In South Goa, season time is well underway and festive trimmings are up. Nativity scenes bang in the middle of the rice paddy fields is not such an uncommon scene. The poder or local baker has been on his rounds earlier, his honks punctuating the bustle, as the day slowly stirs into rhythm. Reverent church-goers spill out after morning mass. And to complete the festive scene we have the chefs from Goa who are putting together special menus for the festive season, using hyper-local produce.

They are big on the Zero Kilometre philosophy which is an approach that aims to significantly reduce carbon footprint while minimising food transportation and lending support to local farmers and producers.

Grilled tiger prawns and kokum feni cocktail at Cavatina | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

I dive into the side road towards Loutolim, and drive past stretches of shockingly bright, glistening greens. I am on my way to meet Crescy Baptista, one of the chefs in Goa who is campaigning to redefine the Goan cuisine with sustainable practices. I have been enjoying her delicious pickles, jams, para, and festive snacks like kalkals, bolinhas, neureos and doce  at The Goan Kitchen; spoils that have made for some great gifting options too. There is one particular pickle I am curious to find out more about. And, that is the chepni tor, a bright and umami, water pickle made of baby mangoes, which many Goans use as a garnish on top of a festive pulao, but which makes for a fantastic salad ingredient as well. The tartness in every bite is delightful, and the brine that it pickles in, somewhat lends a retrained umami to it.

Crescy segued into cooking by helping her mother-in-law with her famous bebinca, which she had been making for nearly five decades. She then expanded into other Christmas goodies and by 2005 was making a variety of 32 different types of festive treats every year. Come summer, and Crescy enlists the services of her three usual pluckers from the neighbourhood to harvest and bring her the year’s green mango consignment, sometimes to the tune of 5000. The mangoes are plucked before the seeds harden, allowing them to take on the briny flavour, deep into the core. After plucking, they are pressed under weight, salted, chillies added, before being sealed in individual packets filled with brine.

Crescy Baptista | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“As a celebration of local flavours, The Goan Kitchen has curated special experiential menus, a curation of traditional Goan dishes. They have been very well received,” says Crescy.

My next stop takes me to the home of Goa’s beloved Chef Avinash Martins of Cavatina fame. He sits down to tell me about his patraon de Goa, with chonak fish, which he encases in a mixture of spices, tamarind, jaggery and the secret ingredient, chepni tor paste, which is steamed in banana leaves. Hands down a winner of a dish, with its clever interplay of flavours, subtle deliciousness of the fish; all bound together with the sweet-smoky undertones from the toasted banana leaves.  

Chef Avinash making patraon de Goa | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Chef Avinash has been using local ingredients in his dishes, while nurturing a tight network of local foragers, purveyors, and fishmongers. “At Cavatina, I change the tasting menu as often as I can, but there are still some limitations. My creative canvas truly comes alive at the Table in the Hills,” he tells me, about the artisanal farm to fork restaurant, in his native Velim in Salcette. “If someone is able to source sea urchins from Betul, they will feature in the menu du jour. If I’m able to get a fresh harvest of cashew sprouts or godka that day, or a batch of olmi mushrooms, I’m able to curate something truly after my heart. The menu is very produce driven.”

Kitefish Para | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Reimagining Goan cuisine and elevating it with a clever use of hyper-local ingredients, has possibly been Chef Avinash’s biggest contribution to the culinary world. But it did take some soul-searching and introspection, specially during the tough months of Covid, for this son of the soil’s return to his roots. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, as they say. And was never this truer for Avinash, than when he re-examined things and searched closer home. It was a culinary rebirth of sorts. And, it paved the way for some stellar dishes like his famed amaranth spanakopita, a glorious coming together of the humble tambdi bhaji and feta cheese, encased in pastry. Or his childhood colouring sessions inspired, tender coconut carpaccio; a stunning profusion of colours, flavours, and textures.  Dotted with dollops of bright orange aamras, pink sol kadi, yellow saffron sauce, this stunner, which also featured on the Ambani wedding menu, is crowned with a smattering of toasted quinoa on top, for crunch.  

In Divar Island, I catch up with the now reclusive Chef Urbano do Rego, Taj group’s revered corporate chef for Goan cuisine, from yester years. I had tasted his cashew apple xacuti with roast masala and coconut, a while back. An absolutely delicious rendition of flavours! “There is a certain joy for a chef to be able to pluck ingredients from one’s own garden and cook with them.” He talks lovingly about the local produce on the island, starting from the Sichuan pepper or teppal, used for mackerel curries, the astonishingly tart bimli grown in his kitchen garden, fresh coriander and green chillies.  

Chef Avinash grinding spices | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

It has been a fulfilling journey to examine closely, the hyper-local practices by these chefs, on the same lines. These locavore advocates have been playing a critical role in conserving the ecosystem, in their sweet, slow and harmonious way. The Goan way.