Chai Pani's Sloppy Jai, a lamb hash piled in a bun, a play on the sloppy joe, at the Indian street food restaurant on Banks Avenue.

Meherwan Irani and his wife Molly opened Chai Pani on Battery Park Avenue in 2009. The restaurant moved to 32 Banks Avenue in the South Slope, the former Buxton Hall Barbecue building, with a grand reopening on May 21, 2024, and the old space became a Botiwalla. In 2022 it won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant.

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Make it at home

Serves 450 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g ground lamb (20 percent fat or higher)
  • 2 tbsp ghee or neutral oil
  • 1 large onion, very finely diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger, finely grated
  • 2 green chilies, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder (or smoked paprika)
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 200g chopped tomatoes (tinned), drained
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 200ml water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Juice of 1 lime, plus extra wedges to serve
  • 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
  • 8 soft buns (potato rolls or brioche buns), split
  • 30g salted butter, for toasting the buns
  • 4 tbsp green chutney (cilantro and mint blended with green chile, lime and salt)
  • 4 tbsp tamarind-date chutney
  • 4 tbsp sweet yogurt sauce (plain whole-milk yogurt whisked with 1 tsp sugar)

Method

  1. Heat ghee in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook 8 minutes until deep golden.
  2. Stir in garlic, ginger, and chilies; cook 1 minute.
  3. Add cumin, coriander, Kashmiri chili powder, turmeric, and garam masala; toast in the fat 90 seconds.
  4. Push the spices to one side. Add the ground lamb and break apart with a spoon; cook 8 minutes until deeply browned.
  5. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and salt. Simmer uncovered 12 minutes until thick and saucy.
  6. Stir in lime juice and half the cilantro.
  7. Toast the buns on a griddle with butter on the cut sides until deeply golden.
  8. Pile a generous mound of the keema onto each bun bottom. Drizzle with green chutney, tamarind chutney and sweet yogurt sauce.
  9. Scatter raw red onion and remaining cilantro across the top. Close with the top bun and serve with a lime wedge.

Editor tip. The contrast of three sauces (green chutney, tamarind chutney, sweet yogurt) is what makes the Sloppy Jai land; building with only one or two flattens the dish into a standard curry sandwich.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy.