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KONKANS COASTAL KITCHEN

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 | Pioneer

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After appearing in films like Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin Tara Deshpande moved to the US, where she began a second career as a caterer and cookery show host. She talks to Shana Maria Verghis about her book on food from Indias western sealine. It revisits her roots as a Goud Saraswat We were supposed to be talking to Tara Deshpande in Finland, but what do you know. The husky voice at the other end of the line gives a broad, deep, chuckle. We couldnt resist the opportunity to catch a ferry to Estonia which is nearby! There was a time when Deshpande was a face on the Bollywood circuit, acting in films like Bombay Boys and Style. But after she married an American chap, shifting between US and Mumbai got hectic. So she chucked one job and took a new one. Some people were looking for a person who could do Indian cooking. It wasnt Mumbai where you dont have to go and find people to socialise with. So I took the chance and soon began teaching cooking. I also started a catering business which did Indian and American food for state conferences and American weddings. Tara just published an excellent book on Konkani food called A Sense for Spice (Westland). It covers that segment in detail, including history and geography of the people and the region. And what binds them together. From ingredients (like breadfruit and fish) to spices (like stoneflower). Deshpandes own family are a sub-group off the Saraswat community, whose cooking connects to branches among Goas Konkanis, Belgaums Kannada speakers, Malayalee Saraswats in Kerala, Mumbaikars and Punekars, through migrations. Which is roughly the length and breadth of land this book covers. As well as Karwaris, Kolis, Malwanis, Tuleris and Warlis. Among them cooking styles get subdivided among say, Goan Hindus or Konkani Jews (Bene Israelis, who like Hindus dont mix meat with milk and use coconut milk). Kitchens of the Konkan are also influenced by outsiders like Portuguese, (who brought potatoes, called batata in Maratha), traders from Persia, Sumeria with coffee and dry fruits. Greeks with saffron and fenugreek. Tara took three years researching A Sense for Spice. She says she was inspired after going through her grandmothers cookbooks which were, falling apart but holding a treasure trove of recipes. I thought about

getting them translated, then I realised there was no Konkan food anthology or glossary. As she wrote it, she remembered a book she admired called My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichiaporia King, about Parsi cuisine. According to her introduction a curry is not just a curry for Konkan people. There are at least six ways of making one. Dry (sukke), wet (ole). There is rassa (gravy with yoghurt of coconut). There is kadi, referring to main courses like fish kadi or sol kadi, a coconut drink. There is ambat (sour), there is usal (stir-fried veg). There is patal (thin gravy). Breads are called polis and lentil curries amti while veggies are described as bhaji. Coconut flavours most of the meals and are pan-roasted or deep fried. And its common to wrap food in leaves shrimp in taro leaves, sweet rice pancakes in turmeric leaves. The book is a collection of extremely simple older recipes along with more recent easy-to-make ones, so they would be accessible to someone like my American mom-in-law, shared Tara. Somewhere Deshpande says the dosa originated in the Konkan region. I regret putting that in. Its setting myself up for a war, with people asking, Are you trying to appropriate it? Its because of the words etymology. Poli is bread (from the Sanskrit pole), and one version of poli is like dosa. Ive found mentions in a text predating dosa. In Karnataka if you say pole, youll get dosa.