More than 400 years under the Portuguese rule, even the Goan cuisine was influenced by it and obviously for good, you’d know once it hits your taste buds! The fusion of Konkani and Portuguese cooking is just heavenly.

So let’s get familiar with the Menu: Goan Style.

There are 3 main varieties of bread; the soft and chewy pao (cube), the crisp ‘undo’ (round) and the ‘poie’ (whole wheat pockets) and the unique one known as ‘katricho pao’ (scissor cut bread), where the dough is shaped with scissors.

Then there is the kaknam (bangles), rings of crusty bread, so called because they tinkle like glass bangles when fresh out of the oven. Special Treats such as ‘racheiado’, ‘caldeirada’ and ‘cabidela’ reflect the legacy of the state’s colonial heritage. Caldeirada is a mildly flavoured meal in which fish or prawns are cooked in a kind of stew with vegetables, and often savoured with wine.

Racheiado is a delicious preparation in which usually a mackerel or Pomfret fish is cut in the centre and stuffed with spicy red sauce and cooked.

Among the most famous Goan dishes is ‘Ambot Tik’, a slightly sour curry dish which can be prepared with either fish or meat, suitably a fish.‘Sorpotel’ steps in next, prepared from pork, liver, heart and kidney, all of which are diced and cooked in a thick and spicy sauce flavoured with Feni.

Chorizos are spicy pork sausages, which owe more than a passing debt to the Portuguese culinary traditions. ‘Xacuti’, yet another exotic delish would be. It is a traditional way of preparing meat, usually chicken, by cooking it in coconut milk and adding coconut gratings and a variety of spices.

Keeping the best at the last our fish curry rice plate that youngsters so eagerly rush to have and is a staple diet followed by most Goans. These are just a few of the Goa’s exquisite treats as the list could go on.

Goans cannot do without the much-needed booze. ‘feni’ is a drink which deserves much attention here. There are two ways to make this drink. Coconut or palm feni is made from the sap drawn from the severed shoots of a coconut tree. In Goa this is known as toddy. It is available year round. Cashew feni can only be made during the cashew season in late march and early April. It’s said in Goa that “you don’t realise how strong it is until you wake up later.”

After the main course, it is but customary to move onto dessert. Goa’s most famous confectionery is Bebinca, a wonderful blend made from layer upon layer of coconut pancakes. ‘Dodol’ is another famous Goan sweet, traditionally eaten during Christmas and made with rice flour, coconut milk, jaggery and cashew nuts. ‘Doce’, made with chickpeas and coconut is another favourite, a tradition that it be made for every Christian wedding.

By now we hope your stomach’s groaning with hunger, the delectable cuisine is sure to satisfy all those food and booze aficionados.

Think Goa…Go Goa!!!