Fish plays an important part in the diet of goan people along with rice and coconut. Goans eat fish at least 6 days a week and that one remaining day i.e. mostly Monday is left free for religious reasons and many a times to get the satisfaction of detoxifying oneself off meat…by eating pure veg.
But come Tuesday and you will see goans at the fish market even before the first fisherwoman arrives there heavily laden with the freshest fish one can ever find.
The scene at the market is worth a dekho….. with people bargaining the fish sellers arguing, and everyone trying to get their hands on the best of the best , and after the buy you will see their faces aglow with anticipation thinking of the afternoon hot meal of rice ,fried fish , fish curry , dry vegetable and sol kadi( a type of appetizer).
Here I give you a recipe of banga or mackeral fish curry which is called bangda hooman in our goan lanquage.
BANGDA HOOMAN: mackeral fish curry
INGREDIENTS
1 cup fresh grated coconut, 3 bedgi chillies which are red and hot , one inch ginger piece, haldi powder ½ tsp, chilli powder if required 1 tsp , a small ball tamrind , salt. A berry called “teffal”
which is added at the end to give flavour to the dish. And off course the fish ie 3 mackerals washed , cleaned and cut into convenient pieces.
METHOD:
Grind together coconut , chilies, turmeric powder, tamarind and ginger.
Put it in a pan and dilute it with water till the required consistency.
Add salt , crushed teffal fruit and cook till mixture boils.
Add the mackeral pieces and cook till the fish is cooked.
Check if too hot you can add more tamarind juice.
I have a picture of the bangda hooman being made on the gas stove you can see it spluttering around the vessel as it was boiling when I clicked the snap the colour should be this red for it to look appetizing. I hav a snap of the teffal too so pls check it out.
