Goa - Mum's Kitchen & Chulha at the Grand Hyatt Bambolim Beach

Getting local food anywhere in India is difficult at the best of times. I admit I have not travelled very much in India, but except for Amritsar and Calcutta and Delhi to some extent, getting local food has been a challenge. In Chennai you do get Chetinad food. Bangalore is a few stray local restaurants, but these are more likely to be aberrations. Mumbai for that matter probably has none. No, Malwani and Manglorean food does not count. Neither does Pao Bhaji, Wada Pao and Bhel. Pune is difficult too. Kerala is an exception.

We had two meals in Goa. I looked at Trip Advisor. The top 10 restaurants recommended on Trip Advisor did not have a single Goan restaurant. You can find all manner of food in Goa, but not local Goan food. Thalassa is a Greek restaurant! A Reverie is an International restaurant. Sad is it not? All of us were sure we wanted to eat local food.

For dinner the first night our friend Leena had made a reservation at Mum’s Kitchen, a very nice Goan restaurant right in the centre of Panjim. This restaurant prides itself on keeping alive traditional Goan recipes cooked in the traditional way. The restaurant seeks to keep this food alive in the face of a strong assault by Fusion/Multicuisine and International restaurants which have now come to define Goan food. I could not agree with them more.

The restaurant itself is not very large. It is bang on the main road in an old house, brightly lit spacious and clean. We settled down and ordered drinks, beers, a Breezer and Vodka. Then we looked at the menu and set about ordering. As luck would have it, our waiter was from Orissa!! Anyway, we ploughed on. Let me tell you the menu was impressive. You had a vast selection of Goan dishes on offer, this included Hindu/Saraswat elements and Christian/Portuguese food. This was going to be interesting, and the meal seemed most promising.

First we ordered Mussels in Shell. This was Mussels that were cooked in a red spicy sauce and placed back in recycled Mussel shells. The Mussel shells were aesthetic and the actual Mussels were cooked separately. Quite nice. Two more starters were some delightful Beef Croquettes or what we in Mumbai would call Beef Chops - Minced Beef, spiced, mixed with vegetable, shaped, crumbed and fried. The last starter was Whitebait or Mandeli as it is locally know, simply crumbed and fried. Fresh fish, freshly fried, crisp and delicious. Well begun.

Mussel in Shell

Beef Croquettes

Fried Mandeli

Main courses were even better. I could not resist ordering Goa Sausage Fry, after all we were in Goa! Being our first meal, a Pork Vindaloo was essential. Mother Stonethrower ordered Pork Sorpotel and to round of the order we got Saambarachi Koddi, a Hindu preparation with toasted Coconut, dried shrimp and some fresh prawns. The food was really good with the Saambarachi Koddi being an absolute stunner. It was so good that we ordered another portion of it. Luckily, while all the food was laden with spice, the Vindaloo, Sorpotel and Saambarachi Koddi each had distinct flavours. We were all extremely pleased with the food.

Goa Sausage Fry

Pork Vindaloo

Saambarachi Koddi

Along with the food, we were served local Goan bread called Poie. This is made with wheat husk. These were delicious. We also were given Sannas which are made with rice flour that is left to ferment with Toddy. These, unfortunately were a bit disappointing as they were too sweet. Local Red Rice was also dished up to have with the Saambarachi Koddi. This really combined well.

Poie

Sannas

We had no room for dessert. Mum’s Kitchen is good.

The next day we were told that Souza Lobo is a place that also has good Goan food. The problem was that Souza Lobo is located at Calangute which was a 45 minute drive from where we were. This also means that it will take 45 minutes to get back. We were not inclined to do this. So we decided to eat at the Indian restaurant called Chulha at the Grand Hyatt where we were staying. This served Goan food.

To drink I ordered King’s Beer a local Goan beer. It is a mild beer, slightly darker in colour than normal larger. Pleasant, thought nothing to get too excited about.

The restaurant was rather empty and, alarmingly, there were a fair number of `Pahadi’ chefs. I was worried about the authenticity of Goan food cooked by the Tandoori experts `Pahadi’ chefs and their kitchen with gleaming Tandoors.. Once the food arrived on the table though, we were all delighted. The restaurant had an open kitchen and looked quite nice.

Chicken Cafreal to start. Totally delicious. A wonderful Pork Vindaloo, gentler and more refined than the one at Mum’s Kitchen. Chicken Xacuti and Pomfret Recheado. Each dish was stunning. We were surprised.

