Guisado, Apa
de Camrao…how many of these preparations do we find in restaurants today?
Sodanch na…literally translated means ‘not every day’. And therein lays the
story. But before that let’s hark back on a preparation – Empadao de ostras. It
is not a preparation available every day, but the pronunciation does have a
romantic twist and so was the tryst with the ladies of the Almeida clan – Cidalia
nee Almeida Bodade and her aunt Aplonia Almeida now settled down in Lisbon (Portugal).
And what was special about this occasion was daughter in law Dipshika’s visit
with son Karan Jaime…. This was going to be a tasting to remember.
Besides
restaurants, how many homes prepare this dish? Granted it takes over an hour to
prepare and a lot of effort right from cleaning the oysters to creating the
potato mash. Did Karan ever taste this preparation? He nods, ‘in my
grandmother’s home in Margao,’ says he. Cidalia adds ‘this recipe is from my
grandmothers kitchens.’ Now while we had 3 generations seated in the hall, this
dish would have been made perhaps a hundred years back. And the dish had to be
baked. How? There was no electricity during that time. So with a ‘then and now’
the subject of the Empadao de ostras was discussed in detail. ‘The oysters were
much bigger then,’ Cidalia says, ‘and would be cut in half. Moreover the onions
used were the ones which would be hanging from the rafters on a bamboo stick…the
empadao’s were baked in a double kundli. The dish was kept in the one over the fire
while another kundli was put on top with burning coconut husk (sonnas) to
provide the heat from above.’ ‘Baking
was only done to brown the dish,’ adds Aplonia, ‘as most of the cooking is done
before.’
So would
this dish be different from the original preparation brought in by the
Portuguese? ‘A few ingredients added can change it a bit,’ she says, ‘but the
preparation is nearly the same.’ Looking at the list of ingredients one can
marvel how turmeric and tomato ketchup were introduced in the recipe. ‘In the
past tomatoes were used, but tomatoes would tend to get rancid over a period of
time as there was no refrigeration so ketchup was found to be a great
substitute. One must also take care to cut the onions fine,’ she cautions.
As the
tasting of the empadao de ostras commenced…the creamy tomato mash encasing the
spiced oyster filling below, we are informed that a similar preparation
Bacalhau Comnatas made of Bacalhau(salted cod fish) and fresh cream also graced
the tables. Aplonia confesses that there was a time when she did not have
Bacalhau with her and she had promised to prepare the dish for some friend. ‘I
found dried Pilo (shark) in Karwar,’ she chuckles, ‘and I made the dish. The
tastes are quite similar and unless you taste the actual bacalhau it is hard to
tell the difference.’ Yes today’s Gen next will find it difficult to tell the
difference when it comes to these preparations…sadly not being prepared everyday
in many homes. The Arroz Doce(sweetened rice)
made for weddings, the Caldeirada (a sort of fish stew), Fofos de Peixe
(crumb fried parcels with fish filling), Apa de Camarao (a spiced prawn filling
rice cake)…those were the days of a romantic culinary interlude of the West and
the East. Sodanch na….but there is another story to tell. Aplonia states that
in the days gone by, the Sannas were always a festive preparation. Ever wonder
how it got its name? Apparently the locals would say ‘Sodanch na’ (not
available everyday) about the dish which got abbreviated overtime to Sanna.
1 comment:
Like that first picture.
The anticipation on four faces :-)
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