The fact that you are examining this now elevates you to the place of a foodstuff lover curious enough to go over and above the normal Konkani image of miles of beaches thronged by travelers who are sunbathing and drinking. You are prepared to dig further and unravel the mystery behind the spicy and fragrant food stuff of the location.
Of program, due to the fact we are talking about the cuisine of a coastal spot, coconut and seafood are noticeable components in the planning of any meal nevertheless, region and seasons also perform an significant component in the selection of the relaxation of the ingredients. Let us choose a search at some of the prevalent, and some not so common, substances used in Konkani food items.
A. Spices: Indian food is incomplete without having an assortment of spices and the area cuisine makes use of them generously, offering the dishes a exclusive flavor.
· Black pepper: Piper Nigrum, or black pepper, is utilized thoroughly in Indian cooking. In India, it is developed mostly in South India. The fruits of the plant, recognized as peppercorns, are dried and employed as a spice both equally for their taste and for their medicinal houses.
· Fenugreek: This plant, which bears the scientific identify of Trigonella foenum-graecum, has been cultivated given that historical times: as far back as 4000BC in Egypt. It is grown in semi-arid climates, largely in the northern and western states of India. This plant is used in a lot of methods in Indian delicacies: as an herb, a spice (both equally dried leaves and seeds), and as a vegetable in its clean kind.
· Pink Chilies: Pink chilies or chili peppers are crops of the genus Capsicum. They are used to make warm ‘n’ spicy Indian curries. The plant was released into Asia by Portuguese traders and due to the fact Goa was, till the latest previous, a Portuguese colony, area Goan or Konkani cuisine employs this warm tasting spice greatly. The types of chilies that are usually applied in Goan dishes involve Byadgi, Bird’s Eye and others.
· Asafoetida: This is dried latex received from the tap root of a perennial herb identified as Ferula, which is typically grown in Iran, Afghanistan, and India. The spice has a fetid, pungent smell, therefore the identify asafoetida. But irrespective of this, when utilised in extremely tiny quantities in dishes like lentils, it offers a clean and exceptional flavor.
· Turmeric: Turmeric, or Curcuma longa, is acquired from an herbal plant belonging to the ginger household. These vegetation are indigenous to the southeast pieces of India. Although turmeric is utilised generally in rhizome powder type to impart a yellow colour to foodstuff, in Konkani dishes, turmeric leaves are made use of to wrap and cook particular sweet dishes.
· Mustard seed: Mustard seeds find mention in a lot of historic texts, which include the Bible and the tales of Gautama Buddha. Indian mustard, with the scientific title of Brassica juncea, is grown predominantly in the northern states of India.
· Cumin: This spice is derived from the dried seed of Cuminum cyminum, an organic plant from the parsley family members. It is utilised both of those in total and floor sort and is considered to have a selection of medicinal and digestive properties.
· Teppal: Also identified variously as Tirphal, Szechuan pepper or Zanthoxylum rhetsa, these are dried berries that expand in grape-like bunches on a tree which is grown predominantly in Maharashtra and Karnataka in India. These berries, minus the seeds, are utilized mostly in the preparing of fish dishes in the Konkan region, as nicely as from some vegetarian dishes.
· Coriander seeds and leaves: Coriander is also recognised as Chinese parsley or Cilantro and is native to a lot of elements of the environment together with southern Europe, north Africa, and southwestern Asia. The plant’s leaves, as properly as the dried seeds, are employed in cooking, in particular for producing chutneys or as a spice.
· KhusKhus: This is the name for poppy seeds that have been used for 1000’s of a long time in foodstuff preparation. Received from the opium poppy, the seeds are intended to have sedative powers.
· Cloves: These are flower buds of the evergreen clove tree which is grown generally in south Asia. This aromatic spice is utilized in African, Asian and Center Japanese delicacies to impart taste to curries, meat preparations, and very hot beverages.
· Cinnamon: What is actually one of a kind about this spice is that it is received from the interior bark of not a person, but a amount of trees belonging to the genus Cinnamomum. Its taste is these types of that it is made use of in both sweet and savory dishes. This spice has been deemed match to be eaten by gods and monarchs considering the fact that historical occasions and so has been remarkably valued across the globe, while it is native to South Asian countries.
· Bay leaf or Tej Patta: This leaf is diverse from the Cassia leaf/bay leaf recognised in the west. The Indian bay leaf is made use of to impart flavor to dishes like lentils and unique types of khichris.
