Come Diwali and Tulsi Vivaha IN GOA; It’s time to celebrate the new fov or fovv or poha or parched rice of Goa’s rice fields….Goan Hindu homes will serve several dishes of fov featuring fov in dairy milk, in curd, in coconut milk, there is palm sugar sweetened fov, as also savoury batat fov. Side dishes of chonache usli, ambadeche karam and kelyacho halwo are complementary. Go crazy about fov this season, replace oatmeal with red rice fov!

By Tara Narayan

CALL it fov, fovv, poha, pohe (plural) – I feel that this prized parched rice flakes white, off-white, pinkish, reddish, are a gift to appreciate when it comes to fixing a quick snack or even light evening meal. Nowadays they’re also doing millet flakes but rice fov will always remain my favourite and down south India they also add a handful of fov to make idli or India’s freshly steamed rice cakes softer. Of course you may not idli rice cakes although some do, I mean cake is inherently a sweetened affair while idli is a bland steamed rice affair to be savoured with various chutneys or sambar.
In Goan Hindu homes over Diwali or Tulsi Vivaha they have this rather charming celebration of fov or the first parched or puffed rice of the harvest season and in the local markets one sees piles of fov of all hues available from fine white to off-white to pink and pinkish and reddish. In most finicky Saraswat homes it’s traditional to prepare fovache recipes like five different kinds of dishes featuring fov – dudhatle fov (the usual dairy milk soaked fov with elaichi or cardamom seeds in it), dhayatle fov (curd soaked fov), rosatle fov (coconut milk soaked fov), kadyetle fov (kokum-coconut milk soaked fov and finally batat fov (the usual savoury fov we see although in Goan eateries like the iconic Café Bhonsale or Café Real or Café Tato they do not serve this very homespun recipe of batat fov, although I often look for it!
In my childhood years I recall that my own mother dear was fond of turning out a quick batat fov or “batata paua” – it would feature such delights as golden raisins and caju or cashew tukda. Most batat fov and Maharashtra kandache poha come in various versions… the simpler versions will be tempered in mustard seeds, pinch hing or asafetida, curry leaves. First you must soak the fov or parched rice but drain quickly before they become crumble into choora, depending on the quality of your rice fov. When the fov is softened enough stir in sea salt/rock salt, turmeric powder.
You may do your fodni or tempering in groundnut oil, when it is hot, adding in half teaspoon mustard seeds, curry leaves, maybe bit cinnamon stick if you like, pinch hing, a bit of cinnamon stick if you like, and then immediately the chopped potato/onion (of choice), golden raisins and stir in the fov. Add a little water, as much as required (not desired) to cook the potato/onion (potato will take a longer time to cook and some I know just add in pre-cooked chopped potato for simple batat fov). When the potato/onion is cooked stir in the soaked, drained, seasoned fov and now don’t overcook, just a turn or two in the pan is fine.
Do garnish your savoury batat/kanda fov with lots of freshly cut coriander leaves and serve with half wedge lemon to squeeze on lemon juice. Divine snack, as good a small meal along with some dry garlic chutney! Some folk prefer to add a handful of peanuts in their savoury fov and I will even grate in a piece of coconut kernel or fresh carrot if I want to make it more health-conscious! Most simple batat or kanda fov in Maharashtrian country recipes will skip the exotica in favour of just peanuts and a garnishing of fresh grated coconut and green coriander. Remember that more is not always better! Less is – for simplicity of fresh flavors.
Of course the Diwali meal of various fov dishes will be accompanied with chanyachi usli, amadyachi karam and the finale is kelyecho halwo of the large yellow mandali banana (when well-made this shudh ghee laced banana sweet is simply piece de resistance).
Other memories of the Guju kind: When mother didn’t want to cook anything for an evening meal she would just soak rinse of plain fov in water and soak it in milk, adding crushed cardamom, raisins, caju, bit sugar. Later on stir and help yourself and be happy, sleep in peace. I must say I can use pink hand-parched fov instead of oatmeal for a breakfast porridge – use any milk of choice, be it desi cow’s milk, coconut milk, almond milk, sweeten with honey, add in a tablespoon of mixed pumpkin, water melon seeds, some raisins…what more do you want? Enjoy.
This is to say discover the joys of fov or parched rice, especially the naturally sweet organically cultivated pinkish rice fov. Fov also goes into making the various chivda of festive times and in Goa you may find “tikat fov” which is a crunchy savoury hot sweet mass of fov chikki or fudge. If you teeth are up to it tikat fov is a favourite Goan snack. Always keep fov in your kitchen for you never know when you might just want to stir up a fov dish to fix hunger pangs without working overtime!

