Recipes / My Bristol Recipes
My Bristol Recipes: Pipal Tree’s tharka mussels
It’s a bright sunny day when I walk through the doors of Bristol’s only Indian fusion restaurant in the heart of BS5.
Like everyone that steps into the colourful space, I am greeted like an old friend and quickly ushered into the kitchen where owner and chef Kirps is already prepping the ingredients for today’s activity.
Pipal Tree has been delighting customers with their Punjabi fusion food since the summer of 2017. In the relatively short time since then, they have not only become a staple of their local community but have also spent four years basking in the glow of a well-deserved top spot on Tripadvisor.
is needed now More than ever
The enigmatic Kirps very kindly invited me down to learn how to make his signature dish, tharka mussels, so that I could share the recipe with you.
Kirps’ love for cooking is apparent at every stage of this process
Tharka mussels is not a typical dish you’d expect to see in an Indian restaurant, which is a common theme on the Pipal Tree menu. The story behind this inventive fusion cuisine is a joyful blend of families and cultures, dating back to the fifties.
There are two restaurants in the family; Pipal Tree on Chelsea Road and Pipal Leaf on Church Road in Redfield, both of which are entirely run by Kirps and members of his family.
Many of their recipes originated from their grandparents, who had to get inventive after arriving in the UK to find the ingredients they were used to cooking with were almost impossible weren’t available.
From this conundrum their fusion cuisine was born, in the form of sausage, potato and egg curry, smoky bacon and callaloo spinach bhurji, guinea fowl, duck and many more dishes that you’d never find in a traditional Indian restaurant. Kirps was keen to point out that not all these experiments were a success, but some have become family favourites.
Even if you’re not in the kitchen learning how to make tharka mussels, dining at Pipal Tree is about so much more than the food. It’s an entire experience – one that I feel everyone in Bristol should experience at least once in their lives. The menu really is one of a kind; you’re unlikely to find duck chaat (£9.95) or chai chicken supreme (£13.95) anywhere else.
For Pipal Tree, food is about community and giving back is an important part of their work. Kirps is keen to support homeless people with free food and hot drinks, and regularly contributes to street parties and gives food away on occasions like Divali.
Kirps finds that the BS5 community are not his most regular customers; I’m astounded that the people of Easton aren’t more familiar with this gem on their doorstep. Nevertheless, Kirps has certainly done a good job of building his own community of regulars.
Tharka Mussels is a dish that came about when Kirps’ dad turned up at his house one day to watch the racing with a bag of mussels and insisted his son cook him something completely original. Having now tried these, I can confirm that Kirps rose to the challenge, and I’ve no doubt that you will too.
Ingredients – makes two portions
- 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 salad tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and diced
- Quarter red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 inch ginger, thinly sliced
- 1kg mussels (Kirps used fresh highland Scottish mussels)
- Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 250ml good quality red wine
- Half a teaspoon salt mixed with chilli powder
- Teaspoon masala spice mix – at Pipal Tree they make their own on site, a combination of cumin, cardamon, coriander seeds, bay, cinnamon, turmeric, dried onion and black pepper.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin)
Kirps advises prepping all ingredients before starting
Method
- The first thing Kirps would advise is to prep everything in advance. “This dish comes together very quickly, it’s fast and furious so you need to have everything ready before you start.”
- You’ll need a saucepan big enough for all the mussels with a lid. On the hob, put the pan on a high heat and wait until it’s really hot before adding two tablespoons of olive oil.
- Add the red onion into the hot oil and stir after a minute. “You want the onion to soften but not brown. It should become translucent”
- After a couple of minutes add the garlic and ginger into the pan and stir. Leave for one minute. The pan should remain on a high heat throughout the whole process.
- Add the tomatoes and put a lid on the pan. Leave for a minute or two before stirring and then replace the lid. After another two minutes, remove the lid to add a generous glug of red wine.
- Leave the lid off for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol.
- Add salt and chilli mix and the masala spice mix and a third of your fresh coriander. Stir and leave for two minutes for the spices to cook off.
- Add in the mussels. Pop the lid on and wait for the mussels to open, which is usually about two minutes.
- Stir vigorously to coat the mussels in the sauce – you want the sauce to get inside the shells. Add in another third the coriander and leave with the lid back on for two minutes
Stir vigorously to coat the mussels with sauce
10. Stir again to prevent the sauce from catching on the bottom. After another minute or two, scoop the mussels out of the pan into a bowl and pour or ladle the sauce over the top of them.
11. Top with the leftover coriander and serve with roti or another Indian bread for mopping up the sauce!
The finished dish has a mouth-watering aroma
Kirps sometimes uses a mixture of mussels and clams – whatever is freshest at the fishmongers that day.
This recipe has never been shared before, and I feel honoured to have been invited into the kitchen to learn how to make it. I think this means that I am officially a part of the Pipal Tree family, and now you are too.
If you make this dish, I’d love to see pictures! You can send me photos, questions and ideas for features on Twitter via @meghoughtongilm or on Instagram: @meghoughtongilmour
Pipal Tree, 28 Chelsea Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6AF
www.pipaltreerestaurant.com
(Pipal Leaf is currently closed while they relocate to larger premises)
All photos: Meg Houghton-Gilmour
Read more: Jikoni, St Paul’s – ‘Food to relish in every morsel’ – restaurant review
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