A coconuty spread

If you are ever in Malwan, the calendar might serve as an indicator as to what you will find in the menu.

If it is Monday, you’d be served light, vegetarian food. On Tuesdays, there’d be whole grains. You might get served rice with boiled black gram, chickpeas or any dicot from the bean family. There’s fish on Wednesdays. Thursdays are again vegetarian. Saturday, there’s more fish. Sundays are for chicken and mutton. All this is cooked fresh on wood fire after the women of the family have bathed and performed a puja for the tulsi plant in the courtyard.

Malwani cuisine originated in the village of Malwan in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra,  where Maratha leader Shivaji built a fort. Today, the 300-km Konkan stretch between Sawantwadi and Ratnagiri is home to the traditional Malwani cuisine. “Do not mistake Malwani with Goan or Maharastrian cuisine,” says Chef Prashant Vinayak Kasar, throwing a handful of freshly-grated coconut into a dish of diced pumpkin. I was in the kitchen of Sol de Goa, a boutique hotel, to learn the basics of Malwani food.

There is a predominance of fish, rice and coconut in Malwani, Goan and Maharastrian cuisines, but Malwani cuisine has very distinct flavours. Medium-spicy is the basic tenet. Unlike small, green Goan chillies, the Malwani chillies are long and red. Never chop the chillies, a slit is better. Avoid the knife, hand break the long beans – they taste better that way.

If you are using a medium-sized coconut, take eight to 10 dry, red chillies. Do not drown the vegetables in water. Let them cook in their own juice. If water has to be added, do not pour it. Instead, sprinkle some with your hand. Know the difference between curry paste made of freshly-grated coconut and a paste made of roasted grated coconut. You cannot exchange one for the other.

Traditional Malwani fare

Chef Prashant knows all about Malwani cuisine. Having grown up in the region, he still remembers the bhakri (chapati made of rice powder) that he had with tea for breakfast. There was more than one kind of bhakri every day. Different versions included ones with onion or coriander served with coconut chutney. A vegetarian lunch included liquid-y toor dal, sautéed red leaves, papad, pickle, rice, vegetable with dry gravy. All loaded with coconut. Most cooked with very little or no oil. Ghee was rarely used as a cooking medium. Neither was coconut oil to fend off an overdose of coconut flavours (except in fish fry). No wheat chapatis.

Lunch rarely concluded with dessert. The dinner in a Malwan home is a near-repetition of lunch, except that ragi roti (finger millet) becomes a substitute for rice for the elderly and the diabetic.

Congee (overcooked starchy rice) was always the meal in between breakfast and lunch. Flowers are an essential part of Malwani cuisine. Fresh flowers are added to vegetable curry and dal or fried as fritters. Flowers of pumpkin, ridge gourd and drumsticks are common lunch fritter accompaniments.
Festive fare

The Malwani festival food is also very specific. Puranpoli is a mandatory for Holi; patoleo (rice powder, grated coconut, jaggery steamed in turmeric leaves) for Nagpanchami; modak made of parboiled rice for Ganesh Chaturthi; uttappam for Sankranti. On Diwali, it is a poha (pounded rice) feast. “ Most homes will make at least 10-12 different poha dishes,” Chef Prashant elaborates. Poha made with curry leaves. Brown poha made of parboiled rice. Poha soaked in milk and mixed with jaggery and coconut. Poha with a dash of lemon juice. The poha feast for Diwali is not random – in the Konkan belt, this is the time of wheat harvesting. Hence, the buffet.

Nothing symbolises Malwani cuisine more than the sol kadi, a digestive drink that is often served with a Malwani thali. The coconut sol kadi is more common but there is a also a kokum sol kadi which has no coconut in it. Of course, there is a lot of sea food, including shark. As Chef Prashant lays a big Malwani thali in Sol de Goa’s restaurant, I nod in agreement. He was right. Malwani food resembles Goan and Maharastrian cuisine, but its flavours are very distinct. Very special.

Surmai curry
(King fish curry)
Ingredients

2-3 pieces of surmai fish
6-8 dry red chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 cup freshly grated coconut
1-2 pieces kokum
1 tsp garlic paste
Salt (to taste)

Method

Make the gravy by grinding all the ingredients except the surmai, kokum and salt. The paste should be fine in texture. Heat a pan and add the paste. Add water as required and cook. Add fish pieces, kokum, salt and cook for 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

Recipe courtesy: Chef Prashant Vinayak Kasar, Hotel Sol de Goa, Goa.

Sol kadi

Ingredients

6 petals of kokum

1 grated wet coconut
1 cup hot water
2 pods garlic
2 chillies
A few coriander leaves

(for garnish)

Method

Soak the kokum petals in hot water for 10 minutes. Grind the grated coconut, garlic and chillies together with little water till it blends well. Strain. Discard the kokum from the water. Add the coconut milk mixture into the kokum water. Mix well. Season with salt. Garnish with coriander and serve chilled