Goan Cuisine; Sorpotel, Alu Ambot Tik, Pulao, Sannas, Dodol

My sincere thanks to all of you who welcomed me back to the blog world last week, including many talented young new foodies I have met so far. It's my pleasure to be a part of this foodie community, let's keep it simple, clean and have fun sharing! :)

Note to event hosts.. if you see any dish fits your event in my blogs, do give me a nudge. I will gladly send it to you. Just that it's a bit hard for me to remember all the events and deadlines, so help me out!

This week I chose to cook few Goan dishes for my post. Goa being the smallest state in the west of India, it's a coastal area which is very popular tourist destination well known for it's beaches, churches and architecture among Indians and Panaji/Panjim as it's capital, Goan cuisine is very much influenced by Portuguese among the Christian community who are fond of pork,beef dishes and Konkan style menu among Hindus. Fish, coconut are few of the staples along with addition of Feni, Toddy, Goan Vinegar are used in much diversified cuisine of Goa. For more info about Goa, click here and here.

(I don't claim to be an expert in cooking or I don't claim that my dishes are authentic to any region in any shape or form. I just post what I cook at home, sometimes experiment by borrowing from cookbooks, bloggers or websites if I am not familiar with certain dishes, which I always link or give credit to the source. So if some of you feel that the dishes are not authentic enough, please bear with me and just enjoy the recipes! You can click on the photos to see the larger images.)

Few Goan delicacies I tried;
Pulao, Sannas, Pork Sorpotel, Potato Ambot Tik and a dessert Dodol/Dhodol:
I have visited Goa several times while I was in India but haven't eaten in Goan-Portuguese homes. I chose some of these dishes to try a Goan thali by referring to this website and few books that I have like Tarla dalal's with few changes in the recipes. Toddy or Feni is not available to me, so I skipped those.

How to make these:

Potato/Batata Ambot Tik:
'Ambot' means 'Sour' in konkani & 'Tik' means 'hot/spicy'. Combination and balance of these both makes a wonderful vegetarian or non-veg dish added to Potatoes or any other vegetable you choose or meat or seafood.
Batata Ambot Tik goes to sunshinemom of "Tonguetickers" blog's FIC-Yellow" event, Thanks for hosting S! :)

Cook 3-4 peeled potatoes until almost done, sliced into thick wedges lengthwise, drain water,cool them and keep aside. Add salt to taste. Some cilantro to garnish.
1/2 tsp tamarind paste mixed with some water.Grind these:
3 or more dried kashmiri red chillies,
1 tbsp cumin seeds,
6 peppercorns,
1/4 tsp turmeric,
4 cloves garlic,
2" ginger.

To season:
3 tbsp oil,
1 large onion, sliced thin.
To make it:
1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add onion and saute until soft. Add Tamarind juice, ground masala and fry, adding a bit of water if necessary until you see the oil on top.
2. Add potatoes, stir gently so you don't break them and 1/2 cup water if you feel it's very thick.Sprinkle Cilantro. Little bit of gravy is great. Serve with Sannas or Pulao.

Sorpotel:
Pork is used in this classic Goan dish, which is blended with various spices, Feni and vinegar has a wonderfully colorful red gravy. It's spicy, I cut down the chillies way down! Sorpotel has a Portuguese influence and often served with Sannas or rice on festival days. It tastes better after a day or two when the spices and meat get a chance to mingle.

1. Cut 2 lbs Pork shoulder into small cubes. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a deep pan, add pork cubes and stir fry until slightly browned, keep aside.
Grind these to a paste:
3 dry red chillies, 6 peppercorns, 3 cloves garlic,2" fresh ginger,2 tsp cumin seeds, 4 cloves, 2" cinnamon (Dalchini), 2-3 tbsp apple Cider vinegar (I chose this vinegar for it's fruity taste, can use any other, like Malt vinegar). Keep the paste aside.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil, add a cup of finely chopped onions, 2 green chillies until soft. Add ground masala paste, stir fry for 3 mins.
3. Add pork cubes, salt, 2 tbsp Feni (if you are using it), mix well. Add about 2-3 cups of water, boil, turn down the heat and simmer until oil shows on top, gravy is slightly thick.
you can use the pressure cooker which makes pork tender and quicker to make this dish too. Serve with rice or Sannas.

