Greater Than Ghee Roast by Shriya Shetty

I had never eaten ghee roast until I moved to Bangalore but I really think it’s one of India’s greatest dishes. That depth of flavour, the intensity, the body, the complexity, the Indian-ness... there are very very few things that hit the spot like a good ghee roast. 

Shriya Shetty is India’s most obsessive chef when it comes to ghee roast. Leaving behind a career in some of India and the world’s hottest restaurants (Gaggan, Ellipsis, Bastian), she moved to Mangalore a few years ago and quickly built an astonishing reputation for her Mangalorean food, helping showcase the food of the region with sophistication and finesse, while staying true to their roots. 

The star of the show though was undoubtedly her ghee roast. She built such a formidable reputation that people would fly her across the country to cook for them at events, including leading industrialists and Bollywood royalty. 

Shriya did a pop up in Bangalore this weekend in partnership with Greater Than Gin. An 8-course tapas style meal of Mangalorean and ghee roast dishes with a gin cocktail pairing at Bangalore International Centre. The best part of the meal was that despite eating and drinking like gluttons, I didn’t feel that python like lethargy and drowsiness, a testament to Shriya’s skill and sophistication as a chef. My only grouse (if any) is that I wish we had a community table  but I suppose we have to wait till the pandemic is over to experience that again. 

The meal:

• - Amuse bouche: Some sort of Yam-like root called suran, papadam, orange
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• - A thick, rasam like soup of coconut and Malabar spinach with curry leaf oil, fried curry leaf and sweet potato chips
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• - A slow cooked chicken ghee roast roulade where the chicken was cooked in ghee for 10 hours. I’m sure this was the big hit but for me it could have done with a bit more depth and intensity as it was the most classically ghee roast flavour

• - Ghee roast mutton with pao, cooked in green chilli with vermicelli crisps and pomegranate. This was the star dish for me. An intensity of flavour that paid faithful tribute to its roots while the sweetness of the pomegranate and the crunch of the crisps gave it a textural and flavour balance that was outstanding.

• - Classic butter garlic prawns served taco style with onions and a very nicely conceived baby spinach leaf
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• - A wonderfully hearty ghee rice, cooked in brown ghee served with roasted cauliflower, cashew and raisins. Again a dish that really hit the spot.
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• - Dessert: Banana and jaggery ghee sponge cake with banana cream and crispy jaggery. Moist and subtle.

On the whole, this was a really excellent meal, an excellent balance of tradition, heart, creativity and technique.