Passport & Plate - Bheja Fry
India | Thursday, February 26, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
3 sets goat or sheep brains – poached in salt water and cut in 1.5 cm cubes
3 tablespoons ghee
2 ea cloves
1 piece cinnamon stick
2ea cardamom pods
½ Indian bay leaf
2 ea onions – diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
2 teaspoons ginger – minced
1 ea green chilli – chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 ea tomatoes – diced
1 teaspoon sugar
100ml water
¼ teaspoon black pepper – ground
½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
Pinch Mughlai garam masala
½ teaspoon salt
1 sm bunch fresh coriander - roughly chopped
½ ea lime – juice of
How to prepare this recipe• Fry whole spices in ghee until fragrant,
• Add onions and fry until deep golden, then add ginger followed by green chilli then garlic, and fry briefly.
• Add turmeric followed by cumin and coriander taking care not to burn spices
• Add diced tomatoes and sugar cook to a pulp, add water and simmer to a rich gravy
• Add cooked brains, season with salt, pepper and chilli, toss gently, cover pan and cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes
• Fold through coriander leaves, add lime juice, mix well
• Serve with toasted Pav (Bombay style bread roll) extra green chilli and fresh lime if required
The story behind this recipeSometimes aromas or flavors take you back to a place, triggering an internal slideshow. For me, the smell of green chili and coriander takes me to Bombay, not far from the India Gate. Street food here is astonishing, corner vendors turn out Pav Bhaji or Vada Pav on makeshift braziers and fryers. Tiny shop fronts hawk sweets or samosas and once grand cafes, often over two floors offer up a taste of Bombay’s past.
The plan during my short stay, was to eat at as many places as possible, Given my hosts insisted I join them for meals at home most evenings, this became a true test of stamina. But in my six weeks, despite eating amazing dishes all across the city, I kept returning to the Olympia Coffee House on Colaba causeway. Dating from the 1920’s, it serves food that breaches barriers of race and religion with Muslim, Hindu and Parsi diners sitting cheek by jowl along with the occasional intrepid westerner.
The menu of kebabs, kheema, biriyani and mutton fry, are all delicious, but they are also famed for their Bheja fry or Brain masala. And so, on my final visit having watched others tucking in with gusto, I overcame my hesitation to order offal in India, and with words of warning from my Indian friends ringing in my ears .. only eat everything vegetable, piping hot and fresh cooked ever.. I took the plunge not knowing what to expect, brains often being bland at best.
But of course India never throws up anything one could call bland and these brains were no exception. As a lover of both offal and Indian cuisine these were a revelation, at once spicy, creamy, pungent, sharp and fresh. Spread on a “Pav” the ubiquitous bread of Bombay, for me, it has come to symbolize everything about this city. And when I make this at home and if I close my eyes, I am instantly back in that steamy world, with it’s clatter of cutlery, droning fans and the incessant chatter of a dozen dialects, reaffirming the power that food memories have to transport us to our favorite places.
