Relish Fiery Goan Food at its Best.
Goan cuisine consists of regional foods popular in Goa, located along India’s West Coast along the Arabian Sea. Seafood, coconut milk, rice, and local spices are the main ingredients used in Goan food. The area is located in a tropical climate, which means that spices and flavours are intense. Goans tend to be hearty meat and fish eaters and Goan food is considered incomplete without fish and seafood in general.
Goan cuisine is influenced by its Hindu origins, four hundred years of Portuguese colonialism, and modern techniques. The state is frequently visited by tourists for its beaches and historic sites, so its food has an international aspect as well.
Goan cuisine is mostly seafood-based; the staple foods are rice and fish. Kingfish is the most common delicacy. Others include pomfret, shark, tuna, and mackerel. Among the shellfish are crabs, prawns, tiger prawns, lobster, squid, and mussels. The food of Goan Christians is influenced by the Portuguese. The quintessential Goan lunch is ‘fish curry- rice’: fried mackerel steeped in coconut, tamarind and chilli sauce.
Below is a list of authentic Goan dishes worth sampling:
- Balchao – A curry based on a traditional sauce from Macao, made from shrimp, aguardente, laurel, lemon, and chilli
- Feijoada – A stew brought by the Portuguese
- Sorpotel – A Goan meat, liver, tongue, and blood curry that is made from pork and is very spicy; it is eaten with sannas or pão bread
- Xacuti – Spicy Goan chicken or meat curry cooked in a roasted red coconut sauce
- Vindaloo – A spicy curry where the name is derived from the Portuguese term for a garlic and vinegar/wine marinade
- Bebinca – A pudding traditionally eaten at Christmas
- Arroz doce – A Portuguese derivative of kheer (sweetened rice)
Authentic Goan food can be hard to find in the tourist areas, but hunt around and you’ll be rewarded with your best souvenir: memories of a stellar vindaloo or xacuti.
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