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Zardaloo zSali zSoy
August 2, 2007 | 38 Comments
zzzz …. Zoroastrian-zStyle
Zardaloo is the Farsi name for the Hunza apricot grown in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Hunza Valley. In Arabic and Urdu, this fruit is known as Khubani. Khubani ka Meetha, is a famous Hyderabadi dessert.
The Parsis or Zoroastrians migrated to Gujarat over 800 years ago from Pars/Persia (modern Iran) fleeing religious persecution. They call them Zardaloo or Jardaloo and add them to a variety of meat dishes.
In Farsi (Persian), zard = yellow, aloo = plum.
While their community is fast dwindling(there are around 100,000 Parsis left, mainly in Bombay), their culinary traditions, embraced by mainstream, are alive and thriving.
These round apricots are dried without sulphuration, and have a distinctly complex taste and aroma. See what their kernels look like here.
When I was a dedicated carnivore, one of my favouite dishes featuring gosht (meat) was Zardaloo Sali Boti, featuring meat stewed with dried apricots. (Another spectacular Parsi meat dish cooked with ripe mango is called Ambaklio Ma Gosht. You will find that only in home kitchens.)
‘Boti‘ means mutton (goat’s meat), ‘Sali‘ are potato straws. The name of the dish translates to ‘Sweet and Sour Apricot Mutton with Potato Straws’. The lamb version is usually called ‘Zardaloo Sali Gosht‘.
This dish has it’s origin in the Persian Khoresht Zardaloo (Veal Stew with Apricots), using the trademark ingredient, dried limes – limoo amoni.
Parsis serve a range of meat dishes under a mountain of ‘sali’ – crisp, potato straws straight out of the fryer.
As for veggies, they are usually smothered with edu (eggs) – a dozen is not unusual. No kidding. See the evidence. (The fourth picture in that link is Zardaloo Sali Gosht).
Zardaloo Sali Murgh - the Chicken version – is equally popular, but I was partial to red meat.
This is a veggie version with Textured Vegetable protein (TVP) or soy chunks.
I can picture my buddy Zubin, about to rupture an artery:
“Aama gosht nathi? Aa soy voy ekdum bhankas chey. Get a life, dikra.”
(Translates roughly to: “No meat? Soy is a load of rubbish.” )
He’s right. We’re not big TVP fans. Moreover, nothing can match the flavour that meat imparts to this dish. However, Zardaloo Ma Soy is better than Zardaloo Nothing. Potatoes and/or cauliflower will be great in this dish. And yes, the Sali (potato straws) are a must.
If you visit Bombay, do make a trip to Paradise on Colaba Causeway. They serve a mean Zardaloo Sali Boti.
This dish is khatto-mitho-tikho (sour, sweet and hot) all at once. The tartness comes from vinegar, plus tomatoes. Some recipes use yogurt. Others add ground almonds for a creamier sauce. We prefer it with a very thick gravy, almost semi-dry. We combined a few recipes to come up with this version.
**TIP: When you are microwaving the apricots, toss some extra in to snack on. They are really yummy hot and tender.
So here it is.
Zardaloo zSali zSoy
100 grams (about 20) dried Hunza apricots.
200 gms. dried soy chunks
2 cups finely chopped red onions
2 tsps ginger paste
2 tsps garlic paste
1/2 cup tomato puree or 2-3 tomatoes
3 tablespoons slivered and toasted almonds
1/4 tsp (or more) cayenne (chilli powder)
2-3 tablespoons distilled vinegar
1-2 teaspoons powdered jaggery
Whole spices
1 two-inch stick cassia (cinnamon will work)
3 whole black cardamoms
1/4 tsp cloves
For the Spice Mix
one two-inch stick of cassia (cinnamon will work)
3 shelled green cardamoms
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
3 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
a pinch of grated nutmeg
4 dry red chillies
1 tablespoon ghee
1 tablespoon oil
salt
To garnish:
some cilantro leaves
lots of potato straws
1. Soak the apricots in water for half an hour.
2. Separately, soak the soy chunks.
3. Toast the spices for the spice mix in the microwave for 30 seconds, then powder them in a spice grinder to a fine powder.
4. Scoop out the spice powder, keep it aside. Then in the same grinder jar, pulverize the almonds to a fine powder and keep it separately.
