A soft jiggly dessert with coconut goodness that is seen at some Goa functions.   Ingredients: 2 cups of milk ½ tin sweetened condensed milk 1 cup tender coconut water 1 cup tender coconut flesh ½ cup china grass   Method: Take out the tender coconut pulp (without the water) and blend. Let the china grass soak in the tender coconut water for 8-10 minutes. Boil the milk and condensed milk together. Heat the china grass and coconut water till the china grass melts. Mix it into the milk mixture. Add the blended coconut pulp and mix. Pour the mixture into a tray or bowls, let it cool and then refrigerate.

Sunaparanta – Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho recently launched an online series ‘Surviving SQ (Self Quarantine)’ inviting artists to share creative strategies of survival. Christine Machado | NT For many, this long-drawn lockdown has mea0nt hours of boredom, restlessness, anxiety, and uncertainty. However, for artists, isolation is not a new concept. Indeed, many are known to go off on their own, away from the crowd and the noise, to get in touch with themselves, and to create better. And indeed, perhaps, the rest of us could learn a tip or two from them? It is with this thought process in mind that in late March, a little prior to the imposition of the Janata Curfew, that Sunaparanta – Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, decided to launch a new online series of sorts titled ‘Surviving SQ (Self Quarantine)’. “The team along with our patron Isheta Salgaocar were brainstorming on ideas on how to stay connected with our audiences given that by March 20, many had already begun to self-isolate,” says curator and programme director, Leandre D’Souza. And given that artists are at their creative best when they are in isolation, they decided to try and reach out to them […]

The original bebinca takes a lot of effort and is cooked layer by layer. Potato bebinca is like a mock bebinca and is easier to make.   Ingredients: 3 big sweet potatoes 6 eggs 1½ cups sugar 4 heaped tbsp flour 2 heaped tbsp semolina 1 cup coconut milk (thick) 6 tbsp butter 12 cardamoms (powdered)   Method: Boil the potatoes, peel them, and mash them. Make syrup out of the sugar. Mix the semolina and flour with a bit of coconut milk. Add only the eggs yolks one by one. Beat lightly after adding each of the eggs. Add the rest of the coconut milk and the potatoes. Then add beaten egg whites. Heat ghee and pour it in the baking tray. Then put in the batter and bake till ready. Let it cool and cut.

Fish is considered as the staple diet of the Goan people. All humans use readily available edible resources and slowly develop a culture around it and the knowledge is passed from generation to generation. Fish became an integral part of Goan diet from prehistoric times (50000-60000 years before present). Goa has an unenviable culture showcasing different ways communities look at, understand, worship, love/hate, catch, cook and serve fish. Goa being rich in freshwater and marine ecosystems offers free, highly diverse (about 250 species of fish and shellfish) fisheries resources so the culture of catching fish developed much before animal husbandry or agriculture. Due to early semi-nomadic settlers who camped first in Mandovi and Zuari river basins about 50-60000 years ago and developed the practice of catching fish using different gears. Fish was a staple diet in ancient Goa even before the caste system was developed so almost all ethnic Goan communities are found to utilize fish in their food but there are clear taboos about meat. After the advent of GSB (Goa Saraswat Brahmins) migrants the legend of Sage Saraswat saving the Vedas by consuming fish from Vedic river Saraswati became popular and the Brahmins too justified consumption of fish […]

The Menezes Braganza house is located at the Chandor village in Goa.It is known to be more than 350 years old and is situated near the church square in Chandor. This mansion is the most exquisite heritage house in Goa and also has a Portuguese style facade. It is a museum of chandeliers, paintings, porcelain, crystal and other antique items. Luis Menezes Braganza was a luminary. He used the power of his pen to spark off the anti-colonialist movement in Goa and was referred by people as “the Tilak of Goa”. Luis Menezes Braganza along with another reputed Goan writer, Professor Messias Gomes, established the first Portuguese language daily in Goa. Rare porcelain from Macao brought by the English and Dutch East India Companies beautifies the walls, and two thick porcelain vases that belonged to St. Francis Xavier are kept on the table in the dining room. The floors change from room to room: the visitors’ salon has Portuguese tiles, the library Flemish wood, and the ballroom Italian marble. There are crystal chandeliers from Belgium that illuminate the ballroom when lighted up. The ballroom is fashioned after Louis XIV’s Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles and a set […]