The scorching summer heat is driving many to the beach, and Goa, where I am from, is a favourite. But what tourists don’t realise is that this is also the season when the coastal state is brimming with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Farmers’ markets abound, selling produce, and products like juices, wines, vinegars, jams and candy. One of the highlights is the mangoes — Goa boasts more than 40 varieties — along with jackfruit and kokum (the berries, used as a souring agent, also go into the summer drink, sol kadi). “All our produce is organic and sourced locally. We even select mangoes by visiting farms and checking that they are not ripened artificially,” says Chaira Viegas, who hosted the recent Goa Farmers Market in Margao (the next edition will be in September), it had sold local honey, cold pressed coconut oil, home made Goan sweets and pickles.
If you missed the Margao market, head to the Ambeachem (Mango) Fest, on May 14 at Nestor’s Farm, Valpoi. “You can enjoy Goan food with mango curry, walk among the groves and learn how to make mango grafts,” says Marius Fernandes, the organiser.
Before the rains
As a coastal state with a four-month monsoon season (starting in June), this is the time to stock up. The weekly Friday market at Mapusa is popular among locals, with its varieties of tamarind, whole spices and chillies — the most important ingredient of the Goan fish curry. “I used to regularly visit the Mapusa market with my grandmother,” says photographer and author of Markets of Goa, Assavri Kulkarni, who buys rare products like kokum butter (a healthy substitute for oil) here.
At the Mapusa Friday market
Summer is also a time for feasts and fairs. “In Panjim, the Feast of Ascension of Jesus is held on Sunday, the 40th day after Easter. And many things required for the monsoon months are available at the fair,” says writer Maria de Lourdes Bravo da Costa Rodrigues. The biggest fair for provisions, however, is held in Margao, during the Feast of the Holy Spirit. Usually held 50 days after Easter (on June 9 this year), it is known for its lentils, sausages, condiments, and wide variety of dry fish like mackerel, prawns, and Bombay duck. It is also the place for spicy balchao and rechado masala.
Another highlight is the annual Vasant Puja, held in the southern taluk of Canacona. “The meal [served] celebrates the diversity of food available at this time of the year. It comprises fruits like mango, jackfruit and pineapple, served with boiled grams. You wash it all down with a refreshing drink called panak, made with lime or mango juice, jaggery and pepper. It is quite the crowd puller,” says Om Prabhugaonkar, a local.
Working up an appetite
The summer season has its special dishes. Mangoes are used in pickles, jams and sasav — a “sweet-sour dish made from coconut, jaggery and ghotta (raw wild mangoes),” says caterer Anjana Amonkar. “There’s also a gravy dish made from ghotta called uddamethi,” she adds. Tender jackfruit is another favourite. “We make a bhaji (vegetable), with dried shrimps for added taste. We also make a chutney, sushel, flavoured with charcoal. Its seeds are stored and added to leafy vegetables,” she says.
My list will be incomplete without the mention of mango leather, or mango saath, where the pulp is sun-dried, layer by layer. A similar recipe is prepared using jackfruit pulp. And finally, there are the chips. Besides jackfruit, tubers like sweet potatoes (locally known as kanga) are deep-fried. “My favourite is mana, sweet potato chips fried in coconut oil. It is the best rainy day snack,” concludes Kulkarni.