5. Put the soaked apricots along with 2 tablespoons of the liquid in the microwave and cook it covered on HIGH for 4-5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
6. Heat the ghee and the oil in a big wide pan, Add the whole spices, stir for a few seconds, and add the onions. Fry until light golden, then add salt and the the ginger and garlic pastes and fry until the onions are a rich reddish-brown.
7. When the onions are frying, squeeze the water out of the soy chunks. Save the water.
8. If using fresh tomatoes, chop them fine and zap them in the microwave for 3 minutes. Measure out 1/2 cup.
9. Add the spice mix and the cayenne powder to the onions, stir for 30 seconds, add the soy chunks and some salt and allow the spices to coat the soy.
10. Deseed the apricots and add the apricot flesh to the soy mixture with the tomatoes.
11. Add the almond powder, and the liquid from the apricots and soy chunks, about 3 cups liquid total.
12. Cook it down on medium until you have about 1/2 cup liquid left.
13. Add vinegar, jaggery salt and cayenne to taste. It should be a perfect balance of sweet, sour and hot.
14. Mix well and switch off the flame. Let it sit covered for atleast 30 minutes for the flavours to blend.
15. Garnish with cilantro and potato straws just before serving.
This dish is usually served with yellow rice and a vegetable or lentil side dish.
Most Parsi cookbooks feature this dish. I was surprised to see how many mainstream ‘Indian’ cookbooks feature this dish with lamb or chicken – 50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi, Madhur Jaffrey’s Taste of India and Monisha Bharadwaj’s Indian Kitchen, to name a few.
It is also a staple in many Indian restaurants in Britain.
Duck, cooked with dried apricots in a rich almond sauce, is called Budak Korma Zardaloo.
- Bee
Jardaloo Ma Gosht
Jardaloo Sali Boti
Sali Jardaloo Murgi
Zardaloo zSali zSoy is our ‘Z‘ entry for Nupur’s A-Z of Indian Vegetables Event at One Hot Stove. Thank you, Nupur, for ths opportunity to explore regional variations of Indian vegetarian cuisine through your series. We had a great time participating, and marvel at the care and creativity with which you put each weekly roundup together.
Filed Under: Apricot, jardaloo-sali-boti, Parsi, Potato, Soy/Tofu/Tempeh, vegan recipes, vegetarian recipes, zardaloo
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38 Comments
yeh..u i can see ur blog today!
Lovely post. Haven’t ever heard of this.thanks for posting.
You guys come up with the most unusual but still very much authentic dishes for all the letters! And the last one in the series is totally on the mark too!
It looks great, but I’ll just agree with Zubin and have mine with mutton, thank you
Blogging makes you do all this.. zardaloo iz zstrange…That sounds like franglais.
You guys are really zsmart! That sounds like a lovely recipe. Should put some good use to zardaloo lying in my kitchen!
Thanks for the awesome recipe and the interesting links there ….Fist time I try this,I will go the Zubin way with these and toss the TVP in Ze Bin please… (sorry as bad as that was..it was hard to resist
) I’m sure the TVP soaks up all those masalas beautifully and becomes quite delicious too!
Thanks for yesterday’s Sainath post as well.
PS: Do you soak the TVP in warm or cool water? Also is gHIH in step 5 typo for ‘high’ or something I don’t know about?
cool water is fine. if you want it quick, hot water works. – b.
I’ve been to Paradise. Is it that restaurant run by a husband and wife? Didn’t have the zardaloo but did have something with sali.
yes, it’s run by a Parsi couple. – b.
Hey never heard of Zardaloo man, cool name and cool dish… yah enjoyed the links there too…
Wow, I am soo happy to see somebody finally giving a second thought to SOY instead of meat
You got me on this one, yours forever fan :=)
I have Camellia´s 50 Great Curries of India and I cant stop cooking from her. There are only a few recipes that I havent tried. I usually substitute meat for eggplants or tofu (when marinating).
Thanx a lot and please, keep posting more SOY-friendly recipes..
Can neone tell me wats the difference between an apricot and a peach?
an apricot is smaller, more yellow than pink, and has smooth skin, unlike a peach which has slightly furry skin.
Khurbani ka Meetha…. yuummmyy my favourite…..
Can we use the normal apricots for the Zardaloo zSali zSoy?
great entry, looks very tasty too. I love those little apricots, I even eat the kernels from the seeds, they are just like almonds.
