Smita Deo remembers the first time she was attracted to cooking. It was when as a 12-year-old she stood in the kitchen of her family’s ancestral home in Aversa, 20 km from Karwar in Karnataka on the Konkan Coast. “The kitchen was as big as a room, and dark,” says the home chef as we order a thali at Maya at the Trident, BKC. “The only light came in from a small window above the chulha . The sight was almost divine.”
The ongoing Rivaayat-e-Karwar offering is part of chef Ashish Bhasin’s pet project to revive lesser-known Indian cuisines. Last time, we were here for Osama Jalali’s Delhi Durbari khana, and the taste of mutton kheer is still on our palates.
Having eaten Deo’s food at a previous event, Bhasin tells us he patiently waited for the rains to bid the city goodbye before inviting her. “It is all about coastal food, so the fish should be fresh,” he says.
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Deo says that Karwar cuisine mainly consists of coconut, rice and fish. “In our vegetable curries, we use a lot of ash gourd, snake gourd, and ivy gourd,” she says. “The use of garam masala is minimal, mainly dry coriander and sukha byadgi mirchi with tamarind. Even chicken and mutton is not relished. Though the recipes of mutton stew and curry, and chicken sukke on the menu are recipes I learnt from my grandmother.”
As a child, Deo reminisces her visits to the village with her parents. “My father would go to the river and catch fresh fish, which my mother and aunt would cook,” she says. “I remember the rawasa ambat (fish curry), fried prawns, and sungta ambat (prawn curry). We even made fish wrapped in banana leaf.”
Karwari sweets are mostly made using coconut. “We have the chana dal payasam and kesar bhaat. In our village, there is a festival called Nopi, which follows Ganesh Chaturthi. Every year, one family has to cook for the entire village. Our turn comes every five years. No matter what is cooked in the main course, the kesar bhaat is always made. We love it,” she smiles.
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Deo’s family also makes their own sevaiya (homemade rice noodles). “We soak the rice, make a paste and cook it in a pan till it thickens. We make balls of it and steam them in banana leaves. And then put it in the moulds and make them,” she says.
While our chat continues, a veg thali arrives with fish and mutton dishes on the side. The former comes with a raita, dal, a dry vegetable of okra and turiya (ridge gourd), a watery curry with whole green moong dal, valval (vegetables with coconut and green chillies), dry aloo sabzi and rice and neer dosa. It could jolly well be a meal sampled at a home in Karwar. The toor dal has a light tadka of curry leaves, and pairs well with the paper-thin neer dosa. We have this with the gourd and okra sabzi, which is crunchy and cooked in coconut oil.
The fried Surmai has a coating of a masala paste comprising garlic, coriander, red chilli powder, kokam and salt. This is shallow fried with rice and semolina flour, which gives it a delicious crust.
When the lid on the Karwari Lamb Biryani is lifted, aromatic steam escapes. This biryani is sweet (from the onions) and spicy (from the green chilli and ginger paste) at the same time, and the chunks of mutton are succulent. Laden with coriander and onions, green chillies and coriander powder make up most of the masala.
As a sweet end to the meal, we are served the chana dal payasam: a thick, hot and milky concoction, with cashew nuts, chana dal and raisins. The coconut milk lends a smooth texture and we lap this up wondering what Bhasin has in store for his next gastronomical adventure.
The author is a freelance writer
Rivaayat-e-Karwaris on till October 21 at Maya, Trident, Bandra Kurla Complex.
Call 66727777 for reservations.