I feel it sometimes, deep, deep down in the pit of my stomach. I wake up from dreams like I was there through the night. Sometimes I feel the vividness pulling me away from the place where I can walk on the streets and feel the most me. Those are the mornings where it feels like something is missing even more than usual. It does not paralyse but my feet feel a little bit heavier, my goals further away. It is hard to explain that feeling of “other”. It starts right from the way the air feels on your skin and how the light reflects off of it. Over there I’m the same, over here I feel different. Or maybe it’s the other way around….
Goan food
Chapati + Garden greens wrap w/ charred shishito peppers
I was walking on the pavement in Bombay in 2008 – a remarkable thing when you’re in the city – past some heritage buildings that the British left us as visible reminders of an imperialist past. It had been a while since I was in that area near the VT train station. Though I lived close by, work was in the opposite direction. This is the part of town where I went to college. It was where we restricted most of our hanging out when we were not in the college canteen. It was here in 2006 when we found out about a series of bombs (seven of them) that went off during rush hour on the Western Railway line. My friend who I was with at the time was setting off to go catch his train home when he got the message to stay where he was. Nothing would be moving that night….
Raw mango kachumbar
If you were a kid of school-going age and you grew up in Goa, chances are you’ve thrown stones at a mango tree and jumped over a wall to claim the fallen fruit called tora (pronounced as tor) in Konkani. It’s just raw mango but when paired with rock salt and chilli powder and Maths class was never the same again. While kids in other countries secretly pass notes to each other during class, we used to pass tamarind, boram, kaantam, jaamblam and of course this tora wrapped tight in newspaper. If we couldn’t find any of these fruit on the trees or bushes around the school, someone would always be kind enough to bring their stash of fruit from home. Thus winning the student of the year award.
I’ve never been as enthusiastic about ripe mangoes as the blog world outside of the Asian sub-continent seems to be (PS: Goa’s mankurad is the world’s best. That’s a fact). I’m more of a pineapple, guava or chickoo girl but throw me in a tub of raw mango – pickled and straight up – and I’m the happiest person in the world. I can eat it all day until I can’t feel my teeth. Around these parts, we have sour cravings that go well beyond citrus fruit. It’s strange how different tastes evolve all over the world. This is a perfect case in point. I don’t know any other kids who happily eat spicy sour things without throwing a fit. Over here in Goa, I know many. Hi friends!!
Right now, I’m in Goa and it is peak raw mango season. It’s the best. I put together this quick raw mango “salad” just because. It’s not much of a recipe but it’s summer time and the less you do over a hot stove, the better.
Notes:
- Kachumbar is ususally a mixture of raw chopped vegetables like onion, tomatoes, chillies, cucumber and cilantro accompanied by salt and chilli powder. Some people use oil, vinegar or lime to dress the mixture as well. I wanted to keep it less watery and less spicy. Hence, I left out the tomato and green chillies.
- This would be a great side to serve with papad (papadum…same thing). If you want to make it easier to scoop, finely dice the raw mango, cucumber and onion instead of cutting them into matchsticks. This would also be a great time to Google masala papad if you haven’t already. Or just click this #1 search result online thingy.
- Raw mango is also AMAZING for all of your body’s insides. I’m no expert but drinking the juice cools your body down many times over when it’s sunstroke weather outside. It’s also great for digestive health. In India, raw mango powder is sold and used in a lot of our food especially in North India. It’s called amchur and you’ll be richer for knowing of its existence.
Ingredients
- 1 raw mango, sliced into matchsticks
- 1/2 cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
- 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
- Seeds of 1/2 pomegranate
- 10 mint leaves, sliced into thin strips
- A pinch of rock salt or sea salt
- A pinch of chilli powder
Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl and let it chill in the fridge. Add the salt and chilli powder before serving and toss well to coat.