· Black and Environmentally friendly Cardamom: The two the black and green cardamom belong to the ginger loved ones Zingiberaceae and is developed predominantly in Asia. They are distinctive not just in color, but also in size. Environmentally friendly cardamom is a person of the world’s most high priced spices, at the rear of only saffron and vanilla, and, like these two, it is also utilized equally in sweet and savory preparations.
B. Herbs: Indian cooking tends to make use of a number of natural crops to increase taste to dishes or for the function of garnishing. Underneath are some of the most important ones:
· Environmentally friendly coriander: Coriander leaf, aside from staying floor to make spicy chutneys and dips, is a must for finishing the seem of Indian curries.
· Curry leaf: This is not to be perplexed with the European curry plant. This individual leaf belongs to the sub-tropical Murraya koenigii tree and is made use of rather usually in South Indian and Konkani cuisine.
· Mango Ginger: Named aamhaldi in neighborhood parlance, Curcuma amada, or mango ginger, belongs to ginger family Zingiberaceae and has a raw mango-like taste. It finds its use in Indian cooking in earning pickles, chutneys, sauces and salads.
· Ginger: The root of the flowering plant Zingiber officinale is 1 of the most widely made use of substances in Indian cooking. The roots have a distinct and sizzling taste and they are employed in curries, and included to hot drinks, and many others.
· Garlic: Allium sativum, greater regarded as garlic, is a pungent smelling species of the onion genus. It has been utilized in cooking for the previous 7000 several years and is a staple in lots of parts of the planet, like Mediterranean, Asian, and African delicacies. From curries to stews and soups, and from chutneys and dips to pickles and flavored oil, garlic is applied in all types of cooking.
C. Souring Agents made use of in Konkani Food stuff
· Bilimbi: This is the fruit of the Avarrhoa bilimbi or cucumber tree and is a close relative of carambola. It is a tropical tree and grows in gardens and backyards. It is employed usually in Goan delicacies for generating pickles or as a souring agent in soups and stews, or even curries.
· Carambola: The fruit of the Avarroha carambola tree, also recognized as star fruit, is utilized in a very similar way as Bilimbi fruit that is to make pickles and chutneys or for ingesting uncooked with salt. Some Konkani recipes use jaggery to counter its very tangy style.
· Tamarind: Tamarindus indica or the tamarind tree is a leguminous tree indigenous to tropical Africa but grown thoroughly in India. The extract of this pod – which tastes like sour tasting fruit, is applied as a souring agent in several Konkani recipes that array from rice dishes, cooked veggies, chutneys, lentils to seafood like crab.
· Environmentally friendly Mango: Though dried and floor, environmentally friendly or unripe mango or amchoor powder is utilised in Indian dishes to give them a tangy flavor the raw fruit itself is mixed with coriander, chili and other spices to make mouthwatering sweet and bitter chutneys and facet dishes that go well with rice.
· Kokum: This is the fruit of Garcinia indica, a tropical plant belonging to the mangosteen household. Its outer go over is sunshine-dried to make aamsul or kokum. In the Konkan area, it is identified as bhirand and is the most regularly employed souring agent, imparting a a bit bitter style to dishes along with a dark crimson shade.
D. Vegetables, Fruit and Flowers utilized in Konkani Cuisine
· Coconut: The fruit of the coconut tree or Cocos nucifera, also called kalpavriksh in Konkani, is utilized in several different strategies in Konkani delicacies. The fruit is offered in abundance in the region and is made use of grated, dried and grated, fried or as a paste, or in the form of coconut milk in various recipes, some genuinely common kinds currently being Sol Kadhi, Ambe Hashale, Vali Ambat, and so forth.
· Gourds: Konkani cuisine has numerous effectively-regarded recipes that use different kinds of gourd, be it bitter gourd, bottle gourd or ash gourd, which are cooked in coconut curry with an assortment of spices that give them a hot and bitter flavor. Other sorts of gourds employed are snake gourd and ridge gourd.
· Malabar Cucumber: Regarded as magge in Konkani, Malabar cucumber is a fleshy vegetable resembling a pumpkin. It is utilized as an ingredient in getting ready rasam and curries in Goa and Kerala.
· Chayote: Also recognized as christophine, this is a vegetable which is simply available 12 months round and can be chopped and cooked applying spices like mustard seeds, fenugreek, asafoetida, and grated coconut.
· Yam and Chinese Potato: Suran or yam and soppoor kook or Chinese potato are cooked with spicy coconut chutney and asafoetida and go nicely with rice.
· Sweet potato: Kananga, as sweet potato is acknowledged as in Konkani, is made use of to make phodis which can be both of those deep fried or pan fried.
