There is absolutely no end to the merchandise available at this market. Here is another sampling of what you can buy. The goods are diverse and you can expect to see anything and everything.

Take your time and when you get hungry, there’s ample food to tickle your palate with.  Feast your eyes on these scrumptious goa sausages (chorizos) which are not exactly like the spanish chorizo but similar.

There are cafes you can hide in if the heat gets to you – they’re usually air-conditioned. Cafe SF Xavier is my favorite because you can not only eat there but browse around the cafe market for curios and gifts to buy your friends back home. Authentic goan artefacts, books and sweets. The kind of sweets your granny made for Christmas. Dodol, Batco, pinag and all those yummies.

Photos: complements of my flickr friends Fred Noronha and Christina Pinto.

So that is one kind of cashew which is red. My grandmother had a grove and as children, we called it ‘secret grove’ because we weren’t allowed anywhere near the grove. You can guess why right? Snakes, they told us. The fear of snakes kept us from doing all sorts of exploring for excitement or so the elders thought. Still, I’m not sure where the fruit grove is and it can remain a mystery for all I care. What matters is that we all got to enjoy the abundance that the fruit grove produced.

So, it was nothing unusual to see Mae and Santan shucking cashew nuts from their fruit. The fruit all went into a big crock so that feni could be made from it. Wait, I’ll talk about the feni later. First, let’s talk about the nut. The kernel is quite soft and can be split with a knife if you want to leave the nut raw. For roasting, the whole kernel is roasted and the outer covering removed to expose the crispy roasted nut.

While we enjoyed the roasted nuts as a snack, sometimes the raw ones were ground and used in recipes for both sweets and also in savoury dishes.

Now, I’ve never made feni but I certainly have sipped on this exotic and exhilarating drink. I’m sure at times, I hallucinated on it because I….. never mind. As if I would know what it means to hallucinate - cough, cough! Anyway, all I can say is that feni, also known as Cajel is quite the drink and would put Tequila to shame. Everyone has to try cashew feni at least once. By the way, feni can be made from coconut as well. Cashew feni has an exquisite flavour. All this talk of feni is making me wish I had some. Yeah right! Where would I find feni on the west coast of Canada? Dream on Bardezgirl!

I found this link www.sendliquor.com and apparently they will mail a bottle of this feni for the price of $49.00 plus shipping. Now, I have to figure out whether it’s worth it to me to pay this or whether I should just wait until my next trip to India when i can buy some for a lot cheaper! Hmmmm….

Don’t you just love the sight of these incredible fruit? Incidentally, they possess a high content of oxalic acid in them which, if you eat too much, makes your throat pucker up! So, caution my friends. Eat a small quantity in one sitting or else, just enjoy the fruit or better still, sit in the shade of a banyan tree in your grandmother’s back garden and sip on the exotic alcoholic derivation known as Feni!

When a dear neice told me of her forthcoming engagement, I was excited and sad at the same time. I live in Canada and she lives in India. How would I celebrate with her? I wanted to share my excitement with my Canadian daughter but the idea of an ‘engagement’ being such a big deal was foreign to her. This blog is for my daughter and anyone who is interested to learn that an engagement ceremony in India is bound in tradition, ritual and perhaps even contractual in nature. For the purposes of visuals, I borrowed a photo from furiousphotographersblog.com. After my neice send me photos of her own engagement, with her permission, I shall post those here. So, my neice explained the meaning and method of the engagement ceremony in Punjabi tradition. My neice and the man she is getting engaged to are yuppie types and while wanting to keep the tradition, will make some modifications to suit their modern ways of thinking. All is done with the permission of their parents which shows respect for families and honor for tradition.

The name of the engagement ceremony is Roka. As soon as the couple decide to wed, The Roka or Saith ceremony, which is an announcement that the boy and girl have found their soulmates and will look no further for a life partner, is held. The origin of this custom lies in the arranged marriage norm where the parents would let out the word that they are looking for a suitable match for their son or daughter. And once they had found that match, their search had come to an end. Rings are not generally exchanged but my neice and her man have decided to exchange rings. Prayers may be said though I’m not sure whether they will be in this case. Gifts are exchanged between the boy and girl. Gifts are also exchanged between bride and groom’s family. The gifts can be as lavish or as humble as one can afford. Some gift gold and others fruit and sweets. After this ceremony, the couple is officially engaged.

