Cidade de Goa
Revisiting Goa’s rich culinary past, Cidade de Goa pays homage to one of the state’s oldest cuisines
Cidade de Goa gives Saraswat cuisine a much deserved honour by hosting a special festival just to celebrate this delectable fare. From September 7 to 16, Café Azul revisited the forgotten recipes of yore – the traditional recipes from our ancestor’s kitchens, that employs the freshest of produce and incomplete without a generous measure of the ingredient of love.
Saraswat cuisine exemplifies unique flavours and makes use of different vegetables and fruits all available within the region. This distinctive style of cooking uses fresh vegetables and fruits, intertwined with age-old spice mixtures for its distinctive flavour. Predominantly vegetarian, Saraswat cuisine is the cuisine of Saraswat Brahmins from the Konkan region alongside India’s western coast. Almost every dish sees the use of coconuts, grated and blended with freshly ground spices. Then comes the fresh tamarind and roasted dried chilli which lends a rich flavour and aroma to the dish. To combat the spice, the cuisine offers a scrumptious treat at the end of the meal with a coconut-infused sweet which adds a creamy texture to it. The Goan Saraswat cuisine values simplicity above anything else, and seamlessly unifies elements that are easily available in the locality with traditional homemade masalas.
Rice, coconut, fresh exotic local vegetables and spices are some of the key ingredients in this distinctive style of cooking. This delectable cuisine is a blend of sour and sweet, tamarind and kokum, with jaggery.
Showcasing the range and depth of the pesco-vegetarian cuisine of the Saraswat Brahmins of the Konkan region, the Cidade kitchens exuded heavenly aromas brought about by the intermingling of asefoetida, fenugreek, curry leaves, mustard and a variety of spices.
Cidade’s master chefs were successful in transporting the senses of their guests back in time filling them with a sense of nostalgia as they devoured the traditional Saraswat vegetarian dishes