Real Goan Kitchens: Recheado Bhendi (Okra)
I remember when Romaldin, her husband John and their son (our enemy) Ignatius moved into their sweet house. The first thing that struck me about the place was that there were no doors. You would walk right in to the seating/extra people sleeping area. If you turned right, you’d be in the kitchen. If you went left, there was a bedroom in which the bed took up most of the space. The bathroom was almost one of those bathe-under-the-stars kind and as kids we were mortified that someone would look over the wall while we were inside. We rushed our baths and went back out to sit and find some game to play. Even if I strain my brain to think, I can’t remember what we did. We were too young for cellphones, and the TV hardly worked. We waited to eat, played dress up or had Ignatius entertain us. We chased each other around in the dark and swatted many mosquitoes. It was like camping, even though I’ve never been camping so I’m not sure if it really was like that at all.
On one of those early days when we had gone to stay over, I was in their newly painted kitchen. John had just applied a simple coat of whitewash for the very first time. It was a quick job but it lit up that small space and made it a little more special. Even today, that kitchen fits only 2 adults comfortably at a time. I remember Romaldin pulled out the masala grinder and was making recheado. The mixer did not have a lid and I was supposed to be holding on to the top with a makeshift cover before turning it on. And so, I did exactly the opposite. I turned the knob to “high” and forgot to put my hand on the lid. It all happened in slow motion. Those newly painted walls were dressed in bright red masala. So were my clothes and everything else in that room. I was mortified and embarrassed and very confused. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!!!
I went and told her what happened or maybe she walked in and saw it for herself. I didn’t get scolded. Romaldin may have laughed and proceeded to clean up my mess. She wiped down the walls, the counters (everything basically) and told John he would have to paint over the red-stained walls. I reminded her of this story when she was making this recipe for me a few weeks ago. She didn’t remember it all exactly as it happened but she made the same face she made all those years ago and I knew we had come full circle. I knew it was recheado masala because I can’t ever forget that colour.
Before we decided she would teach me how to make this recipe, I asked her what she thought she cooked the best. Of all the foods she could have said, this was it. Her family agrees. Sometimes when we go over to see her, she sends us back with a bottle of it.
Her home still has no doors (just a gate) and she magically whips up meals for people with no notice. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve called her while we’re driving to her house saying, “We’re coming over!” She always says “come”! Now she has the most magical unicorn seven-year-old daughter too and we do all of the same things like before. There’s always food to be had and stories to hear. Like that one time I took my hand off the mixer lid and….you know.
Recheado bhendi (okra)
Notes:
- In Portuguese, “recheado” means stuffed. In Goa, we pronounce it as “ray-shad“.
- This masala is also used to stuff fish like pomfret and mackerel, which is then fried in oil. I used bhendi/okra because this is my most favourite ways to eat the vegetable and I had bought some the day earlier. It tastes best with fresh fish.
- Most of the ingredients on the list can be bought at any Indian grocery store if you are not in the country. Coconut vinegar is available online and you can find it with an easy web search.
- Romaldin recommends frying some finely chopped onions and garlic and adding it to the portioned out recheado before stuffing it into the fish or vegetable.
- This recipe makes extra recheado masala. Keep it refrigerated for up to 2-3 weeks. The vinegar and spices help preserve it quite well.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dried red chillies (we used the Byadagi variety, named after a town in Karnataka. If I had to describe the taste, it’s sweet and not too spicy. You can substitute the more widely available Kashmiri chillies as well but this is what Roma uses.)
- 1/2 cup coconut vinegar, or more if required (it’s made from the toddy, which is the sap of the coconut tree)
- 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp cloves (about 12 cloves)
- 1 tsp whole pepper
- 1 inch piece whole cinnamon, broken into smaller pieces
- 2 whole cardamon pods
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 10 small garlic cloves (refer to size in the photo of the spice plate)
- 1 1/2 inch piece of ginger
- 1 tbsp tamarind, seeds removed (you can also use tamarind paste)
- 1/2 tsp of sugar
- A pinch of salt
Place the chillies in a bowl with some depth and add the vinegar to it. Put another bowl on top of the chillies and add some weight on top of it, like a full bottle of water. The weight should press down on the chillies. Let this sit for 3-4 hours.
