By Tara Narayan

OVER time I’ve come to think of the Indian thali meal deal as a kind of mini-buffet meal, a better meal deal for it offers you pretty much what is desired in a reasonably health-conscious meal. In fact, my friends from the countries of the west get both intrigued and approve the concept of a thali meal as a complete filling meal – there’ll be a salad-styled kachumbar or kothimbir, one or two chappati (Indian bread), rice (rice is rice), a sukhi bhaji (dry veggie) and rasa veggie (gravy veggie), pickle, papad (many kinds of papad), a sweet…covers complex carbs, protein, fats, vitamins and fresh enzymes, fiber so that you suffer no constipation or piles! I forget a finale piece de resistance may be a buttermilk or a kokum “tival” or “kutti kadi” (in a Konkan thali meal, digestive drink most agreeable)…then there may be a chutney, an appetizer and some more tidbits to beguile the soul of one who loves her or his food…for a price it may become a real razzmatazz festive thali during the Shravan, when almost every day has some religious connotation; and so it goes right up to “festival of lights” deepavali. A festive thali or platter meal may list the prized 56 or “chappan bhog” recipes associated with the ISKCON or Hare Krishna Hare Rama movement based on the life and times of Lord Krishna and the rest of the religious mythologies rooted and accounted in the two epics of the “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” (the Bhagvad Gita chaper in the second being the essence of the religion or way of living as it is often better summed up, all hells and heavens are here on earth and the rest is karma, kismet, sanatan dharma, whatever you want to call it, the same idea in any other description) – the focus being on leading a lifestyle of high thinking and simple living!
Never mind how hypocritical most of us vis-à-vis religion nowadays when the only god on earth is mammon or cold money to trade and bargain and enslave and kill one another (making us the most killer civilization of them all past and present).
BUT to return to Shravan thali meal deals and specifically Goa’s piece de resistance Saraswat Shravan thali meal (my favorite in Goa), it is interesting to note that some of the language newspapers are making and contributing to the revival of the old world Saraswat cuisine recipes which enjoy such a niche status now. Namely, I found myself most intrigued at the Marathi daily Gomantak’s Saraswat food cuisine competition organize with the blessings of its editor-in-chief Raju Nayak. The daily has a Tanishka Forum which organized the Shravan thali making competition on August 24 at a hall in Panjim.

It was quite a gregarious gathering of women young and women of vintage quality who stretched themselves must have not so old young who must have to do their Saraswat foodie presentation on double spread banana leaves … and what a mindboggling presentation it was. The Shravan thali winners were Nividha Parsekar, Nikita Parab and Shila Naik with consolation prizes for Sandhya Naik, Shanta Bhave and Alka Nibadkar. Alongside there were faati (floral hair pieces with real flowers called “veni”) and mehendi design competitions – prizes going to Shilpa Tulaskar, Nirmala Ajgaonkar and Supriya Parab with consolations for Mansi Naik and Nikita Parab; for the mehendi application winners were Swapna Madkaikar, Fardeen Saeed and Puja Parab with consolations for Srushta Ajgaonkar and Pranjal Naik.

The judges for the Shravan Saraswat thali were Anjali Walavalkar and Ujwala Tarkar, while for fulanchi fati and mehendi the judges were Medha Parulekar and Rupa Nayak. Prize giving honors were done by Gomantak editor-in- chief Raju Nayak and Mahesh Nayak. Afterwards everyone was tasting and wrapping up things to take home, recipes and notes were exchanged and all went home on happy notes. Sorry, I didn’t get to talk to some of the key women present who did the foodie recipes familiar and not so familiar…tasting some of the exquisite bitter gourd or karela recipes (reminding me of what the famous naturalist Barbara O’Neil says about what is bitter to the tongue is good for the liver and what is sweet to the tongue is bad for the liver and everything else! Eat more bitters, my dears. Life is mostly bitter-sweet or better still bitter-sour.
HONESTLY, it is only come Shravan that one realizes what a very big vegetarian India there is out there; in any case I dare we have the largest number of vegetarian dishes, counting the various distinct cuisines from state to state in India. In Goa I find the Saraswat Brahmin veggies dishes which are mostly cooked in homes very appealing, also health conscious – as long as we don’t overfeed ourselves of course. The roll call of what is recognized as Saraswat Brahmin recipes always astounds me and there are several books to consult beginning with the very early publication of “Rasachandrika Saraswat Cookery Book” brought out by the Saraswat Mahila Samaj, Bombay; then there is of course “Ishtann” by Padma Mahale, “Potpuja” by Usha Vaman Bale, “Mom’s Recipes” by Smita Uday Kamat and a few more but the first one is still the all-time authentic cookbook of Gaud Saraswat Brahmin cuisine. Not to forget “Traditional Taste of Goa” by Kumudini Usgaonkar and Shamas Sardesai — published by the Fomento foundation (translated from the original Marathi as “Gomantakia Aaswad”) – something like 333 recipes here including some lesser known ones or what we call familiar but forgotten recipes of grandmothers’ generation – the ones prepared with painstaking love and affection in their home kitchen.
Is there an exclusive Gaud Saraswat Brahmin food restaurant in Goa? The closest I can think of is Sapna Sardesai’s Kokum Curry in Candolim and Panjim, if there are others they are not really seriously GSB, just fooling around and pretending mostly!