East Indian Sweets | Fritters & Foogyas

Godacha for your Maundy Thursday

April 5, 2012 § Leave a comment

Can Easter already be upon us? It was Christmas just a post ago on Fritters and Foogyas! But let’s not dwell upon this reminder of my tardiness and move on to sweeter, nicer things.

Like Godacha – essentially, a broth made from jaggery, coconut juice and sweet potatoes. For as long as I can remember, my mum has always made this particular dish on Maundy Thursday. Litres of it in fact, which would last us even after Easter.

The sole purpose of Godacha is to break a day of fasting. The sugars involved in the dish are more fortifying and less frightening than you’d think. In Mumbai, the end of Lent usually coincides with a brief change of season – Summer has barely begun and Spring is just a faint whisper. In Australia however, Autumn begins to settle in with her cool evenings and warm days. Which is why Godacha makes for wonderful comfort food as well. A cupful of it is enough to help you ignore the ornery weather.

Traditionally, work on this dish starts in the morning so that it is on the stove by afternoon and cooked just before it’s time to head out for the Maundy Thursday Service in the evening. By the time Service is over (in Vasai it lasts for more than two hours), it’s time for supper and the good old-fashioned East Indian energy hit that is Godacha, before dinner’s attempted.

I’m relaying the basic recipe here, which should serve 2-3 people. You can multiply the measurements as required.

What you need:

Jaggery – 100 gm, chopped

Sabudaana (sago) – 2+1/2 tbsp (soaked for 2 hours)

Ghee (clarified butter) – 1/2 tbsp

Sweet potato – 250 gm, sliced (soaked for an hour)

Coconut juice – mix 2 tbsp powder with 250 ml lukewarm water

Cardamom – seeds from 2 pods, crushed

Salt – to taste

What you need to do:

Combine the jaggery, sabudaana and coconut juice in a vessel and keep it on low heat. Mix well and add the sweet potato and salt. Allow this mixture to come to a boil. Add the ghee. If the mixture seems to stick to the bottom of the vessel, add a bit of warm water (no more than 1/4 cup).

Stir it every few minutes till the sweet potato is completely cooked. Add the crushed cardamom and allow it to simmer for a few more minutes. The Godacha shouldn’t take more than an hour to get ready. While it’s best had warm, I’ve known people to swear by the cold broth as well. Perhaps you could try it both ways?

Food Fixin’ in Sydney

May 3, 2011 § 3 Comments

Once you are done following the rigours of Lent, Easter somehow ends up being an exercise in excess – especially where food is concerned.

A trip to Sydney to visit our relatives found us stuffed with a lot of home-cooked East Indian fare as well as some interesting cuisine and desserts.

We carried along dozens of (cashew) marzipan bunnies that we had made on Maundy Thursday. Five hours of effort paid out and how!

The good ones

Prepared using chocolate molds from Lincraft

And the bad ones

Shaped by hand

Easter Sunday saw us indulging in some hardcore East Indian fare

Potato salad, lasagna, sorpotel, steamed rice, mutton curry, pork roast, pickles, Turkish bread

My aunt even made the traditional bokhachey wadey with a South Indian medu wada twist. I helped her remove them from the oil and it brought to mind Easters past where mum would try to get my sister and me to help her out.

Deep-fried Wadas

We also sampled an unusual fish preparation that combined salmon with kardi (baby prawn) chili fry. It was juicy and ah .. felt like home in my mouth. My mum prepares sensational kardi chili fry and I immediately made a mental note to get the recipe off her soon.

Stuffed trout and Pooris

We were whisked away to the scenic Cataract Dam area for a picnic in the park the following day, and after a hassled morning of preparation and running about, we bit into spiced bangers, succulent Garlic Prawns and some tandooried chicken – the latter two a decidedly Rebello specialty.

Wok-fried Garlic Prawns

The next morning was slow and relaxed and my aunt prepared spicy whitings bursting with flavour. Incidentally, she swears by Shaan Fish Masala powder, and after tasting that fish – I agree.

Marinading Whitings

Fried Spicy Whitings with Pooris Curry and Rice

In the mall at Castle Hill nestles the stunningly decorated Red Spoon – a veritable Thai food heaven, and that’s where we found ourselves on our last night in Sydney with our cousins.

Crab Claws

Pepper Pork Stir Fry

Pad Thai

Chilli Basil Stir Fry (I discovered Kaffir Lime leaves here)

BBQd Beef Ribs (they served other fare as well)

For dessert we slipped into Max Brenner, which was next door. Stepping into it was like stepping into chocolate wonderland. We discovered ourselves spoiled for choice within 5 minutes and it was painful leaving one dessert in favour of another.