Kokum Curry

Review and recommendations

It is only recently that restaurants in Goa have been serving up Hindu Saraswat cuisine. Across India and within Goa, Goan food for the tourist has often been synonymous with Catholic Goan food. Quite distinct from Catholic cuisine, Saraswat food tells the story of the 96 Saraswat Brahmin families that migrated to Goa centuries ago. According to myth, this community began to include fish in their diet as the Saraswati River dried out. Not permitted to farm, they were allowed to re-categorize certain seafood as sea vegetables. These pescatarian brahmins divide seafood into vegetarian and non-vegetarian and have a strict repertoire of spices they draw upon to create flavour. Tamarind, teffla (a type of Sichuan pepper), kokum, fresh coconut, coconut oil, sambar masala, ambade (Indian hog plum) and jaggery are used in recipes that vary seasonally. Saraswat recipes do not use vinegar. All about balance, the central ingredient in the dish is always allowed to shine; recipes are never overpowering or rich.

At Kokum Curry in Candolim, the ambience is clean and modern with a full bar. Sticking to traditional techniques, they specialise in thalis for both lunch and dinner. Dishes such as kanyachi bhakri (a crispy rice pancake with onions and spices), bangddeachi uddamethi (mackerel curry with an urad dal and fenugreek scent), sungtacho/tisreancho pulao (a coconut-based pulao with either prawns or clams), ansaaachi karamm (pineapple chunks cooked with grated coconut, jaggery, chilli and mustard seeds), bharillyo kullyo (stuffed crab and mutton sukke will introduce you to a whole other side of Goan food. Six different kinds of kokum curries, numerous unusual desserts, and kokum-based mocktails are other rare specialties offered up here.