After the chillies have been soaked, add all the other ingredients to a high-speed blender with half of the vinegar and blend until it forms a thick and smooth paste. If the paste is still chunky, add more vinegar.
Make sure the paste doesn’t get too thin or you won’t be able to use it to stuff the okra. Taste for salt and add more if required. The recheado should be tangy, spicy, sweet – all in one!
For the recheado bhendi (okra)
- 15 okra (or more. There is a lot of masala!)
- Recheado masala
- Sprinkle of Goan rock salt of any other flaky sea salt
- 3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
- Finely chopped red onion, cilantro and lime, to garnish
Slit the okra down the middle making sure not to cut it right through. Add the recheado masala into the okra using your fingers.
Sprinkle some rock salt over the okra and toss lightly to coat.
Heat oil in a frying pan and add the okra to it. Cook for about 7-10 minutes until the okra turns darker in colour and the skin is lightly blistered on all sides.
Serve topped with onions, cilantro and squeezes of lime.
Roma and John’s kitchen in Anjuna
Romaldin made this green chutney for lunch at her house this Wednesday. From the time we got there, she kept saying she smelt something burning. Finally, she remembered that she had put two onions into the burning embers of the stove they built outside. Her mother-in-law is the one who uses that stove the most, either to cook rice or boil water. You are required to squat right to the ground to be able to cook and even in her late 60s, she does it with ease.
The smokey onions were going to be used in the green chutney along with lightly blistered green chillies (that she fried at the same time as the fish), garlic, tamarind, fresh coconut, pepper, cilantro and some salt and sugar. All of these ingredients are ground in a high-speed mixer with the help of some water.
This is her kitchen and it’s the start of my goal to document stories from real kitchens while I’m still in Goa. I guess I am a bit jaded by the Pinterest-style photos that make up the majority of what we see everyday while interacting with each other online. I’m not against it but I want to be able to share this whole other side that goes unnoticed. There are some really amazing homecooks who just don’t care to have a perfect kitchen – just a functional one. I love that.
I have another story for another day but I’ll need to work on getting Romaldin’s secret recipe to bring it all together. Till then, here are some images from that day in her kitchen and brilliant ideas to bring to your own space.
The last photo is by Jane.
PS: If you’re in Goa, she rents out three cute rooms in Anjuna. She and her husband are brilliant cooks (she’s a homecook and he is a professional) and always use the best ingredients in their food.
Goa sausage (choris) flatbread
I believe you have to leave your space, your comfort zone to truly appreciate the beauty that was always in front of you. It’s for this same reason that I walk into an old kitchen, full of dusty pots and pans, broken buckets and see promise not ruin. It takes work to cultivate and breathe life into four walls but walls are also strong on their own. We build them to be that way. We create a foundation and trust that it will stand.
These words mean many things to me right now. They relate to people, places objects and values. I have been working a lot on fear lately, knowing that it’s a shitty way to live. Whenever I feel like I can’t do something, I push myself to do it anyway. If someone else tells me I can’t, that’s when I start to doubt myself. I hope that I can work through listening more to me and less to others, but not in a non-productive way. I want to be able to change minds, collaborate, create and just be calm. I started the year breaking all of the above and I wasn’t happy about it. But what’s a new day but a chance to try again and get it right. Embrace your mistakes (I’m telling myself this), be yourself and just give yourself room to screw up. If you have your feet firmly planted on the ground and have the walls to withstand the beast, you’ll be just fine.
I hope you find something you cherish and see it through to the next step no matter what.
Goa sausage (choris) flatbread
Notes:
- Choris pao (“cho-rees pav” sausage bread) is a very popular street food here in Goa. The bread (white bread) is always made locally. The locals always know the best place for you to eat this bread so ask around if you ever visit. It’s usually a small roadside shop that opens in the evening right when people are coming home from work. The sausage is made from pork and it’s fatty, full of vinegar and spice. While it does look spicy because of its bright red colour, it is not overwhelming and the flavours are perfectly balanced.
