Picture this... (I am also picturing this coz I haven't yet traveled to Goa... BLASPHEMY!!!)... honestly don't know how that came to be but will fix that some day in the not so distant future, for sure! But, I digress.
So picture this: Sun, sand, music, Feni, contagiously jolly people, the shacks on the beach, the AMAZING coastal cuisine, topped only by the brilliant fusion between Indian and Portuguese culture! The mosaic: GOA. a blip on the map of India, but a colossal impact on the world's tourist map, right up there on the list of fun vacay destinations for a group of friends, travel with the family, or even as a peaceful locale to self-reflect and ponder about life in general...
Once upon a time, Goa became one of the most sought after tourist spots in India. And it has stayed that way ever since. Why, the girls asked. Here are 5 good reasons kids, I told them:
Surf and sand and everything in between
A soup-to-nuts party place, kind of like Vegas in India
A crazy fusion of Portuguese and Indian culture, and all the flavors that go with it
Dance, music, feni (cashew based local hooch) and fun
Refer to reasons 1-4, this time in a different order!
Goa has a rich cultural history, including a nearly 400 year Portuguese rule and influence from the early 16th century through to mid 1900s until its annexation to India in the 1960s. The region boasts of a fairly large catholic population, and I thought this Easter weekend would be an appropriate way to celebrate this festive state and introduce my kids to the smallest state in India.
And then there's the Goan cashews (with the paper-thin skin on), Goan sausages and the Feni... I treated the kids to the first two of the three trademark products of Goa, and reserved the Feni for myself :D!
While we snacked on the sausages and cashews, we got the menu ready, representing a little bit of surf and turf, some easter festivities, and we got the poker table ready... well not quite, we played bridge... close enough, or at least close enough for us!
Here's the menu we picked and put together for our Easter Sunday evening!
For starters, we made Kapa (delicious bits of heaven, pan-fried slices of potato and eggplant tossed in minimal spices and dipped in a rice flour batter for a crispy finish) and Sardines on Garlic Toast
The main course included Chicken Vindaloo (a traditional Goan preparation with a fiery red color and just a hint of a tangy bite from the white wine vinegar), with Tamatar Pyaaz ki Sabzi (a sweet, tangy, spicy chutney, with tomatoes & onions thrown in for good measure!)and Goan Pav (Indianized version of the Portuguese word for bread "pao")and we made Pomfret Fry two ways (a Goan fish preparation, pan fried pomfret [pompano] fish, lightly coated in a spices-and-egg batter)
Topped it of with Bibingka (a traditional 7-16 layer cake of Goa, derived from Indo-Portuguese cuisine) and Tres Leches Cake (literally means a "three milk cake", a lip smacking, finger licking sponge cake, soaked and covered with all types of dairy goodness) for dessert!
Kapa with Feni (but we'll make do with lesser stuff :P)
What you'll need:
1 medium aubergine/eggplant, sliced; 2 potatoes, sliced
1 cup rice flour; 1 tsp turmeric pd; 1 tsp coriander pd; 1 tsp salt;1/2 tsp red chilli pd; 3-4 tsp oil; 3/4 cup water (for the batter)
The instructions are super simple (and you could replace the vegetables with those of your choice - I just used these coz the fam loves them!). Mix all the dry ingredients and make a thin paste/batter with the water. You can microwave the sliced eggplants and potatoes in a microwave if you plan to saute these** - this helps cook the vegetables some, so they don't take forever to fry during the sauteing process. Heat 1 tblsp of oil in a flat pan. Dip each slice of the eggplant (and potatoes) in the batter and pan fry each side on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. The rice flour batter gives a crispy touch to these yummy fritters, and these are ready to be served with mint chutney on the side, as an appetizer with your evening drink!
** Often times these days, I've been making good use of my air fryer. I would toss the battered slices in in the air fryer at 390F for about 20 minutes, turning these over mid-way for an even crisp! Easy shpeezy for sure!
Sardines on Toast
What you'll need:
2 cans of sardines; 5-6 pitted olives, chopped; 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced; 2 tsp olive oil
Garlic toast bites (or any baguette, sliced and toasted)
Another favorite from this coastal paradise! We used to dream of those cans of sardines, the salty, skinny brined fish, that you could eat by the truckloads, well delicately perhaps, on toast with caramelized onions! Getting this ready takes literally 5 minutes... heat the oil and add in the sliced onions. Saute these until they're nicely browned, tossing them in the pan constantly on high heat. For assembling these beauties, take a garlic toast bite, place a sardine on the toast, add on some onions on top of the sardine, and a few pieces of olive right on top. Another really good app, easy enough, and goes really well with drinks or a quick bite on a sultry afternoon!
