It was Navroze yesterday, the New Year celebrations of the Parsi community. Growing up in Mumbai, I had many Parsi and Irani friends. On Navroze, I’d look forward to the celebratory meal of sagan ni mitthi sev, pulao-dar, cutlace, patra ni macchi and ravo. Orders would be placed in advance with either home-chefs or caterers, or one would enjoy a meal at a close friend’s place, even as the celebrations tend to be more private and a home-affair.
When I moved to Delhi a couple of years ago, I found that many non-Parsis refer to the New Year as “pateti” and I instantly remembered the words of my friend Kurush Dalal, a food anthropologist and archaeologist.
“Pateti is the last day of the Parsi year, the day before Navroze. It is not a day of celebration, but a day of intense introspection. It is when you go over your deeds of the last year, and repent those that you realise did not conform to the Parsi credo of Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds,” Dalal explained. Once unburdened of these errors, one starts anew and celebrates the first day of the new year—Navroze.
While food understandably plays a major role in the celebrations, there is a key misconception to take into account—that of dhansak-pulav being eaten on this day. An excerpt from author Charmaine O’Brien’s book, Food Guide to India, puts it aptly: “…a number of other foods in Parsi cuisine require some explanation, including the meat and lentil stew known as Dhansak. Because it’s served four days after a death, and its associations don’t fit with weddings. However, dhansak is a big hit with Parsis and is regularly on their menus. Additionally, Parsi chefs are adept at combining a wide range of ingredients in one dish. A simple dhansak might contain twenty individual ingredients while a more complex one is almost twice that.”
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Mumbai-based home-chef Rhea Mitra-Dalal, who also helms the popular, legacy Parsi catering venture Katy’s Kitchen, revealed that there was, in fact, no dhansak at all in Persia, and neither was there any patra ni machhi! These were, in fact, dishes that the community invented when they migrated to Navsari in Gujarat.
“The Persian ancestry is rooted in the pulaos, and in other preparations through predominant use of dried fruit like apricots, raisins, currants, and saffron,” Mitra-Dalal said.
Instead of these two most popular names, Katy’s Kitchen, run by the Dalals, serves other dishes that are traditional favourites to the community on Navroze—including Bheja na cutlace, Salli jardalu chicken, Mutton pulao dal, Sambhariya bheeda, Lagan nu ishtew, and Lagan nu custard, among others.
For Parsis in Delhi, the Parsi Anjuman at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg is a link to their culture and traditions. It is a place where they get together to celebrate Navroze and other auspicious occasions.
It was here that Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu, a Parsi restaurant which has now closed its doors, was housed. The brainchild of Kainaz Contractor and Rahul Dua, Rustom’s was a one-stop shop to celebrate and devour traditional Parsi home-style food, and Delhi’s window to the wonderful Parsi culture.
It was the first well-known spot in NCR that offered a Parsi thali to its guests—a great initiation into the cuisine. I was a regular there myself, especially on Navroze, till it shut down last year.
Today, Gurugram-based Anahita Dhondy, a celebrated chef and member of the Parsi community, plays a pivotal role in introducing the people of Delhi NCR to the cuisine of her community—through her stint at the now-popular SodaBottleOpenerwala, a restaurant chain themed after Mumbai’s iconic Irani cafes. She is also the author of Parsi Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family which offers a delightful window into this rather cosy and cheerful community that clearly loves its food to bits.
There’s more to explore, too. A few days ago, I chanced upon ‘Zarin’s Secrets’ through the Instagram account, Parsi Khabar. Started by Shelley Subawalla, a Delhi resident, it is a brand of traditional Parsi spice mixes, which were passed down to Subawalla by her grandmother, Zarin—hence the name. In a bid to document and preserve the food heritage of her family, Subawalla has created close to fifty original spice blends native to the fare served within Parsi households. Today, it is steadily becoming a favourite in Delhi-NCR.
Delhi is a melting-pot of cultures and cuisines and it is heartening to see the rise of members of various communities claiming their identities through food. With the broadening of Delhi’s food landscape, what better time than Navroze to indulge in some of the heartiest Parsi favourites?
Vernika Awal is a food writer who is known for her research-based articles through her blog ‘Delectable Reveries’