Guest post by #BawiMummy: Shernaz Petigara
This recipe has been an all time favourite of mine as a child, growing teenager, and now in my early fifties. I cannot forget a day when Dolly Mummy has asked me, what would you like to take to college and I would quickly say – Sali par Eedu. Love it the same way even today.
As the years went past, I had forgotten my mum’s original recipe. I often wondered why it did not taste the same. I got the secret from my younger brother, Rayomand, who visited me in New Zealand in 2009 while I was fighting my life with Leukaemia. All the 21 days that he stayed with us and asked me what I would like to eat, I only chose to eat my favourite dish, Sali par Eedu. These were the days when I would run far away from the sight and smell of food and it did surprise all of my family and friends as to how I just loved eating this everyday!
It has been five years after that when he visited us again with a lot of Sali for me from Aamchi Mumbai in his bag. I asked him to cook it and got the secret out too. I was adding onions to it and mum never added any onions. Ha Ha Ha (picture a 50 year old woman doing an evil laugh)….. Where there is a will there is a way.
Hope you enjoy reading the recipe, buying the ingredients for it, preparing it, cooking it and sharing it all. Sali per Eedu is a good lunch to carry to work as well. If you’re making it for a party, break into bite size pieces and serve on rice crackers to make it look more fancy. Ingredients are at the bottom of the post!
To begin, heat up the oil in a deep flat bottomed frying pan. While the oil heats up, finely chop the green chillies and tomatoes.
Now, saute the ginger garlic paste, green chillies, tomatoes, coriander and all the other spices
Add in the Sali and mix well. Let all of this cook on a slow fire for about 3 – 4 mins until the wonderful aroma of the spices permeates through the kitchen. Now, flatten the mixture across the cooking pan.
Whisk the eggs in another bowl and spread these across the pan. Gently sprinkle some water over the mixture to create steam but not too much so that the sale becomes soggy. Cover the pan with a glass lid allowing it to cook for 5 – 7 minutes. You may notice that the eggs tend to pool towards the centre and may remain uncooked there – simply give the pan a twist so that the eggs run off to the sides where they will cook faster.
Once the eggs are cooked, slice into 8 pieces. Serve hot with roti’s or brun-pav
To make enough as a side for 4 people you will need:
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 – 2 green chillies finely chopped
1 cup coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
250 gms fine potato sticks (sali)
2 eggs whisked well
Salt to taste (less is recommended for the potato sticks already have enough salt in it)
Like Parsi style frittata. Yummy.
Where do we find salli … ??? Would love to try this recipe.. but the source of salli is unknown
Shahnaz it should be available at any Indian shop that sells farsan and wafers. If you don’t get it, you can make it at home but it is a bit of an arduous process. To do this you will need to thinly slice a potato, soak up all the moisture using a paper towel and then deep fry it until golden brown to make sali. Good luck!
Is the sali the same as the little sweetish batata (alu) chiwda you get in the farsan stores or is it savoury?
Hi Richa, no the sweetish one is a chivda. What you’re after is just the plain sali and it should be very fine and salty. Most wafer/farsan stores will stock it.
Tried the recipe for a change from the one we usually make & it turned out delicious.
Enjoyed it thoroughly, thanks!