Traditional recipes

Fish cooked in a smooth, tangy coconut gravy coloured red with chillies and soured with kokum or tamarind, eaten with boiled rice every day across Goa.

Chicken in a rich, dark gravy of roasted coconut and many roasted spices, including poppy seeds, a dish of Goan festivals and Sunday meals.

Pork cooked in a hot, sour masala of red chillies, garlic and vinegar, a Goan Catholic dish that keeps well for days.

A spicy, vinegar-soured dish of finely diced pork and liver, cooked for Goan Catholic feasts and said to taste better each day.

Chicken marinated in a bright green paste of coriander, green chillies, garlic and spices, then pan-fried, a Goan favourite with bread or rice.

A fiery, sweet-sour pickle-like dish of prawns cooked in a red chilli and vinegar masala, which keeps for days.

Whole mackerel slit and stuffed with a hot, tangy red recheado masala, then shallow-fried, a classic of Goan homes and beach shacks.

A sour and spicy Goan curry, usually of shark, catfish or ray, made with red chillies and tamarind or kokum and no coconut.

A mild, yellow coconut-milk curry of fish or prawns, lightly spiced and soured with vinegar or tamarind, a gentle Goan Catholic dish.

Clams tossed with grated coconut, onion and spices until dry, a coastal Konkani dish cooked when clams are plentiful.

Slices of kingfish or whole small fish rubbed with chilli masala, coated in semolina and shallow-fried until crisp.

A dry, tangy relish of roasted dried shrimps or dried fish with coconut, onion and chilli, eaten as a side dish with rice and curry.

A Goan Hindu curry of mackerel in a coconut gravy flavoured with roasted urad dal and fenugreek seeds and soured with tamarind or raw mango.

A thick stew of many vegetables and lentils in a coconut and tirphal masala, cooked in Goan Hindu homes for Ganesh Chaturthi.

Dried white peas cooked in a roasted coconut and spice masala, eaten in Goa for breakfast with soft poi bread.

A thin, mildly spiced potato and onion curry with coconut, eaten with fresh Goan bread as a popular breakfast.

Red parboiled rice cooked into a soft, salty gruel, eaten with pickle, dried fish or coconut chutney as a comforting Goan meal.

A round, hollow, slightly chewy bread made with wheat flour and bran, sold each morning by Goan bakers (poders) who cycle through the villages.

Soft, spongy steamed cakes of fermented rice and coconut, traditionally raised with coconut toddy and eaten with sorpotel or xacuti.

The ‘queen of Goan desserts’: a dense cake of many thin layers of coconut milk, egg yolks, sugar and ghee, each layer grilled from the top.

A dark, chewy sweet of rice flour, coconut milk and palm jaggery stirred for hours, a must on the Goan Christmas sweet tray.

Rice paste spread on fragrant turmeric leaves, filled with coconut and jaggery and steamed, made in Goa for the Feast of the Assumption and for Nag Panchami and Ganesh Chaturthi.

Thin pancakes rolled around a filling of coconut cooked with palm jaggery, a Goan teatime treat.

Crescent-shaped fried pastries filled with coconut, jaggery or sugar, cardamom and dried fruit, made for the Goan Christmas sweet tray.

Small curled dough shells made by rolling dough over a fork or comb and frying them until crisp, then coating them in sugar syrup.

A warm, sweet pudding of chana dal and sago cooked in coconut milk and jaggery, offered in Goan Hindu homes during festivals.

A pink, cooling drink of coconut milk and kokum, flavoured with garlic and green chilli, served with or after a Goan meal.

A spicy, vinegar-based pickle of raw mango pieces in a red chilli, mustard and fenugreek masala, made in summer and kept through the monsoon.