The joy of being a chef, to me, is in the
eating, and I love it as much as I love cooking. Howerver, the repercussions of
being too joyful hit you suddenly one day, when you look in the mirror and you
are not happy with what you see. Low Carb is the way to go, to be able to look
at yourself and smile again and silence all those skinny experts on staying
skinny, once and for all. Then I realised that what that meant was that I had
to give up bread, my absolute staple and something I cannot live without.
Simply a combination of flour, water and yeast, with the application of the
right amount of heat, produces the most wonderful crispy on the outside and
fluffy on the inside baked clouds that make everything taste better. I need it
for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between.
Breads come in so many delicious varieties
from leavened to unleavened to flat to soft and fluffy to crisp and crunchy and
every one of them is irresistible. In Goa, we were lucky enough to learn the
art of baking bread in a wood fire furnace from the Portuguese and then put our
own special twist to it. Few places in
India have the ‘pao’, and wherever they do, it is because the Goons, who, like
me, could not live without it, took their bakeries with them. But we have other
varieties like the ‘Poi’, ‘Karachi’, ‘Undo’ and ‘Kankan’, and what made Goan
bread unique was the use of coconut toddy for leavening instead of yeast, a
method that died a long time back, and the way that it was delivered in a
basket on the back of a cycle accompanied by that trademark ponk ponk, which
today has been adopted by some fish suppliers.
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The ‘undo’ is the closest relation of the
crusty breads of Europe and is truly irresistible, when fresh and warm. I would
love to tear it open and spread some cold butter onto it and eat it while the
warmth just about starts melting the butter. From Goan sausages to Spanish chorizo,
from beef cutlets to omelets, this pal adds a new texture and dimension to the
combination. It is so tasty that I would use it instead of baguettes when I
made bruschetta and also toasted dices for Caesar salad. It is also amazing to
dip into gravies and sauces and soak up all the tastiest drippings and juices
from your plate.
The whole wheat ‘poi’ is hollow like a
pocket and is perfect for sandwiches and I have even used them as burger buns.
The ‘kanknam’ are super crispy ring shaped bread that get its name due to its
resemblance to bangles, perfect as a tea time snack, best eaten by dunking into
hot tea.
Now we also have artisanal and specialised
breads, made by Goans who have worked abroad and brought back different other
varieties. Right from pita, to baguettes and even bagels and croissants, it’s
all available here. We love bread in Goa and we have so much that we will never
ever have to eat cake.