Chicken Cafreal

Pork Vindaloo

Chicken Xacuti

Pomfret Rechado

Of course, I must caution you that this was about the entire Goan repertoire that Chulha had. The rest of the food was bog standard Punjabi/Mughlai food.

If you are young and enthusiastic, I suggest that you make the trek to Souza Lobo. Chulha was good and authentic, but it is a Punjabi restaurant in a five star hotel serving Goan food. What you really want is a Goan restaurant serving you Goan food. But we had no complaints.

I apologise for the photos. This is `Indian' food so it looks red/brown and indistinguishable. Whether it is Butter Chicken or Prawn Curry or Pork Vindaloo or Paneer Tika and so many other dishes, they all look the same and photograph badly. That is the nature of the beast.

Cooking in Goa

As I have written earlier, we had been gifted a cooking class in Goa.

The class is conducted by Judy Cardozo. She is part cooking instructor, part food consultant and part caterer. She conducts these classes professionally for visiting foreigners who want to learn to cook `Indian’ food. Typically, the course runs for 3 or 5 days. These have one day visiting the fish market/local market and one day at a spice village. Three days are spent teaching them cooking. Of course `Indian’ food is a term that has no real meaning. Judy told us that `Indian’ food that she teaches invariably has as its dishes – Chicken Tikka, Tadka Daal, Gajar Ka Halwa, Sofiana Biryani and South Indian Pepper Chicken. A sort of top 10 of India’s favourite dishes. We had absolutely no intention of learning any of this. So, we asked that we should be taught:

These dishes are not part of Hindu Goan food [except the Prawn Curry] but have their origins and influences in the Portuguese and Catholic history that Goa has. This food uses Vinegar as a souring agent, which no good Hindu would use. The Vinegar, and the liberal use of chilli both green and the dried red chilli, characterise this food. To this is added a blend of Garam Masala – Clove, Cardamom, Pepper and Cinnamon resulting in a unique taste. The Prawn Curry is recognisable. It tastes somewhat like the Manglorean Ghassi and the Malwani fish curries in as much as coconut is the main ingredient and the sour element is Tamarind. Of course, in the Hindu fish curry whether Goan, Manglorean or Malwani, the souring agent could also be Raw Mango, Kokum or Bimbli. 

Judy told us that Chicken Cafreal is a dish that has its origins in Africa, the Portuguese colonies Angola and Mozambique. The Peri Peri Chilli with which Cafreal was made came from Africa. Cafreal masala or paste is now made with non spicy green chilli, lime juice, Cardamom, Pepper and Cumin. The paste is not really green, however nowadays the Coriander and Mint which is often added when making the Cafreal paste is an aberration. The Portuguese did not know Coriander and Mint, they did not use it. She dismissed Sanjeev Kapoors version of Cafreal with Coriander and Mint. The chicken was coated with the paste, cooked on charcoal and basted with coconut milk. This was a dish that was created by the slaves that the Portuguese brought to Goa from the colonies.

Vindaloo is a localised Portuguese dish with Pork – never ever Chicken or Mutton – always pork, lashings of Vinegar typically local Toddy Vinegar and Garlic all cooked in a Red Chilli and Garam Masala paste. This dish has now a reputation of being extremely spicy and has potato added. All this is incorrect. The dish is spicy, but, is a balance between the hot and the sour. Potato is not added, the `aloo’ in Vindaloo is not potato but garlic.

Recheado is also a Red Chilli based paste, however, this is quite different to the Vindaloo paste. Recheado masala is also used when making fish. It is smeared on fish which is then pan fried.

The Roast Beef was quite unlike what Western or English Roast beef is. The beef was marinated and then cooked in a pressure cooker. The result was surprisingly good. It reminded me of school, when my classmates used to get Roast Beef sandwiches for `dry lunch’.

The classes were conducted in a beautiful old bungalow on the banks of the Mandovi River. Boats went by and you looked out onto a garden. The session started at 9.30. The plan was to cook all 5 things and then have them for lunch. Judy handed out recipes and generally hovered and supervised. We set about making the pastes or masala. The Recheado, the Cafreal and the Vindaloo. The Pork was put to cook, the Cafreal applied on the chicken and left to marinade. Likewise for the Roast beef.

