 bay leaves
Salt, as required
Vegetable oil, as required. I use sunflower oil
For ground spice mix:
4 ground black pepper
4 cloves
3 green cardamom pods
2 black cardamom pods
½ in cinnamon stick
½ tsp mace
½ tsp carom seeds
For garnish:
2 sprig coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup potato fries seasoned with salt and ground pepper. I air fried the shoestring-style cut potatoes.
1 Wash the mutton pieces nicely under running water, strain and keep aside in a mixing bowl.
2 Add yogurt along with ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, red chilli powder and turmeric. Season with salt and mix well.
3 Add the yogurt mix to the mutton pieces and mix well.
4 Cover the marinade with a cling wrap and keep the bowl in the refrigerator for around 1 hour.
5 Add the black pepper, cloves, green and black cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, mace and carom seeds to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
6 Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan such as a Dutch oven and add the bay leaves. Add chopped onions and sauté till they are golden in color.
7 Add in the chopped tomatoes and mix well. Cook till the tomatoes soften and turn mushy.
8 Add the mutton marinade to the pan. Next add the ground spice mix. Stir well and fry till the texture becomes a little watery.
9 Adjust salt if needed. Also, add more oil if required.
10 Close the lid of the allow the mutton to cook on low heat till it softens, about 1 hour.
11 Once the mutton is cooked, turn the heat to high and fry nicely till oil starts leaving the sides.
12 Adjust the consistency of the gravy to semi-liquid and give a boil again.
13 Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped coriander leaves and the potato fries.
Serve with steamed basmati rice or whole wheat parathas.
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