Sannas:
Now, these Sannas are look similar to our south Indian Idlis but in Goa they are made differently. It's batter is fermented with Toddy which gives it a tangy taste or you can also use 1 tsp yeast for fermetation, bit like Kerala Aapams. I don't have Toddy, so I made without it which came out fine except the taste of Toddy.

1. Soak 1 cup rice in water overnight. Drain the water, add to a blender with 1/2 cup coconut milk or grated coconut (add toddy now if you have it). Grind the rice coarsely like Rava/Semolina, likethickish idli batter.
2. Add (yeast now if you are using it and not Toddy),1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar, mix well and let it ferment for 4 hrs.
3. After 4 hrs, adjsut the salt and pour it into idli moulds and steam for 12mins just like idlis.
4. Take them out and serve. I am they are fluffy with Toddy or Yeast fermentation, for these were bit firm but great to sop up the gravy.

Pulao:
Also called Arroz Refogado, it's a simple Pulao to serve with Sorpotel, Vindaloo, Xacuti, Ambat Tik etc.You can add sausages or few veggies to make it more interesting. It's cooked in chicken stock but salted plain water will do as well or you can chicken stock cubes.

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil or butter, add few cloves, 1-2 bay leaves, few peppercorns, 2 crushed cardamom pods.
2. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric, stir and add 1 small onion,sliced. Saute until soft and slightly reddish. Add 2 garlic minced, 1" grated ginge, stir fry.
3. Add 2 cups rice, saute for a minute. Add 3 1/2 cups water (add salt)or chicken stock (skip salt). Boil first until halfway cooked and then cover and simmer on low heat.Stir to mix.
---I cook the rice first, let it cool and season it with above masala. That way, rice doesn't get soggy. If you are good at cooking rice on the stove top, go ahead and do it the traditional way.

Dodol:
Dodol is a dessert made with rice flour, coconut milk, jaggary,stirred until thick and leaves the sides of the pan like halwa and garnished with nuts.Takes a little time to make but aromatic, delicious to eat.I made a very little amount just to try.


1. Take a non-stick pan, add 2 cups of coconut milk (canned is fine), heat it on medium heat until hot.
2. Add pinch of salt, 1/2 cup or more jaggary or sugar to it, stir until it dissolves. Add few tbsps of grated fresh or sweetened coconut to it and mix well.
2. Pour in 3/4 cup rice flour little by little, kepp stirring. It becomes thick, and starts to leave the sides of pan when done.4. Pour into buttered dish.
5. Sprinkle chopped nuts like Cashews or Pistachios. When cooled, cut into shapes and serve warm or cold.

Another look of my Goan thali!!

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Check these out when you have time:
Spinach and Feta Cheese bread.
Urad dal masala vada with spicy dal dip.

Movies:
Don't miss "Gran Torino"! Clint Eastwood, as old as he is, can still hold the whole film on his shoulder alone! It's a amazing movie, loved it. I also learnt many many many "names" they call southeast Asians from this movie which I didn't know before too! :P

"Mamma Mia", and "Burn after reading" are two fun films I saw last week, rented from one of those "Red box", each film costs like $1.07 for 1 day rental. Hurray for me!! :D

"Slumdog Millionnaire" movie is based on the book "Q and A: A novel" written by an Indian author, Vikas swarup. I am planning to buy it this month.

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Here are few dishes I cooked last July from other bloggers before my kitchen was demolished. I am posting it now, one more list coming next week. Thanks for posting all these recipes, fellow foodies!

Quinoa dosa, from thetastetinkerer.
Kandi Podi, from Uma.
Mangalore chicken curry, Ranji.
Lima Beans Curry, from Medhaa.
Huli, from Ramya of Mane Adige.
Pacchi Pulusu, from Rekha.
Amaranth dal, from Anusha.
Black Eyed Peas Kurma, from Kribha.
Beans (originally made with Plantain stems) Kootu, from Srivalli.
Butter beans Subzi, from RC.
Rasam, from Sireesha.
Chole, Priti.

and now I am done! see y'all next week! :))