· Banana: Banana is applied in Konkani dishes in a wide range of ways ranging from the planning of Banana halwa, a sweet dish, to shallow fried banana phodis coated with spice mixture, to banana puris that are eaten with coconut chutney and sambar. Other recipes contain uncooked banana curry, banana modak (a sweet dish), and so on.
· Drumstick: Known regionally as mashing, drumstick dishes are extremely well-liked in Goa presented that the tree is observed in the backyards of most residences. Drumstick is total of iron and the tree’s bouquets and leaves are also utilized in Konkani cooking. Popular dishes include things like drumstick ros cooked in coconut curry, cutlets, drumstick greens rice, etcetera.
· Colocasia: known as pathrado in Konkani, stuffed colocasia leaves are a most loved regional delicacy. Apart from that, it is utilised to make fritters, cutlets, and facet dishes like venti which makes use of the plant’s stems. The leaves are also used to make curry, specifically as Naivedyam on Janmashtami Day.
· Breadfruit: This largish fruit belongs to the mulberry household. It is recognized as jeev kadge in Konkani and is utilized to make fritters and a spicy dry dish to go with rice and lentils.
· Hog Plums: Just one of the most typical veggies utilized in Konkani cooking, hogplums or ambada are the fruits of a locally developed tree. They are also employed in pickles or in other dishes as souring brokers.
· Tender Cashew Nuts: Cashew is a well-known crop of the Konkan area, and, by natural means, the region has some delightful cashew nut dishes as aspect of its delicacies. A couple well-known kinds are Tender Cashew Nut curry or Bibbe Sagle, Bibbe Upkari, etc.
· Jackfruit: Jackfruit trees are a popular sight in the area and the fruits are utilized to make phodi or fritters, chutney, side dishes, and payasam (a sweet dish).
· Environmentally friendly Aubergine: Gulla or eggplant is a portion of some of the finest Konkani dishes, like fritters, Stuffed Brinjal, Brinjal Sambhar, smoked Konkani brinjals, and so on.
· Greens: Aside from coriander, Konkani meals also employs brahmi leaves which are regionally identified as ekpanna tamboli. They are utilized to make curries and chutneys.
· Amaranthus: A further eco-friendly leafy vegetable utilised in Konkani cuisine is amaranthus which is made into bhaji or upkari, the eco-friendly leaves currently being called dhavi bhaji and crimson kinds tambdi bhaji.
· Malabar Spinach: Recognized as valli in Konkani, Malabar spinach is made use of to make spinach coconut curry or Vaali Ambat. This curry can be made use of with prawns, shell fish, and many others.
· Tender Bamboo Shoots: These are a beloved with the locals and are both cooked as a aspect dish and pickled and preserved.
E. Lentils/Peas: Konkan is mainly a rice and fish eating area and lentils are a ought to to go with rice. Aside from the typical types like masoor (pink lentil), mung (inexperienced gram), toor (pigeon peas), chana dal (Bengal gram), urad dal (black gram), and rajma (kidney beans), some other lentils and peas made use of in Konkani cuisine involve:
· Cow Peas/Black Eyed Beans: Konkanis prepare bagde kodel or cow peas in coconut gravy with garlic seasoning. The dish, which is accompanied by rice, also takes advantage of Mangalore cucumber or potatoes.
· Horse Gram: The chilly season sees Konkanis making ready kulith or horse gram quite routinely. Although the cooking water is used as a saru or slim soup, the cooked gram is utilized as kosambaris (salad) or stir fry. Apart from this, dosas and idlis are also designed applying ground rice, kulith, urad, and chana dal.
F. Fish and other Seafood: Seafood is an integral section of any coastal location and Konkan is no exception. Vison (Kingfish) is frequently cooked. The other versions of fish that find a position in this delicacies contain pomphret, tunal, mackerel, and shark. Shellfish like lobster, prawns, squid, crab and mussels are also easily offered.
· Ladyfish: Ladyfish, also recognized as kane or nagli, is discovered a lots in the rivers of the area. This fish is regarded as cleanse and very easily digestible and is cooked in coconut gravy. It is also eaten deep fried.
· Shark: Ambot Tik is a Goan delicacy which is designed with shark and served on special occasions. It is cooked in a sizzling and sour curry and preferences far better if eaten a working day after cooking!
In excess of the centuries, Konkani cuisine has been influenced not just by nearness to the sea and availability of elements, but also its Hindu origins and hundreds of years of Portuguese rule. The colonial rulers released a amount of greens, fruits and spices to this region some of them, like potato and tomato, ended up in the beginning rejected by the Hindu natives, but, with the passage of time, they manufactured their way into the nearby dishes.