Then it was time to make the Prawn Curry. So we set about extracting the Coconut Milk, first thick milk then the second thinner milk. I remembered when I was little I used to extract coconut milk at home. Grate the coconut, add hot water, blitz it in the Mixie, and, with my small hands and miniscule strength try and squeeze out the milk. After playing about for a bit, I used to get tired and bored at which point the servant took charge and with his mighty hands squeezed out the milk.     

Squeezing out the Coconut Milk

With Judy our Guruji

Then we set about cooking things. First the Prawn Curry was put on a low flame with continuous stirring. This was to prevent the milk from splitting. By this time the Vindaloo was almost done. The Chicken Cafreal was put on one pan. The Recheado masala was cooked separately from the prawns. After that, the prawns were lightly cooked they were added to the Recheado. The Beef was browned in a pressure cooker and then pressure cooked. A little rice was made and all was plated.

Pork Vindaloo

Chicken Cafreal with some Roast Potato, Peas and Carrots

The Roast Beef. Sliced and then mixed into the cooking juices

Prawn Curry

We served ourselves and had a most pleasurable meal out in the balcony.

In all honesty I was most pleasantly surprised as to how good the food turned out. Mind you we were eating everything just off the flame. Things like Vindaloo and Prawn Curry have to mature and are normally eaten a day or two after making them. This would make them taste much better with deeper mellower flavours.

Unfortunately, I do not have too many photos. Two of Judy’s students, a delightful older English couple popped in to absorb the cooking session. Barry took some photos with his camera and he has promised to send them to me. I will upload them no sooner I get them.

We came away most satisfied. It was a morning very well spent. We learnt, we had fun learning and what we learnt will stand us in good stead. Lots of good meals coming up.

If any of you want to learn Goan food, I recommend Judy very strongly. 

Goa, Tejpal and poisoning.

Goa!!

We are here for 3 nights. A dear friend, our Amritsar guide Leena, gifted us a cooking class in Goa. We are to learn to cook 5 dishes. More on that in a later post, have not done the class as on writing this. So we thought why not take a short break and spend some time in Goa. After all ½ of me is from Goa, as faithful readers may know. In all this excitement Mother Stonethrower joined us and so the three of us are in Goa.

I was last in Goa some 12 years ago. HRH the Queen of Kutch was last here 6 odd years ago. We do have memories of Goa but frankly the memories are of places, temples, homes and hotels. Cannot remember roads or landmarks.

To stay, we thought there could be no better place than the Grand Hyatt at Bambolim. This is a very famous hotel and for that I have to thank Tarun Tejpal. This is the place where in his own words he “violated that long-standing relationship of trust and respect” and thereafter he “apologised unconditionally for the shameful lapse of judgement” that led him “to attempt a sexual liaison” “on two occasions on 7 November and 8 November 2013”. I had to see for myself the infamous lift [elevator] where this happened. The elevator where Tepal pressed all the buttons to prolong the ride [no puns intended]. Folks, I asked, but I got no answers. All I can say is that all this happened in Bungalow 7 where we are staying. Bungalow 7 has two lifts. I have taken a photo of both, one inside one outside. One must be the scene of “the shameful lapse of judgement”.

Could this be the infamous lift?

The control panel inside the lift.  Just two floors!!

I also took photos of the beautiful flowers in the garden. Tejpal is not going to see these flowers for some time. He will also not see the lovely beach and the beautiful hotel. The stupid bastard is still in jail as I write. Serves him right.

Folks, the Grand Hyatt is a new hotel, 2 years old. It is really a nice hotel. Large grounds well laid out and very luxurious. Nice pool and nice beach. The decor and ambience of the hotel is heavily inspirted by Balinese architecture and I like it. Yes I know we could be in any 5 star hotel anywhere in the world and would not realise where we are. Folks, I like it that way, and it is my money, so take a hike!  

I must point out that I have beach holidayed in India after years. In the past we used to go to the Fishermans Cove off Chennai. But that became so horribly expensive, a logistic nightmare, the food was rubbish that we stopped going there. It is after probably 7 years that we are in a resort in India. And you know what? While the Grand Hyatt is a top hotel and reasonably pricey, you still get disgusting Indians as your fellow guests. That is the biggest downside of a holiday in India – Indians. And do you know what else irks me? Do read this notice in the menus. Are you proud of this? After all this money you still do not know if you will literally be poisoned!

Notice in the room service menu. Shocking