The familes then celebrate together with close friends and relatives. In my neice’s case, there will be a reception at a hotel as their home is too small to accomodate the thirty or so guests that will attend. Oh yes, engagement outfits can also vary from being lavish or simple according to one’s taste and purse. I think my neice will wear a sari. Oooohhhh, I am so excited.

All this got me thinking about engagements in Goan culture because I am a Goan. My memories took me back to some of the engagement parties I went to as a child followed by weddings and receptions. Of course, I only remembered the celebrations and feasts so, I had to research for the information on engagements. Here is what I found which is accurate according to my memory.

ENGAGEMENT: A suitable boy and girl are introduced to each other by an informal proposal for marriage brought by matchmakers (more likely mutual friends, female relatives, teachers or priests) known to both
families. After the young couple and parents are introduced, both
individuals and families pursue a dialogue and social interactions. If
both are interested in the union, after background checks (due-
diligence) and at times after a check on the horoscopes, the girl’s
parents officially visit the boy’s parents to bring a formal proposal.
Negotiations of the marriage process may ensue.

If fruitful, an engagement, soirik, mangni or sakharpuda ceremony is
planned. GSB refer to an engagement as nishchaytambul or nischay. Some
groups publicly announce the ritual prior to its event. Others do so
after the engagement ceremony but before the marriage.

Engagement rituals with prayers are performed at the girl’s home in
front of parents, close relative and friends. Among Catholics,
engagement rings are exchanged. According to Hindu custom, the girl
sits on a stool, her feet are washed, and she wears kumkum on her
forehead. In both groups, the boy offers the girl gifts of fruits,
sweets, green bangles (kankne or chuda) and gold jewelry. The boy also
receives some gifts. The new couple exchange pudos (cone-shaped paper)
iced with sugar. After a pledge of their intentions, the girl wears
twelve bangles of different colors which she continues to wear during
the courtship period and until the wedding.

After the ritual, there is the usual celebration, feasting and toasting.
This private celebration calls for playing traditional Goan songs. Lots
of Konkani tapes and CDs presenting a repertoire of Goan wedding and
love songs are now available! But, this should not prevent some live
joint-singing of traditional Konkani classical songs and love songs
special for this occasion. As this merriment can be an additional mental
burden for the girl’s parents in a nuclear family, it would help to
assign a relative (aunt or uncle) who has an artistic bent to plan the
enriching entertainment of the evening. This would be an honor and
pleasure for them to help – remember culture is inter-dependency! Goan
artistic events should also be about other aspects of our traditions
beyond Goan food and drink (an aspect of Goan custom that fortunately is
never in short supply). There should also be opportunities of the
members of the two families to come to know each other.

On the little road that led from the junction of the church road and the village road, on the way to Mae’s house, there is a chapel much like this one. A simple little chapel where you could see the cross through a barred off entrance. It wasn’t meant to be like a church where you stepped in, knelt down to pray and where a priest would preside. Instead, it was a little wayside chapel so that you could remember to stop and pray on your way to somewhere else. A ltitle whitewashed chapel. I loved to stop and stare inside it as if expecting something miraculous to happen. What I didn’t realize at that time is that the miracles were all around. In the kindness of the people I saw each day, my grandmother, my family, my friends, the fields, the animals, every single little thing. I hope that the chapel in Bodiem still stands where it used to.

