IT'S THE SEASON OF SANKRANTI  

DON’T KNOW if it means anything in Goa or not but up north itR;s the season of maker sankranti and down south it’s the season of pongal. The auspicious day of makar sankranti generally falls on January 14 and this is when the sun turns northwards or rather the earth turns on its journey closer to the sun so that  the days get warmer…in Hindu lore and mythology Jan.14 is said to be an auspicious day when one should go take a dip in the Ganga or its tributaries, or make a pilgrimage to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal where the mighty Ganga meets the sea…it always bothers me that although we revere our rivers and water bodies in Hindu tradition all we’ve done in modern India is reduced them to limping, dry, rubble or filth-filled gutters and  junkyards. No wonder the tide is turning and Mother Earth is increasingly in a mood to give us a few richly deserved slaps all around. If you’re asking me we’re a civilization of hypocrites who have mastered the fine art of hypocrisy. But no moral lectures here this week! All I want to say is that I wish we would find some moral courage to acknowledge a few home truths and get down to the business of redressing the wrongs we engage in day in and day out wittingly and unwittingly…and restore to our lifestyle a certain honest innocence, joy and kindness which used to be there with the older generation (which saw more difficult times). Newspaper headlines have been saying it’s going to be a bitter sankranti or pongal for all those folk grieving in the aftermath of the tsunami tragedy. I’m hoping all that aid going their way includes a couple of til ladoos for the children…for til ladoos and the savoury concoction of pongal-avial or sweet sakkarapongal are the traditional treats of maker sankranti/pongal.

If you know some of the legendary lore of Hinduism perhaps you’ll remember that sankranti commemorates a Puranic legend to do with the powerful sage Kapil. Sage Kapil had in a fit of anger burned to ashes the 60,000 sons of the King Sagara of Ayodhya. Subsequently during makar sankranti the sons were restored to life but when they finally died they had to ascend heaven courtesy the river goddess Ganga which flowed over their ashes…hey, never apply logic to mythology! It rarely makes sense in isolation. When seen in totality there’s an evergreen moral charm….it is also said that the grand old man Bhishma Pitamaha kept death at bay on his couch of arrows (post-Mahabharat war) till the auspicious day of sankranti and with it the onset of spring time…then he closed his eyes forever. Whatever the legends the people of the sub-continent celebrate the end of the winter cold and look forward to the warmth of the sun as they look to their fields for better harvests…in Assam they make bonfires and feast on goodies,  in Punjab the celebration of Lohri sees revri and gajak i.e. jaggery and sesame seed crunchies. Gajak comes in such fine gossamer textures…it’s winter-time food. The sesame seed and jaggery combo is in tradition the most nutritiously ideal combo for the cold season.

TIL LADOOS

I CONFESS to a soft corner for til ladoos (round) or better still tal-sankri (squares) which my mother dear makes to perfection…not tooth-breakingly hard but softly crunchy and one of my  seventh-heaven delights. You can’t find them for love or for money in the marketplace but try looking for them  at the local women’s co-operative outlets…good-luck. One may make them at home but with the slightest goof-up the ladoos or tal-sankri can turn too hard for any edible pleasure. One is supposed to melt the jaggery just so (no boiling) and then stir in the til seeds, quickly shape into balls or squares. For extra softness I think some folk add a little milk into the jaggery melt. Don’t ask me why but winter-times I also pine for wholesome Punjabi makki-di-roti and sarson da saag (a rich veggie of mustard greens and sour spinach)…

Should one eat with the seasons? Of course, place, climate and season  has always determined eating and drinking habits the world over. It’s only with globalization and the large-scale spawning of urban, industrial, mod con-based living, that we’ve become so grossly homogenous in our drinking and eating habits, increasingly drinking and eating out of cans, tetrapacks, packets and more packets. More expensive too.  Make the connections, my friends and see where all this is leading us… down a path of no return???  

MANGO IN BLOOM

I’VE BEEN loafing around Margao looking at garden restaurants with mango trees in bloom. Mango trees do bloom early in Goa or is it only the mankurad which blooms the first??? Where do you look for a garden restaurant in the heart of Margao. I dare say it is a more crowded town than Panaji but with a lot more old-world grace lingering around (and not yet plagued by Panaji’s Patto-styled development)?  Head for Lohia Maidan and if you see a few phirang tourists follow them past a narrow pathway into a garden retreat. This is Clifford Fernandes’ “Venice Garden Restaurant” (around the older “Venice Bar & Restaurant”). Hey, it’s a cool garden retreat without being fancy, no spouting fountains but a pretty well (with fish in it) as a centrepiece and all around banana, mango (four varieties), chikoo, breadfruit, bimbli trees – some of them loaded with fruit. I’ve always loved eating in the company of trees!

The garden restaurant has been around for five years and  Clifford understands his clientele. Those who want a quiet corner to drink, eat and talk. From the sound of it the menu offers the best steaks this side of Margao, they’re a speciality…check out the  Steak a la Venice (featuring wine-marinaded beef). And, of course, the foreign tourists are happy with freshly squeezed fruit juices and shakes…so am I. Given a choice I prefer fruit juice or mineral water, real mineral water (the Indian “Himalaya” or the French “Avion”). Then there’s the usual Goan food repertoire with fish curry served with boiled rice if you wish, the vindaloos are popular and so is the mackerel parra…the menu has such a pretty cover, so why is it hidden beneath an ugly jacket??? One of these days check out the Venice Garden Restaurant in Margao.

NOTE: Clifford Fernandes wanted to know what the sour fruit of the “bimbli” is called in English. Is there an English name? A little checking up in my cookbook library offers the following information: “Bimbli” is colloquial, a corruption of the more correct  bilimbi (in Portuguese), botanically it is Averrhoa bilimbi and yes, it is related to another sour fruit called star fruit or carambola (Averrhoa carambola). Both fruit have similar refreshingly waxy green colouring which turns lovely ripe green gold …the short leafy trees are native to South East Asia and the fruit is used in native cuisines requiring a sour touch. Star fruit is more popular because of its relatively higher ascorbic acid  content (bilimbi has more oxalic acid) and so turns sweetly tangy enough to be used as a table fruit or prettily sliced into in fruit salads (including the famous fruit and vegetable salad of Malaysia called  called “rojak”). But in Goa I’ve eaten the most delicious bilimbi egg curry at my friend Habiba Miranda’s home in Loutalim,  bilimbi also makes a prawn curry exotic. Goan cookbooks feature recipes for bilimbi pickles. If you have bilimbi or carambola trees for goodness sake don’t let all that fruit go waste! Do something with it.

 Back