- The flours I used are specific to India and the ingredients may require you to go out of your way. You can always try your Indian grocery store if you’re in the US or online. I have provided the local names for the flours in parenthesis. If you just want to go the bread flour way like I did in my last pizza dough recipe, you can do this by clicking here.
- If you’re using cheese I recommend feta or sharp cheddar.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 70 gms (½ cup) durum wheat flour (atta)
- 70 gms (½ cup) bleached wheat flour (maida)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ cup warm water (not more than 115 degrees F)
- A pinch of sugar (1/4 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
Mix the flours, salt and olive oil together in a bowl. Add sugar to the bowl of warm water and stir to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast into the bowl. Let it sit until the yeast dissolves and foams up. If your yeast doesn’t foam, then it’s time to buy new yeast. Add the warm water to the flour mixture and using your hands, mix them together until a dough forms. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes and them cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. Place the bowl in the fridge overnight or for 12 hours.
Take the dough out of the bowl and flour your working space. Place the dough on the counter and cover it loosely with plastic wrap. Let it sit for an hour.
Once it has rested, remove the plastic wrap and flour your hands before you start shaping it into the flatbread. If the dough has risen (and it will, especially if it’s really warm where you are), punch out all the air. Oil a baking sheet or pizza pan and flatten your dough on to it. Use your fingertips to spread the dough evenly, making the outer circumference of the bread a little thicker than the rest of it. Cover and keep it ready for all the toppings.
For the toppings
- 1 heaping cup Goa choris
- ½ cup cooked kidney beans
- ½ cup boiled potato, diced
- ½ cup red onions, diced
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F (200.4 degrees C).
Remove the choris from the casing it comes in and cook it in a frying pan for 5 minutes. Save 1 tbsp of the choris grease and drain the rest of it using a colander and put the choris in a bowl. Add the rest of the toppings in with the choris and toss gently with the grease so it all absorbs the flavour.
Spread the toppings evenly on top of the dough.
Place the baking sheet with the flatbread into the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the edges of the crust turn light brown.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes before slicing. The toppings don’t stick on top of the dough very firmly so I recommend using a pair of kitchen scissors to cut through the bread.
Goan fish curry (kodi) with rice
Hi.
I’m in Goa. The evening breeze is heavy and warm, begging for a cup of tea (always). My hair is frizz (see new Insta profile pic please) unleashed and for the first time in my entire life, I love it. This is where I come from. Every single thing in this world is the reason I’ve become this shy, easily annoyed, colour-crazy, brown as the red dirt human. Truth: I’m the MOST excited person to have stepped through the timespace portal that is air travel. Especially since I have a love hate relationship with planes….
Chicken xacuti
The sound of a dark black grinding stone pounding spices into a paste still plays in my head just as I heard it many years ago. I’m not sure what they were putting in it to turn it that bright orange but it was hypnotic for us children, who were otherwise more interested in digging up earthworms and feeling brave. That smell – pungent and earthy. That sound. If you know, can you hear it?…
Chutney sandwiches + Say yes.
I enjoy looking through blog archives. Mine and everybody else’s. Seeing the year stamped right next to an essay about that time in our lives where we didn’t think we knew much about what we were doing, yet we did it anyway. It’s brave to attempt any creative work and sustain it. Seeing archives, even if they are 3 years old – feels like winning a prize….
Shrimp and grits: Goan edition
Hi.
When I set out to write this post, I wanted it to be A) wise B) funny C) life-changing. Things changed in the past hour and the staring game I’ve been playing with a box of acrylic paints has convinced me that I need to set this past weekend in stone. Lest I forget. I forget weekends a lot. The first question people ask here on a Monday morning is: How was your weekend? If there was extreme weather, forget about mentioning anything dire. Nobody will care X 100000. This time, I decided to prepare*.
“So, how was your weekend?”