Anyway, back to Mapusa and the fish market. Now, check out the fisherwoman. She looks shrewd doesn’t she. Also, fish must exude some kind of hormone just in the odour because don’t forget these women transport the fish from long distances, carrying the baskets on their head. I tell you the hormones have a direct effect on the fisherwoman’s ability to tear a strip off you if she doesn’t like how you haggle. They either take a liking to you or not. If you are a regular, good thing but if you are a stray who stops by the inspect the fish for it’s freshness, ‘watch out’! You could get a barrage of swear words shouted at you in Konkani. Or else, just a plain  ’Maka Kallana.’  Guess that shuts a person up. Anyway, my father who did most of the shopping in our family had no problem with these people. He was a regular and probably went to the same women everytime. He didn’t haggle because I think he felt sorry for them and wanted to help their sales. It didn’t make my mother happy when my father came home with way too much fish for just our family to consume. Anyway, none of us kids complained because we loved the fish and the way my mother cooked it.

I loved how Mummy stuffed the bhangde and been looking all over for a recipe. I found this one on GoaNet which looks pretty close to how she made it. I think these days, you can buy the ready made masala paste for the fish but this receipe shows how to make it:

Stuffed Mackerel – Goa Style

Cooking: 20 minutes
*Ingredients*
mackerel
6 mackerels, cleaned and deboned (see below), if you like you can skip
deboning the fish
juice from 2 limes
maldon salt
oil for cooking
Stuffing
18 curry leaves
4 onions, peeled and sliced
6 tbsp Goan masala paste (see recipe)
6 tbsp finely chopped corriander
1 large red chilli, seeds removed and diced
To Serve
lemon wedges
slices of shop purchases naan bread (optional)
pilaf rice with chickpeas (see recipe)
or boiled rice
Method

*mackerel:*
Wash and dry the inside of the fish. Rub salt and lime juice into the flesh
of the mackerels.

*Stuffing:*
Heat a little oil in a saucepan over a moderate-high heat, saute the onion
in the pan until golden brown. Add the curry leaves and masala paste and
cook for a couple of minutes until aromatic. Remove the pan from the heat,
stir in the corriander and chilli. Allow the mixture to cool.

*To Stuff:*
Rub the stuffing mixture on the flesh inside the mackerels. Refigerate for
1-2 hours (to allow the flavours to develop).

*To Cook:*
Preheat a grill. Cover a grill tray with foil and coat it lightly with oil.
Brush the mackerels with oil and place on the grill tray. Cook the fish
under the grill for 5-6 minutes on each side (turning carefully), the fish
should be golden brown and cooked through.
To Serve: Serve with wedge of lemon and accompany with slices of naan bread
(optional) and pilaf or boiled rice.

*To Debone:*
Cut the fish open along the belly, remove its inards, wash and dry it with
kitchen paper or a tea towel. Place it on a board belly side down. Using the
heel of your hand push down on the fish firmly on its backbone. loosening it
from the flesh. Cut the back bone near the head and tail, and carefully pull
it out. Remove the side bones with a sharp knife and pin bone the fish.

I saw someone just tear into it once, not even with a knife, just fingers.  I suspect the jackfruit must have been ripe.   The thick and brownish-yellow rind has small protrusions, not sharp but not comfortable either. Inside it are these succulent yellow bulbs embedded in a fibrous pocket. Inside the bulbs are seeds. Now, we’ve probably eaten just about every part of the jackfruit. Some relative made a curry out of the fibrous pockets and the inside of the rind. We definitely devoured the sweet fruit after the seeds had been removed. Mae would dry and then roast the seeds in an open fire. They had a semblance to brazil nuts maybe? Anyone remember? Very nice. I never liked the goey sap that covered my hands when I tried to separate the fruit from the fiber. Some people would oil their hands to get it out. Yum.

Wish that I could say that these pictures were exactly from Mae’s garden but anyone who remembers, will think it is, thanks to thefruitbook.com who has generously supplied me photos. If anyone remembers anything else about Mae’s house or the fruit trees, feel free to comment.

Mae and Santan both made this delectable pickle from tendlis and I remember going into this darkened pantry off a little room entered from the kitchen.  Straight ahead of the door was this dark cool room, a cold storage of sorts where Mae stored pickles in earthenware jars and large crocks.  She also kept different kinds of jaggery here.  How would I know that right?  Well, I did  get caught coming out of there once with dark stains around my mouth.  Mae scolded me but i doubt I got a whipping.   Mae was always too happy to see her grandchildren to be angry for any length of time.  Again, these pictures of tendlis or the recipe does not belong to me but some special goans on the web who are happy to share.

