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Manali
Nestling in the heart of the majestic Himalayas is the famous winter honeymoon hideaway, Manali. know more |
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| Travelers Reviews |
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Food at the Flea Market
Cherry Divecha
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No matter how desperate it may seem, I have still to find a way to keep away from a tempting meal, even if it means inviting myself over to a just-met-a-minute-ago acquaintance’s place. Good food, cooked with heart and soul, gets me moving. And how!
My foray into cooking is an ancient story. I started off by licking the mix of a cake tin when I was three, moved to checking the freshness of an egg by immersing it in our bathtub when I was five, at nine I cooked my first meal—potato sabji and paratha for my dad…The love for hot stuff and aromas grew. Now I have a restaurant and travel to new places to please my growing appetite, an awfully large one for awesome food.
This trip through the flea market of Goa in search for newer flavours and lip licking bites is a gastronomic delight.
Wednesday is time to head to Anjuna and the flea market, a cackling symphony of a myriad of languages, colours, faces, animals, aromas and flavours. Arrive in time for when the German bakery has just brought out its Rye bread. Let the guy at the counter coat it with some mustard, slap a couple of salamis on it, top it with greens and sauces of your choice and you have a meal in a roll. I suggest you grab a bite as soon as you get here, good food vanishes even before you say the word go and you need to really walk around the area to check the stuff out. For those with a sweet tooth, the brownies here are worth digging into, though you might get a measly small piece for the money you need to shell out.
My personal favourite here is the pizza—thick crust, home baked, coated with nothing more than tomato and onion paste and loads of goat cheese. And believe it or not the lady who sells these pizzas pairs them up with a yoghurt dip, which a lot of people pour liberally all over the face of the pizza. It’s great to try it out if you are into experimental food.
As I walk along the market, haggling for lower prices on silver wear and deep necked, halter necked, flimsy material tops, I come across the familiar aroma of chouricos (goan sausages). Since my move to Goa, this is something I just can’t resist. There’s something special about it and its flavour, it’s ummmm… Ask aunty to give you your chouris with poi (Goan brown bread). For those prone to heartbun and acidity, a note of sympathy, you may just need to skip this delicious local burger or keep anti-acidity pills handy. Down the chouricos with a beer or a fresh lime soda, and you can burp away to pleasure all night long.
My friend Jovis, the digeredoo man, has just set up shop and invites us over to blow some horn with him. I’ve still got a mouthful, having bought some locally made bebinca (Goa’s local sweet meat, the recipe of which I will happily share with you), but my hubby joins Jovis to make some pleasant music. You know, that’s something about Goa that really intrigues me—you make friends, and good ones at that, at the drop of a hat. Like Jovis! We met at the Saturday night bazaar where I go especially for the beef sandwiches and vegetarian Greek rolls and of course the French tarts, the sweet edible kinds!
This night market is another must go for food lovers. It starts at 4 pm. Those who reach early get the best of the kitchen. I’m too lazy to race ahead of my susegado (afternoon nap time) and arrive in time to have the last bite. Sumptuous one at that. While I make out my Greek rolls complete with feta cheese, hummus, vegetable kebabs, lettuce and I don’t know what else but it’s all yummy stuff, my hubby goes over to Mr Walrus for his beef and chicken sandwiches. Mr. Walrus, is this big burly guy with a moustache shaped such that it makes him seem like the fellow from the sea. I’m not very sure if he knows it or not, but most of Goa refers to him as Mr. Walrus! He sells his sandwiches only at the market and are they a hit! For the last five years in succession, his is the first stall to sell out completely. I’m not very sure what he adds to the meat when he grills it, but the aromas and texture and colour of his cooked meats is something one must learn more about.
Yes, you do get your chicken tikkas and tandoori chicken’s and Indianised chicken shwarmas here, but there’s nothing to beat the wood-oven baked pizzas that come out flat and crisp at the base and well browned and red and wet on top with cheese just as gooey as it can get. Bite into it and taste the lovely aromas of charred wood… this is what good memories are made of.
The Saturday market itself is choc-a-block with aromas, some pleasant, others not too friendly. Faces, some spaced out and others in animated conversations. People dressed in the best of wares to what I wouldn’t even wear to bed. And gizmos, smokes, artifacts, ceramics, shoes, clothes, lifestyle goods, you name it and you can buy it here, only the prices are always upwardly mobile.
Stay here till late and the market comes alive with some foot tapping music and brilliant fashion shows like the one time I caught the work of an Iranian fashion designer who had married good old Indian brocade with prints and lace to create outlandish outfits. And the models who showcased the stuff were completely brilliant. They could give any of our models a run for their money, the attitude, the body language, the chemistry on stage, left me open mouthed, only this time it wasn’t for food!
It’s close to 2 pm and time to leave, but not before I have one last bite, at the momo corner. Veg momos is all that is left. It’s a tough decision for me, a complete carnivore, as you must have guessed by now. Should I dig my pearly whites into greens?
The food trail can go on, forever and ever, but it’s time to give my tummy a break now. Hope you’ve come an inch closer to being a lover of good food. Next time we go fishing.
Bebinca
100g maida (white flour)
10 egg yolks
500g sugar
1cup coconut milk (thick)
1/4 nutmeg (powdered)
200g ghee (hydrogenated oil)
Take the coconut milk, mix it with the maida, sugar and egg yolks. Stir thoroughly till the sugar has dissolved, add nutmeg powder and keep aside. Heat a little ghee in a pan and pour in one cup of batter. Cook till brown. Add another spoonful of ghee and another cup of batter. Cook and repeat this till all the batter is used up. Turn the bebinca upside down and cool before serving.
Note: Cooking of bebinca is done over a slow fire.
Having dabbling in journalism, media relations, dot.com and even radio, Cherry Divecha now runs a successful only-grills restaurant in
Goa
Skie Grille. She continues to write on food and travel, her first loves.
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