Goa’s
longest season
is about to
crack open.
In a couple
of weeks or
three the first
rains will
speed through villages and small towns, in
symphony with the wind whistling through
trees, filling up springs and cattle and
bathing the village geese and cattle. In my
Loutolim, Pinky the bull (and yet again
I say this, the biggest bull in Loutolim is
indeed called Pinky) and Albertina the dog,
Pinky’s companion-named after its owner,
Custom officer Albert- will enjoy the rains,
occasionally admonished by the geese next
door who want their pathways clear when
they go for their catwalk in the rain. And
then the food journeys will begin. Small
places across Goa which are just right when
the rain pours on the corrugated roofs, as
the platefuls arrive.
It is these journeys once undertaken and
written in this column of wanderings that
one must revisit. Places where I belong,
places that make our monsoons. There
will be more, there will be much more to
go, eat and write. As we prepare, allow the
wanderer to take you back to such places
Choris Pao on the Goa Velha Aggasaim
highway
This road side choris pao man who gets
freshly made sausages in long strings and
sells them by the way side in Aggasaim.
An enemy of the choestrol watchers club
of Goa and its lifetime president- my other
half, the sausage man does have plenty
of friends who actually stop their cars in
pouring rain to pick up his fresh sausages.
Very close to the Church on the left, if you
are coming from Goa Velha towards the
Zuari next to a sweet shop called Laxmi
sweet mart. Somehow his sausages taste
better in the monsoons.
Liver pate &medallions in Patnem
Jodie – a trained master chef, cooks
absolute British classics from quiches and
tarts to apple and pear crumbles which taste
even better in the rain. Or they used to. We
do not know if they are still there in Patnem
but it’s worth the drive just to check them
out in their restaurant Ourem 88. Her
classics are liver pate and beef medallions
in a pastry. Evenings with her and her
partner Bret with the background score of
the monsoon rain and the sea yonder is a
surreal experience.
When Tibet met Goa
Further north and yet down south, a
Goan-Tibetan couple had merged their food
as they merged their cultures and set up
Tibchis, in the heart of the Varca madness.
With a tiatrist next door, (Agnelo de varca)
voluble activists all around and every issue
concerning Goa, having an opinion maker
within whispering distance, Tibchi became
a great hangout. It is- or was- a story of
Pooja Lama, a Nepali girl from Katmandu,
and amchoGarry Gomes. They met in Delhi
and decided to move to Goa. Tibchi is their
creation and this is where our choris meets
the Tibetan momo, quite literally
This is where we were introduced to a
dish called Shabhaklep. It’s a flour crust,
hard on the sides like a samosa with a nice
cavity filed with the spiciest Goan sausage.
The sausage can be changed to chicken,
pork sausage, beef or even spinach and
potato. And on many evenings, villagers
had Tigmo, steamed bread with tea and of
course Dimums and Pillmini which actually
is a Russian style momo.
Kalvam bhaji at 3 am
On wet monsoon nights, when driving
back from party in the North, we often
get that 3 am hunger pang. The safe bet
is to cut to Mapusa and not Panjim and
head straight to the bus stand where Ajit
Waigankar’s day has already begun, serving
the first plates of kalvam bhajji (oyster
curry) from his Ajit tea stall. Country
chicken Xacuti and other comfort food
like bhaji puri can accompany the kalvam
bhaji to complete this meal which could be
dinner or breakfast.