Tendlis are not to be mistaken for pickling cucumbers because they somewhat resemble each other.  NOT!  In this blog, I intend only to post the pickle recipe but please know that you can prepare many vegetable dishes from tendlis.  So, here is Kristina’s tendli pickle recipe.  Enjoy

Ingredients :

Tendlis (small gherkins) 100
Oil 2 cups
Green chillies 10
Garlic 3 pods
Ginger 3″piece
Vinegar 1 cups
Chilly powder 2 tbsp
Turmeric 1 tbsp
Sugar 2 tbsp

Preparation :

Cut the tendlis into quarters, add salt and hang overnight in a muslin cloth to let the water drain.

Mince the green chillies, garlic and ginger. Heat the oil over fierce heat, add the chillies, garlic and ginger. Fry well being careful not to burn it.

When well fried, add the vinegar, chilly powder, turmeric, tendlis and sugar. Bring to boil stirring continuously, then remove from fire.

Pour into sterilized jars making sure the pickle is covered with oil.

My father always wanted to get there after retirement and fix up the house and live in it.  Unfortunately, he had to consider others and therefore did not see it through. What would our lives have been like, had he followed his dream?

Mae never had the money to deal with renos and after she died, Santan didn’t manage either.  I hope that by now, someone who cares has taken it into their hands to do something with this property.

These days, I find myself thinking of Mae and all the special sweets she would make for us kids who had just arrived from the big city of Bombay.  Godshe was one of these sweets – yum.  For so long, I’ve been wanting to find a recipe so I could make it for my own little grandchildren and here it is now, thanks to GoanFoodRecipes.com.

I cannot find jaggery easily where I live now therefore, I resort to a combination of brown sugar and molasses.

1 cup rice

1/4 cup moong dal

thick and thin milk of one coconut (I use 1 can of milk – separate it into two and thin one portion down)

1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup molasses

pinch of salt

Soak the rice and dal overnight and then cook it in the thin coconut milk.  Cook and stir occasionally until it is soft – use low flame.

Once rice and dal are a soft consistency, add the sugar and molasses, keep stirring until the mixture thickens and then add the thick coconut milk.  Stir, stir and add a pinch of salt taking care not to let it stick to bottom of pot.  When the mixture thickens enough to look like it could set, pour it into a pie plate and let set so you can cut it into soft wedges.  Some people like it warm like a pudding.

Mae made this Bibique for us even when it wasn’t Christmas time.  All Coans made this this layered cake at Christmas but since us Lobos never went to Bodiem during Christmas, Mae would make it for us in May.  Bless that sweet woman who did everything in her power to give her grandchildren a good time.  I wish that I had got my recipe right from Mae but alas, she was gone before I got interested in culinary matters.  Priyanka Garpure has kindly supplied me with this one:

200 gms all purpose flour

10 egg yolks

500 gms sugar

Thick coconut milk from one large coconut

2 gms powdered nutmeg

200 gms ghee (clarified butter)

1. Extract coconut milk from the coconut by grating it and grinding it with water. Mix the flour, sugar and egg yolks with coconut milk and stir thoroughly till sugar has dissolved. In case you want layers of slightly different colors caramelize a little sugar and add to one half of the batter and use them alternately.

2. Now add the nutmeg powder and keep aside.

3. In an aluminum vessel, heat some clarified butter in a pan and pour in one cup of batter.

4. Bake this layer on low heat till it turns light brown in color.

5. Then add another spoonful of clarified butter and another cup of batter.

6. Once the bottom layer is done the heat has to be supplied from the top.

7. Continue to bake till all the batter is used up.

8. Once done, turn the tin upside down, remove the bebinca and cool before serving

Note:  I’ve tried this method by pouring batter into a springform pan and placing under the broiler (rack should be in the middle of the oven).  It’s effective!