Whilst the launch of Dishoom Birmingham is sadly on hold for the moment due to Covid-19, Chef Naved has kindly shared three of his most-cherished recipes for you to prepare and enjoy at home.

Follow @dishoom on Instagram, who will be sharing further recipes for you to enjoy over the coming weeks.

Breakfast Lassi

Lassis are a very common drink in India, although, admittedly, not often seen at breakfast. The classic flavour choice is sweet or salted. In the Punjab, you can enjoy a full-fat milk yoghurt lassi – served in a big glass and topped up with freshly churned butter. It’s unsurprisingly rich, and lovely and frothy when served over crushed ice. 

This breakfast lassi is not dissimilar to a smoothie, with plenty of bananas and oats.

SERVES 2

1 very ripe banana, peeled

100ml coconut milk

140g full-fat Greek yoghurt

50ml mango purée (fresh
or tinned) 

2 tsp steel-cut oats

3 tsp runny honey

A large pinch of cumin seeds

A pinch of fine sea salt

4 ice cubes

METHOD

1.  Put all of the ingredients into a blender, add 160ml water and blitz until completely smooth.

2.  Pour into glasses and serve, with straws.

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Butter Bhutta

Blackened, buttered bhutta (corn-on-the-cob), with plenty of lime and masala. This is a classic of Chowpatty, where it’s cooked in a bhatti (a mud-lined bucket) filled with charcoal. The grill is balanced on top, so the flames can lick the corn.

This is delicious cooked under the grill, and even better on a barbecue. (Extra points for a barbecue on the beach. Make your own bhatti for complete credibility.)

SERVES 2–4

2 corn-on-the-cobs, trimmed of all leaves

1 tsp fine sea salt

30g butter, melted

TO SERVE

¼ tsp deggi mirch chilli powder

1 tsp flaky sea salt

4 lime wedges

METHOD

1.  Preheat your grill to high or heat up the barbecue. 

2.  Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the corn cobs and salt and bring back to the boil. Cook for 3 minutes, then drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.

3.  Using a cleaver or heavy-duty knife, carefully chop each corn cob in two. 

4.  Coat the corn in melted butter, using a pastry brush. Grill until the corn is quite charred all over, turning and basting with the melted butter every 2–3 minutes. Try to gradually build up the colour rather than burn the corn. 

5.  While the corn is grilling, mix together the chilli powder and sea salt.

6.  To finish, dip a lime wedge in the chilli-salt mix and rub all over the surface of one piece of corn. Repeat with the other pieces of corn and lime wedges. 

7.  Serve the corn with the remaining chilli-salt mix and spice-dipped lime wedges. Provide lots of napkins.

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Prawn Moilee

This is Naved’s special dish at Dishoom Covent Garden. It’s a light, fragrant and utterly delicious south-Indian-style curry, packed with juicy prawns and tempered with coconut milk. Although it looks impressive, it is actually very easy to make, so you can serve it either as a week-night supper or as an indulgent dinner. We serve it with idiyappam, the white, lacy noodle pancakes, also known as stringhoppers. If you can’t get these, it goes just as well with steamed rice.

SERVES 4

6 green chillies

55ml vegetable oil

2 tsp mustard seeds

30 fresh curry leaves

300g Spanish white onions, sliced (a little chunky is good)

15g garlic paste

15g ginger paste

2 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1¼ tsp ground turmeric

25g fresh root ginger, cut into matchsticks

400ml coconut milk

250ml coconut cream

24 large prawns

300g medium tomatoes, cut into small bite-sized wedges 

TO SERVE

Lemon wedges

METHOD

1. Remove and discard the stalks from the chillies, then slice each one into 3 or 4 long strips. Set to one side. 

2. Place a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add 40ml of the oil, let it warm for a few seconds, then add the mustard seeds and 20 curry leaves. Let them crackle for a few seconds.

3. Add the onions and sauté lightly for 12–14 minutes, until soft but not coloured.

4. Add the garlic and ginger pastes, salt, black pepper
and turmeric and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the sliced chillies and ginger matchsticks and cook for 3 minutes.

5. Pour in the coconut milk and cream and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. While the curry is simmering, place a small frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Toss in the rest of the curry leaves and fry for 1 minute, until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside. 

7. Add the prawns and tomatoes to the sauce and simmer gently for a further 5–6 minutes, until the prawns are cooked; do not overcook or they will be tough. 

8. Serve scattered with the fried curry leaves, with lemon wedges on the side.

Note: If you’d like to prepare the dish in advance, make the sauce (up to and including step 5), chill and refrigerate, then reheat and continue from step 6 just before serving.

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Extract taken from Dishoom by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar & Naved Nasir (£26, Bloomsbury) Photography © Haarala Hamilton