Food of Goa

INTRODUCTION

The Goan cuisine is an interesting mix of varied influences. Though the recipes and techniques of the two major communities there, Christians and Hindus are quite different, there are some points where they come together to produce culinary wonders. The ever-popular pork vindaloo is a result of this combination. Apart from these two, there is a telling influence of Portuguese cooking. Goan food is simple but one has to bear in mind that most, though not all, of it is chili hot, spicy, and pungent.

ABOUT THE STATE

A small state on the western coast of India, Goa was a Portuguese colony for a long time. The state has always been a popular destination for those wanting to enjoy the sun, sand, and sea though it offers much more than that. One of the best things about Goa are its people, known for their easy-going nature, civility and love for fun and food.

INFLUENCES

Goa has an over-hundred-kilometer coastline along the Arabian Sea, which is a big influence on the lifestyle of the people there and food is no exception to it. A typical Goan would prefer seafood to all other meats and would use a lot of coconut for cooking. Being on the Konkan coast means that the Goan cuisine shares the spices grown in the region with the other states on the coast like Maharashtra and Kerala. It has also drawn a lot from the various communities that inhabited it at various times. The Hindu and the Christian communities of Goa have their own specialties. There are other divisions like the Brahmin and non-Brahmin, both Hindu and Christian, which all offer culinary variations to the originals. Some of the lesser known but equally important influences on the Goan cuisine are the Kashmiri, Muslim and Portuguese and African, apart from the tribals who lived in the dense, rain-drenched forests of ancient Goa.

STAPLES

Rice, fish, and coconut are the basic components of the typical Goan food platter. Delicacies made from these three items can be expected in nearly every Goan meal. Besotted with seafood, the Goans find truly world-class prawns, lobsters, crabs, and jumbo pomfrets along the coastline and use them to make a variety of soups, salads, pickles, curries, and fries. An essential ingredient in Goan cooking is coconut milk made by grating the white flesh of a coconut and soaking it in a cup of warm water. Equally important is the . kokum. , a sour, deep red colored fruit that gives it a sharp and sour flavor. The famous red Goan chilies are also a must for most dishes, as is tamarind. Goans make their own version of vinegar from toddy. Then there are innumerable chutneys that are typical of the state. Goa is not particularly known for its vegetarian dishes. While Hindus like lamb and chicken, Christians prefer pork. However, both prefer fish and seafood to any other meat.

METHODS

Traditional Goan cooking calls for plenty of muscle and time. Grinding is always part of the recipe and the nicer the dish the longer it takes to make. Although the styles of the various communities, past and present, have had their effect on each other, the gravies of each style are at a complete variance. The names used are the same, as are the ingredients used, for making a delicacy, yet their aroma, flavor, taste, texture, and color can be completely different. Subtle differences in ingredients or their use make the outcome of these similar recipes so different. The Christians prefer to use vinegar, while the Hindus use kokum and tamarind to get the tang in their respective cuisines. The northerners of Goa grind their coconuts and masalas (spices) individually while the southern Goans like to grind them together, and then pass it through a fine muslin cloth to retain the goodness. Many times people vary the pork to mutton and chicken to make the various curries. Although coconut is an essential part of the everyday cooking, there is no coconut in several of the popular delicacies like rissois de camarao, sopa grossa, balchao and vindaloo, and that wedding favourite, caldo. And, naturally, when sardines are cooked with tomato puree and olive oil in the Portuguese manner, coconut is absent.

SPECIALTIES AND SWEETS

Specialties

An effort to sample Goan specialty fare would mean tasting at least a dozen different items that trace their roots to communities and origins across continents. Pork is a must for any festive occasion in Goa and the most famous preparation is the vindaloo. There are diverse interpretations of the etymology for this word. vinho for wine, alhos for garlic (Portuguese), viande, and aloo. meat and potato (French and Hindustani). It is a spicy concoction, lots of red chilies, garlic, cooked with chunks of pork, Goa vinegar, and hard palm jaggery and is best enjoyed with plain boiled rice. Another mouth-watering delicacy made of pork is the sarpotel. A curry with a thick gravy to the layman, this exotic concoction comprises boneless pork, liver, heart, kidneys, red chilies, cinnamon, cloves bathed in tangy toddy vinegar, which is needed to balance the strong taste of pig. s blood: another traditional ingredient of this revered dish.

A Goan dish of tribal origin is cafreal. It was named after the African soldiers or Kaffirs who brought it to Goa centuries ago. Today, the dish is made by marinating pieces of chicken in a paste made of spices and lemon juice and then deep-fried. Some other delectable concoctions are pulaos with an Islamic heritage, the distinctly Portuguese recheiado, temperado, assado, buffado, steamed fluffy rice cupcakes called sannas and the mangada. Goa. s celebrated mango cheese that is soft, moist and irresistible.

Sweets

For those with a sweet tooth, Goan cuisine offers the famous bebinca. The extract of coconut milk is added to flour, sugar, and other delectable ingredients are used to make this delicacy. Each scrumptious layer has to be baked before the next one is added, though not many people nowadays have the time to make the traditional 16 layers. Even so, a good bebinca is a mouth-melting dream. Other sweets include a soft jaggery flavored fudge called dodol made from finger-licking palm-sap jaggery, rice flour and coconut; the crispy delicate rose-a-coque that are flower-like waffles and can be eaten alone or drenched with cream or honey; the curled and sugared kulkuls spiraled around the tines of forks and deep-fried as Christmas goodies and Easter eggs known as ovos da pascoa. Similarly, during the Hindu festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, cone-shaped dumplings called modaks are a favourite fare.

Feni

An accompaniment to wash down all Goan food is the locally brewed feni. The Goans probably first distilled this from the fermented sap of the coconut flower-stalk, but later they also made it from the fruit of the cashew tree which the Portuguese had brought to the state with them. Though other forms of liquor are readily available across the state, the Goans are as emotional about their feni as they are about their food.

SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Goan people like celebrations and an essential part of any celebration are food and feni. Almost all celebrations call for pork preparations and the vindaloo is the king of all Goan pork cuisine. Delicacies made from seafood like the prawn balchao are also considered special. Christmas time means a lot of stirring, saut�ing and baking to dish out Christmas goodies. The bebinca for Christians and the modak for Hindus are a must for any celebration.

MAJOR CENTERS AND EATING OUT

Almost all the major cities and towns of Goa offer a wide range of gourmet stuff to choose from. There are small and big restaurants everywhere to please all taste buds. Apart from these, the beaches are lined with shacks offering seafood fresh from the sea and feni to wash it down with.

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