Me: Glad you asked. I woke up on Saturday with ants in my pants. I hate relaxing. If I tell you I relaxed all weekend, don’t believe me. I ran. If I was going to finish off the rest of that pizza, I needed to make more room. My insides can only take 4 slices of a medium pizza at a time. Plus, somebody gave me a box of Top Pot donuts on Friday sooooooo. As soon as I got home, I celebrated by eating my first slice of pizza with a side of 2 eggs. I am not an animal. I showered and watched my first movie of the day: The Skeleton Twins. It was on iTunes for $1 (rent, not buy). As if I needed convincing…KRISTEN WIIG. Hello. My short review is that this movie is worth more than $1. My long review doesn’t exist. After the movie, which wrecked my insides, I proceeded to work on food illustrations for the next 7 hours. It was a productive and healing time for me. Making art and eating pizza is the best thing you can do for yourself on a Saturday. Once I finished creative pursuit #3, I went to creative pursuit #4, watching another movie – Amour – all by myself, under a blankie. I can’t understand why all I want to do is emotionally destroy myself. Oh yes. It’s because I had leftover donuts.
On Sunday, lest we forget, we went to our (my) favourite grocery store and bought more shrimp, a side of salmon and lots (I’m not even joking) of vegetables. We searched in vain for cheese samples and left for home to eat more donuts and drink coffee, like Americans. Soon after I cleaned the fish and marinated shrimp, I sat down to watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I never stopped. I couldn’t. I have never binge-watched anything before and in order to stay true to myself, I slept through the last episode. Pinot Noir hasn’t stopped playing in my mind cassette. As for the shrimp and kale food, it was amazing. The shrimp will never be as good as it is in Goa but it was a brave attempt and I’m willing to give it many chances until December. That’s when I’ll eat all the in-between small and fat-sized prawns. Fair warning, tourist season.
How was your weekend?
Goan-style shrimp and grits
This recipe is my interpretation of a Goan dish called “kismur”. It’s usually made with tiny dehydrated shrimp or fish. While I’ve always loved the coconut part of the recipe, I could never eat the shrimp because they always jabbed the inside of my cheek. I decided to use fresh shrimp instead and serve it over grits, a new favourite comfort food for me thanks to the Kiss My Grits food truck that spoilt us last summer. This recipe needs no “notes”, but one and that is a note of thanks to Gabby for giving me a bag of grits straight from South Carolina! THANK YOU, G-DAWG (I’m inviting you over again so I can make you this).
Ingredients
For the grits
- Recipe from Sean Brock’s Heritage as posted on Food 52. I halved the ingredients in Food 52 recipe for this post.
For the shrimp + coconut (kismur)
- 8 shrimp, peeled and deveined (keep the tails on)
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- Juice of ¼ of a lime
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp +1 tbsp coconut oil, divided
- 2 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Thai green chili, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup green onions, chopped into rounds
- 1 cup fresh grated coconut (You can also use frozen, which you should find at any Indian grocery store in the US)
- Pinch of garam masala
- Salt to taste
- Chopped parsley, butter and lime to serve/garnish
Marinate the shrimp with chili powder, turmeric, lime juice and salt and let it sit covered in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hours to a maximum of 6 hours.
Cook the grits, cover and set them on the stove on very low heat while you cook the toppings.
Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add the garlic and chilli to it. Stir frequently for about 30 seconds making sure that the ingredients do not burn. Add the green onions next and sauté for about a minute. Next, add the coconut and fry it for about 4-5 minutes or until the coconut browns slightly. Take the frying pan off the heat as soon as this happens and add a pinch of garam masala and salt to taste. Empty the coconut mixture into a bowl and set aside.
Once the shrimp is ready to fry, heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the shrimp to the pan. It should sizzle as soon as it touches the pan. Cook for a minute to a minute and a half on one side and turn the shrimp over. Cook for a minute more and take the pan off the heat. Stir the coconut mixture into the pan and toss to coat the shrimp. Place the contents of the pan back into the bowl.
To serve: Spoon a heap of grits into a bowl and top with the shrimp and coconut. Serve hot/warm with chopped parsley, a wedge of lime and more butter.