The ongoing Saturday brunch at Taj Mahal Hotel discovers the exotic flavours and delicacies of Goa. Shrabasti Mallik savours the cuisine from this port city
For those of us who associate Goa with its pristine beaches, riot of colours or the annual gala carnival — we know half of the story that make up this place. It was the first place from where jazz evolved in India, a place which still echoes the silent coming together of the Catholics and Brahmins — but there is more than meets the eye.
Embedded in the cultural curtain of India’s smallest state, along with festivities and celebrations, is its unique cuisine. Over the years, many dishes have travelled from the place to the rest of the country and the one dish that rings loud and clear is the Goan fish curry. There is no denying a Goan’s love for fish but there are plenty — in the words of chef executive chef Arun Sundararaj, “more than one can count,” — of dishes and ways of cooking that are still confined within the state borders.
Delhiites can now savour the myriad delicacies that the cuisine has to offer at the new Saturday brunch buffet at Machan, the all day diner at Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. As part of their food promotion focussing on regional cuisine, chef Sundararaj has curated the choicest of the dishes from the port city.
After weeks of treating our taste buds to world cuisine, we decided to come back to our roots. The buffet was a lavish (and pretty tempting) spread of Goan fish curry, chorizo pulao, clam masala, exotic vegetable malaguetta, mutton xacuti and prawn balchao, along with the regular spread of salads. There was also a live kitchen counter from where we received our prawn balchao. They were jumbo prawns, nicely cooked, but what tantalised our tongue was the balchao, made with fiery, pickle like tomato and chilli sauce.
The chorizo or the Goan pork sausage pulao was delicious with the finely minced pork pieces almost melting in the mouth. It was a treat in itself and we really did not want to spoil the flavour by accompanying it with fish or chicken. However, we tasted the fish curry with steamed rice and it was much better that way. Unlike the regular Goan curry, which is often overloaded with curry leaves or coconut milk, this was more balanced and had a nice texture.
Spice overload was what we would like to call the mutton xacuti. It was not water-in-your-eyes spicy but, it did have that burst of flavours that results from the mixing of several spices. The chef told us that 16 spices had gone into the making of the gravy. “There is chilli, methi, mustard, star anise, cinnamon, black and green cardamom, pepper corn, fennel seeds, bay leaves, nutmeg, maise, jeera and dhaniya,” the chef listed.
Those who know their clams and are in love with sea food will definitely be satisfied with the clam masala. It was coconutty and was neither too spicy nor too bland. “There are two cuisines of the place — one of the Catholics who reside closer to the sea and cook with spices, and the Saraswat Brahmins who reside a little towards the interiors and cook with coconuts like in the South,” said the chef, who has spent a good number of years at the Taj Exotica, Goa.
The clam, we found out, is primarily a Catholic originated delicacy where coriander, green chilli and pepper kafriyal are used to marinate the clams before being cooked in the oven. “I have prepared the clams using both the Catholic spices and the Brahmin coconuts,” he chuckled.
“If at all you look at the old style of cooking, there is this one process where fish is marinated with coconut, coriander, onions and red chillies which is wrapped in banana leaf (he drew reference to the Bengalpaturi) and then covered in hay. The hay is then set on fire and as it burns, the fish cooks. It has a very different flavour altogether,” the chef shared reminding us again about the vastness of the cuisine.
We come to know from him that Goan food is just not about fish, chicken, pork and lamb. As we tasted the exotic vegetable malaguetta, chef Sundararaj told us, “Not many know but Goans cook pumpkin, jackfruit and every vegetable that one can think about. Even raw mangoes are cooked as vegetables. They also make something called dal payasam. It iskheer made of lentils, very much like that of Kerala but use date jaggery to sweeten.”
The festival will continue till October end.