Goan Food

Way past the witching hour and long after the happy sounds of song and revelry have faded from Goa’s famous beach shacks and night spots, the poders (bakers) begin stoking their wood-fired ovens across Goa. The Iberian influence is evident in the unusual variety of breads baked: pao, poie (from coarsely ground wheat flour), kakon (bangle-shaped) and katrecho unddo (sliced bread). Delivery boys carry the produce in large cane baskets strapped onto bicycles for home delivery, especially in South Goa.

This assortment of bread is eaten plain, buttered, dunked in coffee or with chourico, a delicious spiced pork sausage redolent of vinegar and tossed in onion - the combination provides an insight into the soul of Goan cuisine.

From Mozambique came the chicken cafreal, deep-fried pieces of chicken, marinated in a green paste of hand-ground spices and sprinkled with toddy vinegar. From Brazil came the galinha piri-piri, a grilled chicken which in Goa morphed into fried chicken cooked in lime, garlic and chilies. Then there is the peixe tamarindo or Goan para, tangy pickled fish that goes well with conjee, a rice gruel. From Lisbon came sarabulho, a dish comprising of cubes of pork along with the liver, ears, tail and limbs in a mild gravy that metamorphosed in Goa into the spicy sorpotel - a concoction of boneless pork, liver, heart, kidneys, red chillies, cinnamon and cloves, cooked in tangy toddy vinegar to balance the strong taste of pig’s blood, so intrinsic to this revered dish. It tastes best with sannas, steamed rice dumplings with the sweet aroma of palm toddy used to ferment the batter. To get the flavour just right, this dish is best prepared a day ahead.

Pork Sorpotel

The ubiquitous vindalho, traditionally made only with pork (though chicken or prawn have become common) was born from the Portuguese vindalho, a word denoting the liberal use of liquor and garlic. In Goa, this signature dish has the sting of red chilies, the bite of garlic, the piquancy of vinegar and the sweetness of palm jaggery. Absolutely finger-licking good, especially with unpolished boiled rice, pancakes or rotis. If you do not want to offend a Goan, please refrain from calling it a ‘vindaloo’; locals abhor this corrupted usage of their favourite dish.

Dried red chilies are used liberally in Goan cuisine for flavouring and in marinating meat and fish. They are used in tempero - a paste of spices, chillies, garlic and turmeric - ground with vinegar to make recheido sauce to stuff fish like mackerel and pomfret before shallow frying. And as key gravy, for prawn, fish or pork balchão.

Another irresistible dish that deserves a mention is the chicken xacuti: chicken marinated in individually roasted and ground spices - nutmeg, cumin, fennel, poppy, coriander, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, red chillies and cooked slowly in sweet, fresh coconut milk.

Goan fare may well be known for its foreign influences, but it derives its inimitability from the older and more muted branch of Hindu cuisine. It discounts the strong flavours of excessive onion, garlic and vinegar, but combines coconut milk and kokum with a brilliant variety of vegetables - lentils, pumpkins, gourds, bamboo shoots and roots.

                               Mutton Vindalho                                       ‘Ambadyache Sasav’ is made from hog palm fruit

The culinary tradition of the Goud Saraswat Brahmins is the defining element of Goan Hindu cuisine. On auspicious days, tempered ‘saatvik’ curries made of locally grown yams, tubers, pumpkins, lentils and coconut are paired with boiled rice. The ubiquitous lentil soup dalitoy simmers on homefires throughout Goa, its simplicity offset by a rich garnish of ghee. Upkari, made of seasonal vegetables stir fried with coconut, is another Konkan staple.

Khatkhate, originally a hotchpotch of leftovers, is now a mainstay at weddings and festivals. Red pumpkin, yam, sweet potato, corn and seasonal vegetables are cooked in a dal and peanut mixture, and then swirled in a coconut paste with red chilli,tamarind and jaggery. The teppal fruit is added at the very end, unleashing its strong lemony fragrance and unlocking the flavours steeped in the humble vegetable stew.

The primarily vegetarian cuisine makes an exception for seafood, which is known as ‘Jal Kaay’ or sea vegetable. Fish udda mehti finds place on the table, its sweet-and-sour sapor created by the intermingling of coconut, kokum, fenugreek and corriander.

A spicy sliver of fish suke is served on the side, while sol kadi merges sublimely with the array, stoking appetites with its mix of kokum peels, coconut paste, garlic, ginger and cumin.

The Goan fare includes countless desserts. The story goes that the nuns of the Convento da Santa Monica in Old Goa possessed a sweet tooth and were responsible for introducing such Indo-Portuguese desserts as dedos da dama, petas de freiras, pasteis de natas and pasteis de Santa Clara.

                          Bebinica (queen of Goan desserts)                                      Dodhol thick and sweet

The queen of Goan desserts, the Portuguese bebinca travelled, besides Goa, to Malaya and Philippines where the cooks dispensed with the layers, and to Hawaii, where it transformed into butter mochi. In the Goan version, coconut milk is blended with flour, sugar, nutmeg, cardamom, egg yolk and ghee and each scrumptious layer baked before the next one is added, to make 16 layers.

On festive occasions, Goan kitchens are filled with the sweet aroma of black dodhol, a Goan delicacy prepared with rice flour, black jaggery and coconut milk. An accompaniment to wash down all Goan food is the local liquor, caju (cashew) or coconut feni. It has got a kick that matches its strong aroma.

Text: Allen Mendonca