Pomfret Fry
What you'll need:
2 pomfret fish (you can either get fillets - this is what my girls prefer, being lazy and not wanting to deal with the fish bones :/, or get the fish cut longitudinally bones-in, tail and head intact, the way we prefer, and how the fish was meant to have been had traditionally!)
1 tblsp coriander seeds, roughly broken in mortar and pestle; 1 tsp cumin pd; 1 tsp coriander pd; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp turmeric pd; 1 tsp red chilli pd; 1 tsp dry mango pd; 1 tblsp garlic pd
4 tblsp oil; 1 egg; wedges of 1 lemon; 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Wash the fish under running water and pat dry with paper towels. You want to marinate the fish in the salt and turmeric for at least a couple hours.. rub the salt and turmeric mixture on the fish pieces/fillets on all sides evenly, and let this sit covered, for a couple hours.
Mix all the dry spices and egg to make a super thick paste. Rub the paste on the fish pieces on all sides evenly, heat the oil in a pan, and add in a few pieces of the fish - increase the heat to medium-high, and cook the fish covered for about 3-4 minutes. Remove the lid, and turn the pieces over so they can cook evenly on all sides, for another 4-5 minutes altold. Garnish with cilantro and squeeze some lemon on the fish for a yummy spicy tangy flavored pomfret fry experience!
Pomfret fry, two ways: Fillets on the right; bone-in, tail and head intact on the left
Chicken Vindaloo, with a twist
What you'll need:
For the dry spice mix: 6 dry red chillies; 1 tblsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp mustard seeds; 1 tsp poppy seeds; 6 cloves; 6-8 pepper corns; 1" cinnamon stick
For the marinade (or the gravy): 2 tsp mustard oil; 7-8 garlic cloves; 1" piece of ginger; 1 tblsp tamarind paste; 3 tblsp white wine vinegar (this is where the dish gets its name from... "vind" = wine vinegar); 1 tsp turmeric; 2 tsp salt
600g boneless skinless chicken thighs; 3 tblsp mustard oil; 2 medium onions, roughly sliced; 1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas; 1 lemon, sliced; 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
The vindaloo preparation is best made with pork I hear, but I tried this out with chicken, since I personally am not very fond of the porcine delicacies... and I added a twist. And then some! I stuck to the traditional spices, but decided to add a couple other flavors and make this as easy as it gets. And I added in some kisir to make this a full meal in and of itself... but hold on. The vindaloo first, then the twists!
Dry roast all the spices to make the base spice mix... once the spices start giving off their aroma, remove from the pan, and run through a spice grinder. If I had used pork, I would've created the marinade with the other ingredients (I would've run these in a blender, and added the dry spice mix in to make the marinade, marinated the pork overnight or for at least 7-8 hours, but I took the easy way out since I wasn't using pork!).
So instead, I heated the mustard oil in my dutch oven, and lightly browned the chicken thigh pieces on all sides. Once this was done, I added in the onions and sauted along with the chicken for 3-4 minutes, Here come the twist - I wanted to make this a full meal onto itself (trying to teach the older little girl some tricks so she can fend for herself soon enough), and thought I'd use chickpeas as well, so that's exactly what I did - I used a can of chickpeas (remember to drain out the liquid), added it into the dutch oven, along with the chicken broth. I let this cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, and heated the oven to 465F in the meantime - you want the oven hot when the chicken vindaloo (with the twist) is ready to go in... And then laid out the lemon slices on top. Once the oven is heated, I carefully put the dutch oven in, and set the timer to 25 minutes.
And garnished with fresh cilantro leaves on top! I served this on a bed of kisir (bulgur based salad-y thingie I learnt from my Turkish baby-sitter!!).. .the girls loved the vindaloo gravy - they dunked the Goan pav in the gravy and sniffed it away at top speed!
Tamatar Pyaaz ki Subzi
What you'll need:
3 tblsp oil; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp mustard seeds
2 red onions, cubed; 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 red tomatoes, diced
1 tsp turmeric pd; 1 tsp coriander pd; 1/2 tsp red chilli pd; 1 tsp salt; 3 tblsp vinegar; 1 tsp sugar
I think they were REALLY pushing it calling this a "sabzi".. more like a chutney" if you ask me, but we'll go with the flow. Don't get me wrong, it was a yummy "sabzi" for sure, and a great accompaniment with the rest of the meal... So here we go: Start with heating the oil in the pan, and add in the cumin and mustard seeds until they start crackling. Add in the onions and saute until lightly browned before adding in the garlic - saute for an additional 2-3 minutes so the raw taste of garlic disappears. Next, add in the turmeric, salt, chilli pd and coriander pd, and toss in the tomatoes as well. Once the tomatoes are half done, add in the sugar and vinegar... continue to cook for an additional 3-4 minutes and your chutney aka "sabzi" is ready to be served!
