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Karan Gokani
A conversation through food
As part of Big Green Egg’s 50th birthday celebrations, we’re sharing 50 brand-new recipes from an amazing cast of cooks. Next to take his place in our outdoor kitchen is the man who turned the vibrant street food of Sri Lanka into a fixture of the London dining scene: Karan Gokani, co-founder of Hoppers restaurants.
Karan has been cooking at home on a Big Green Egg for the past three years. He’s a man who loves cooking over fire – it was the traditional open fire cooking of the subcontinent’s streets and homes that inspired his restaurants. He loves it for the flavour it brings – he likens it to catching bonfire smoke in the air on a cold autumn night – but also the way it brings people together. It’s not just about cooking food, he says, it’s about making conversation through food.
The perfect charcoal pairing
Our bold, smoky Oak & Hickory charcoal pairs beautifully with the entire feast. Reminiscent of the traditional wood-fired kitchens Karan has visited in India and Sri Lanka, the flavour profile of this wood combination balances the rich fattiness of the lamb, enhances the deep smokiness of the aubergine raita and adds an echo of the tandoor to his chaat masala potatoes.
Cook the whole meal at once
THE EGGSPANDER SYSTEM
Karan prepared his meal using the XL Big Green Egg using the EGGspander System. As well as massively increasing your cooking area, the different heights and surfaces of this simple but game-changing accessory offer enormous amounts of flexibility. It’s particularly useful when bringing together multiple dishes at once: Karan was able to cook his curry sauce, potatoes and parathas simultaneously without chopping and changing cooking surfaces or letting anything go cold.
About Karan Gokani
Karan grew up in Mumbai, on India’s west coast, before moving to the UK to become a lawyer. Soon disillusioned by his choice of career, he turned instead to his real passion: food. The first Hoppers restaurant opened in Soho in 2015, inspired by the toddy-shops and streetside food shacks of Sri Lanka and South India, which he’d fallen in love with while travelling around the subcontinent. In the wake of its success, two more Hoppers branches have since opened in Marylebone and King’s Cross.
BACK TO 50 RECIPES
Discover more recipes created by friends of the EGG.
Join us for our 50th Celebrations
There’s no party quite like a Big Green Egg party. There’s something about cooking in the open air over fire and smoke that turns casual gatherings into special occasions and special occasions into truly memorable events. We’ve been providing those magical moments for people all around the world since the brand’s foundation exactly 50 years ago. Throughout 2024, we've been celebrating our 50th birthday of Big Green Egg the only way we know how: bringing people together to share exceptional food and unforgettable experiences.
