The best of mango flavours in a dish     Ingredients: 1 cup raw mango pulp  1 cup ripe mango pulp 3 tbsp gram flour 1 cup buttermilk A pinch of hing (asafoetida) 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds 2 green chillies (slit) 1/2 tsp mustard seeds  Salt to taste  1 tbsp oil 6 curry leaves (chopped) 1/2 cup boondi        Method: Mix all the mango pulp, gram flour and salt. Add buttermilk and mix.   Heat oil in a pan. Put in the hing, mustard, and fenugreek. Saute.   Add curry leaves and green chillies. Saute for 2 minutes. Then put in the mango mixture. Bring it to a boil and add a bit of water if needed.    Let it simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes.    Add boondi and simmer for 5 minutes.    

A delicious traditional mango gravy Ingredients: 1 half ripe Alphonso mango ½ tsp chilli powder 3 tbsp grated coconut 1 tsp sugarcane jaggery 1 green chilli ½ tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp mustard seeds 1tsp curry leaves   Method: Put salt on mango pieces and let it marinate Grind the chilli powder, coconut, jaggery, green chilli, and turmeric powder, to a paste. Heat some oil in a pan and put in the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Then add the mangoes, ground paste, and a little water. Cook till ready.

Velha Goa Galeria    Velha Goa Galeria is a place full of various creative pieces. They sell products like ceramic tiles, clay items, glassware, tableware, and cutlery. The majority of their products are Azulejos (hand painted glazed tiles). The price range of the products is approximately between Rs.300 and Rs.15,000. They also conduct workshops and hold exhibitions.  . .  Address- H.No.191, Rua de Ourém,                Fontainhas, Altinho,                Panaji, Goa .  Telephone: 98221 59881        Azulejos de Goa   The Portuguese style craft, Azulejos, is beautiful. These hand-painted tiles take hours to make. Orlando Noronha went to Portugal and started getting into this craft. He says, “ I always wanted to do something different. It’s an art that I learned in Portugal in 1998 as a hobby and later on when I returned I thought of reintroducing this beautiful art in Goa with Goan designs, motifs, etc.” He is of the opinion that it will always be trendy. His place in Panjim, Azulejos de Goa, is crowded with these tiles and the most popular items are Azulejos tiles and plates. Orlando’s products are also available at Taj Khazana, Magsons […]

Tangy and delightful Ingredients: 10 correl mangoes (washed and cut into square bits and put for pressing with salt the previous day). {Pressing entails keeping the mangoes in a colander with a weight on top and a vessel at the bottom so that the water from the pressed mangoes collects in the bottom vessel). 2 tsp methi 6 grams hing/ asafoetida 4 tsp mustard seeds 1½ tsp black pepper 1 tbsp of coarse salt 3 tsp sugar 1½ tsp turmeric powder 100 grams chilli powder (preferably small chillies) (mussoreo red chillies)  Method: Boil the water that comes out when the mangoes are pressed. Let it cool and keep aside. Take salt half of the mustard seeds, methi seeds,  pepper, and dry roast them. (Each of them have to be dry roasted separately). After roasting, mix them all together. In a vessel, take half cup oil and put in the hing. When the hing is browned, remove it. Then in the same oil mix in the chilli powder and turmeric powder. Put mango pieces in a vessel and apply the sugar to it along with the oil mixed with chilli powder and turmeric powder. The other half of the mustard, methi, […]

Goan cooking generally involves liberal amounts of spices giving dishes a strange taste and distinctive aroma. Particular combinations of spices have led to a number of styles of cooking, which have differing flavors; masala, vindaloo and balchao being some of the most famous. Chilies, particularly the dried red variety, are used widely to add pungency, flavor, texture, marinate meats and fish. The green variety is also used to make chutneys, pickles, give pungency and taste to vegetables, meats and fish. The Christians prefer to use vinegar, while the Hindus use ‘kokum’ and tamarind to get the tang in their respective cuisines. Another important product of the palm is jaggery, a dark colored sweetener that is widely used in preparing Goan sweetmeats. Jaggery made from sugarcane is also used which has got a lighter colour compared to the coconut palm one. The spice plantations of Goa are quite popular as a tourist attraction, for more details click on – Spice Plantations The various spices found in the Goan markets (Local Markets) or any General stores around you are; Fennel (Badisep)  Asafetida (Hing) Cardamom (Veichi) Cumin (Jirem) Pepper (Mirem) Mustard seeds (Sasvam) Cinnamon (Dalchini) Clove (Lovang)  Coriander Seed (Sukhi Kothmir)  Cubeb (Teflam)  Fenugreek […]