Salli Boti
Mutton in a rich and aromatic sauce—whose sweet-and-sour flavors are delicately balanced with warm spices—topped with salli, which are matchstick-thin potato crisps. A Parsi classic!
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After 38 years, I found salli boti (and my father’s love for it) again
A savory outing from my childhood has remained with me. Eating mutton with chips in a restaurant, with high ceilings and checkered tablecloths, that was buzzing with conversations. My mother, sister and I would take the local train to meet my father for lunch in South Bombay, where he worked then, and walk to this restaurant with him. He loved mutton—which is almost always goat meat in India—more than anybody I have ever known! He raved about the mutton in this restaurant, where he often ate lunch with his colleagues and wanted to share his food experience with us. I loved visiting his hangouts, and I felt a sense of awe when I visited South Bombay.
In those days, my father worked as an accountant at an export house in South Bombay. It was a good time. We were happy. Unfortunately, the company folded under, triggering a long slow chain of events in my father that changed our lives: unemployment, depression, alcoholism, then, finally, a new job. However, he couldn’t keep another job for more than a couple of years, so the cycle kept repeating. My mom made ends meet with her government salary. It wasn't much, but it saw us through. Mutton with chips, though, became a distant memory. Papa passed away at the age of 53.