Lovely! I have some Zardaloo left from making Spicyana’s fruit cake (an excellent recipe btw) – so no excuse not to try. Will try it with gosht though.
And congratulations to Mr.Sainath.
P.S.: Too bad the A-Z series is ending.
Bee, Looks good with those potato straws, Soy Chunks are not my favorites, but I am still a carnivore probably try this with goat.
These are the best kind of khubani! They grow in Kashmir-Ladakh too – and are soooo sweet. the first time I ate a dried apricot, looking all clean and translucent, the taste was an anti-climax! And the kernels are edible too.
I bet the dish is quite something with mutton.
For once I get to play with these smilies!!! YAY!!!
coffee, i changed the plugin, so some of your smileys are missing in action. sorry. – b
I have studied in a parsi school
and as a result had lots of parsi friends…. I learnt from one of them that, because of their community vanishing so quickly, the parsis insist on their kids marring within the community itself… of course the more liberal ones will not follow… but all are expected to!! 
Yummy and looks fabulous. Never tried. Thanks for sharing.
I saw your yesterday’s post too but for some reason ,it said timed out,couldn’t get in!!
LOL! Zsali Zsoy!! COOL!
Zardaloo, I have heard of it,never tried.Looks like a yummy dish.Soy products are not my fave but could replace it some other veggies.Great entry.
A to Z ended? I thought we will start over with A again!!
u surely manage to come up with unheard and unusual dish
looks really wonderful. i have very poor GK when it comes to parsi cooking.
by the way how did coffee managed to get so many smilies ???? i too want to play with smilies… ~sigh~
wordpress people get special privileges here.
Ohhh I didn’t know those zardals(as we call them) can be cooked. I always ate them as they are. Very unusual recipe Bee. I always wonder, how you guys come up with so much information
. I cant find any info abt anything when I want to post, then I always end up writing some of old memories 
.
That’s one tongue twisting name for a recipe
…not too familiar with Parsi cuisine…the food , as usual, looks great though 
I’ve plenty of khumani with me and am making this tinite
i searched 
high & low for a veg dish using khumani & i finally get it here, ain’t i glad u came to the other side (veg) 
btw, i’m using paneer, will that work, i’m not crazy @ soy
PleeeZe tell me u’ve a recipe with fig as well
hugs for this awesome post, muaaaaah!
not sure about paneer. will be great with potatoes, though. – b.
Had never heard of the dish… thanks for the recipe… i keep learning so many new things from your blog:)
Zee best !!!
You have such a resolve to not snack on these
i usually finish mine soon as they are bought!! Good one, guys.
First of all Coffee where did you get these smileys from so many
Spice mix, the ingredients used are enough to say it must be delicious. Though I don’t like soy because it is chewy, over all good recipe and a nice entry 
Bee as usual you have something unusual again
i’ve changed the plugin so that everyone can use the new smilies. the older one was not visible to everyone. – b.
Ooops got an extra ‘e’ there…of course I didn’t mean the channel
This looks delicious! I love soy chunks and I have never tasted a Parsi dish. This recipe is being bookmarked. A great entry for the event!:)
Oh this is a very unusual recipe. Zsali sound lil like gaali;)
just kidding. I love soy chunks. this one is worth trying.
Well, I marvel at the care and creativity you guys put into every single post! Thank you for another wonderful entry.
Zardaloos tug at my heartstrings…this was the snack that my late grandfather and I shared when I was very little. After biting off the sweet zardaloo, he would carefully crack open the seed and hand me the tiny kernel.
Eh? Zery Zantastic!
:bow: You guys are too much!
Zardaloo/Jardaloo is what we call them in Marathi, too.
and it looks like the smileys work! :horn:
Zany yet zooo cool. :yes:
I wish you lived next door… the person who lives next door learns rasam from me and then recreates it with onions!! But hey, I give her full marks for enhtu.
Please Bee and Jai, can I come over?
sure, come over. – b.
:hmm: :bruised: :nono: How Dare You!!! :notlisten:
Now you better tell me where did you get this plugin from!! :devil:
Custom Smileys 2.4
hey, i did try it last night with paneer & loved it
I soaked the khumani a little longer & did not need to m/c it. Also, i was in a bit of a hurry, so did not add the zsali.
Thank You.
you are a paneer addict, richa. glad you liked it. – b.
[...] Zardaloo ZSali ZSoy (Bombay) [...]
its dry appricot wow.