Goan Pav
What you'll need:
2 cups warm milk; 2 tblsp active dry yeast
850g all purpose flour; 50g sugar; 2 tblsp salt
50g Amul ghee (clarified butter); 2 eggs, beaten
An utterly butterly delish pav! Add the yeast to the warm milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes for the yeast to get activated. Separately, mix the flour, sugar and salt together so they're blended together evenly. Now add the ghee to the flour mixture, the beaten eggs as well as the yeast-milk mixture and knead to a soft dough... you want to proof it for about 30 minutes at this time, while the dough doubles up in size. Then, knead the dough softly, and make ~60g balls of dough and lay them out on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, side by side. Yet another round of proofing, sacking on the tray, for ~30 minutes. Heat the oven to 325F, place the tray in the middle rack and bake for 15-20 minutes. Brush the top of the pavs with a smack of butter, and bake for an additional 10 minutes at the same temperature.
Bring the dollops of butter out, to serve with the warm pavs... goes really well with the Chicken Vindaloo, and the Tamatar Pyaaz ki Sabzi
Tres Leches
What you'll need:
11/2 cups all purpose flour; 11/2 tsp baking pd; 1/4 tsp salt
5 eggs, yolks and whites separated; 3/4 cup + 1/4 cup sugar; 1 cup whole milk; 2 tsp vanilla essence
1 can sweetened condensed milk; 1 can evaporated milk; 1/3 heavy whipping cream; 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
2 cups heavy whipping cream; 1/4 cup sugar; slit strawberries
Mix the flour, baking pd and salt together. Using an electric whisker, mix the 3/4 cup sugar with the egg yolks, until the blend is a pale yellow color, likely will take 2-3 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the 1/4 cup of sugar until still peaks are formed... this should take 7-8 minutes. Add the yolks mix, milk and vanilla essence to the flour mix, and make a smooth batter. Next you want to fold the egg whites into your cake batter - DO NOT MIX THIS IN LIKE THERE"S NO TOMO! Gently fold the egg whites in.. patiently and gently. Prepare the baking dish - I used a glass pyrex dish, coated with PAM cooking spray and switch the oven on to heat to 350F. Once the oven is heated, pour the batter into the baking dish and slide it in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes. You know your cake is ready if you insert a tooth pick and it come out completely dry.
While you're waiting for your cake to bake, we can get the tres leches ready! Mix the condensed milk, evaporated milk and the whipping cream together with a whisk and store it in the refrigerator while the cake is baking. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about an hour at room temperature. Using a fork, poke holes in the cake - this will allow for the tres leches to soak in the cake. Pour the tres leches over the cake evenly, and leave it overnight (at least 3-4 hours) in the refrigerator.
Finally, the top whipped cream layer! Beat the 2 cups whipping cream until soft peaks are formed. Spread the whipped cream on to your chilled cake. And garnish the cake with the strawberries for a feast for a visual and lip-smacking delight!
Bibingka
What you'll need:
12 egg yolks; 750ml coconut milk; 450g sugar
1tsp cardamom pd; 200g flour; 1/4 tsp salt; 5-6 tblsp ghee (clarified butter)
The Goan cake - heavenly!! The process is a tad tedious, but very simple and repetitive. Start with beating the egg yolks till they turn creamy, a very pale yellow color. In a separate bowl, beat the sugar with the coconut milk and fold in the egg yolks into this mix. Add in the cardamom pd, flour and salt and beat this into a nice smooth batter.
Heat the oven to 350F, and prepare a baking pan - spread 1 tsp of ghee lining the pan evenly on all the insides. Pour 2 ladles of the batter and bake for ~22 minutes. Now the layering process begins! Take the baking pan out of the oven, drizzle 1 tsp of ghee on the top of the first layer, and pour in 2 more ladles of the batter... back in the oven for another 22 minutes... and so on until you are done with the batter... make sure that the last layer is that of ghee - you want the top to have a lovely golden brown finish! Great for an after dinner treat, with the cup of espresso to go with it...
Here's looking forward to you Goa, and you're looking good!!!
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