5 Different perspectives on Indian Food. Part 3 - India

5 Perspectives on Indian food

3. India

And so finally I got to visit India. Goa to be exact, a tourist bubble and not exactly the adventurous side of the country. It was a fairly cheap package tour and not to be missed. It was a revelation. My husband and I were expecting warm seas, beautiful sandy beaches (some felt and looked like sugar), wonderful, hospitable people, glorious old churches, crazy culture, chaos...and we got it all, but the food really was the star. The food in India is the pinnacle of everything I love about Indian food. Meat on the bone, rich, luxurious sauces, whole spices, prawns the size of lobsters, spicy, tangy, refreshing salads and vegetables..I could go on. It truly was the best food experience of any country I have ever been to.

Goa was previously a Portuguese colony and the influence of that country still permeates the food, (just as China has a huge influence on Thai food). Vindaloo, for example, is a Portuguese influenced dish. The Vin refers to vinegar which is used to sharpen and sour the curry to create a balance and although it is fairly hot, it is not supposed to be so blistering that you cannot taste the meat or spices. This dish originated from the Portuguese Carne de Vinha d'Alhos, which was typically pork with wine & garlic. The Goans added spice and swapped the wine for vinegar resulting in the dish that is so popular today. I ate a prawn version at a restaurant called Brittas on the beach. I enjoyed it whilst overlooking the pristine, azure ocean,  being nudged by the waiters, who, through the sides of their mouth would tell us 'such and such' the Bollywood star, was sitting across the room. Occasionally a cow would walk past.

Then there was the 'Captain's chicken curry' I ate at our closest restaurant, serenaded by beautiful sitars and singers, the chicken, nearly always thigh, falling off the bone. My husband ate a crab curry and was a little disconcerted to find the crab complete with shell. I had to pluck the meat out for him, but it was sweet, spicy and rich.

There was the night we went to Taste of Goa, which we luckily chose on the last night of their season. (We went to Goa in April, the final two weeks of package flights before the monsoons would close the resorts), and I ate a curry so rich with coriander it was a vivid, lime green. The proprietor was a very happy man, no doubt because he was about to take his own vacation and sang to every table in the restaurant, finally presenting us all with a shell with Goa engraved into it. We asked for 'Wonderful tonight' and listened as we sipped our Kingfishers, very content.

One day, we stayed for lunch at the hotel. I ordered a Biryiani and can quite honestly say it was the best I have ever tasted. Prepared by the Eminem loving 17 year old chef, it was full of cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, delicate basmati fragrant with saffron and large prawns and chicken. It didn't need the usual UK accompaniment of an omelette and curry sauce, it was perfect completely unadorned. We became friendly with the young hotel staff as we were the only guests in the hotel for the last few days. Whenever a mango or coconut would fall from one of the huge crow laden trees, they would bring it to us. The coconut with a straw and the mango sliced to reveal its orange flesh.

Goa was the first time my husband and I were brave enough to hire a scooter and explore the state under our own steam. at first we visited a turtle sanctuary which required a little ferry ride and secondly, being a little more adventurous, a night-time seafood festival in the state capital Panjim. I can honestly say that I remember very little seafood. I do remember tightly clutching an extra large Kingfisher, (the top of which was smashed as we had no other way to open it) and drinking it is as quickly as possible to try and get drunk enough to feel calmer about the drive back on the crazy roads. I also remember 'The Wall of Death', performed by two Indian guys in shiny, green shirts with no helmets, first on a motorbike and then in a Volkswagen Golf.

The British celebrity chef Rick Stein summed Goa up in his book "Seafood Odyssey". He said:

"I could take anything Goa would throw at me if the food was as good as this" I concur.