SHUN JUNK FOODS

I’VE GOT a letter from one Dr Bhawna who is working as councillor for paediatric surgery )PGI) which is worth reproducing here. She writes,
“I would like to share a small piece of information with you. Many of you may have read in newspapers that EMRI records say that majority of people having heart attacks are less than 50 years old now. You will be surprised to know that the culprit is palm oil. It’s far, far more dangerous than alcohol and smoking put together. India is the highest importer for palm oil in the world. The palm oil mafia is very, very big and strong and our children are at big risk.
“There are no fast foods available now without palm oil in them. Go to your grocery stores and try picking up children’s or any packaged food and it will list palm oil as one of the ingredients – you will not succeed in finding packaged foods without palm oil in it. You will be interested in knowing that even biscuits of big companies are made from it, and similarly all chocolates. We are made to believe they are healthy but we never knew about the killer palm oil or palmitic acid. Big companies like Lays use different oil in Western countries and palm oil in India just because it is cheap.
“Each time our children eat a product with palm oil their brain behaves inappropriately due to signals to secrete fat around the heart. This first leads obesity and diabetes at a very young age. The World Economic Forum has projected that 50% of people who die at a young age will die of diabetes and heart disease. The palm oil mafia has made out children addicted to junk food. Our children don’t eat fruit and vegetables which are heart protective.
“Next time you buy something read the label of the product. If there is palm oil or palmolienic oil or palmitic acid – don’t buy it! I have written to our Prime Minister and also to doctors across India to take some action. Please protect our children from palm oil junk food, share this with many people.”
Well, thank you Dr Bhawna. It is a fact that our industrial junk foods, the ones we are so hung up on to satisfy quick hunger pangs, are packed with a lot of industrially refined ingredients including dubious fats and offer no nutrient values at all or very nil. Most are high glycemic carbohydrates with a bunch of chemicals to colour, sweeten and increase shelf life. Biscuits are arguably our largest selling junk food – it makes perfect sense not to make a meal of junk food if you value your good health. Boycott most of the junk foods in the market place, return to cooking from scratch at home! Hard to do of course given our highly stressed out lifestyles. It’s a choice between the devil and the deep sea or two evils to survive in the world today – we’re constantly required to choose between greater and lesser evils and almost forgotten what good things taste like both in the mouth and the mind!
My take is try, try and try not to feast on industrial junk foods of our utopian and dystopian times. Right, teach the children to eat fov or parched rice and other organically cultivated cereals and millets in a variety of ways! Make it rosantle fov for tea-time or dinner today, or doodh-poha with cardamom powder/seeds and a tablespoon of nuts in it. Say your prayers for good food before you eat!
HERE are some mantra you may chant before eating for the day…you may just say “Annadata sukhi bhava” (translating to let those who provide me with food be happy). You may also pray, “Sarve janaha sukhino bhavantu…” (let all humans be prosperous and happy). The Brahmaparpanam prayer goes….“Brahmarpanam Brahma Havir/Brahmagnau Brahmanahutam,/Brahmaiva Tena Gantavyam/Brahmakarma Samadhinah…” There are a few more prayers you may look up if you want to eat with utmost respect, gratitude and love and affection for the food that you put in your mouth day in and day out to live. Perhaps if we bother to pray before we eat we may restore the evergreen values of life we grew up with once upon a time!? And grant respect to food worthy of being called food.