Shigmo festival is a colorful and vibrant celebration in Goa, India. It marks the arrival of spring and the return of warriors from the battlefield. The festival includes traditional folk dances, parades, and music. Men and women dress in bright clothes and perform intricate dance routines. Below mentioned are some of the traditional recipes for Shigmo festival in Goa.
1.Patoleo
Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes. Heat oil. Add finely chopped onions. Fry the onions until they turn golden brown. Then, add the potatoes and mix well. Add cumin, coriander, and turmeric. Stir everything and cook on a low heat until the potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2.Fugias
Mix together all-purpose flour, sugar, and baking powder. Whisk together yogurt, milk, and melted butter. Mix all the ingredients. Heat oil in a pan over medium-heat. Once hot, drop spoonful of the batter into the oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides, then drain on paper towels.
3.Pork Vindaloo
Marinate cubed pork in a mix of vinegar, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, and red chilli powder. Heat oil. Add finely chopped onions until they are golden brown. Next, add the marinated pork and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Let it simmer until the pork is tender and the sauce is thickened.
4.Chicken Xacuti
Cut chicken into pieces. Marinate the chicken with turmeric powder, salt, and lemon juice. Let it sit for about 30 minutes. Take two tablespoons of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, 6-8 dry red chilies, one tablespoon of black pepper corns, one tsp of poppy seeds, and 1-inch stick of cinnamon. Roast these spices and then grind them into a fine powder. In a blender, add the ground spices, two grated coconuts, 5-6 garlic cloves, one inch of ginger, and some water. Blend it to make a smooth paste. Heat oil and add one sliced onions and sauté until they are golden brown. Add the chicken and cook for a few minutes until the chicken is browned. Add the xacuti paste to the pan and mix well. Cook well and add two chopped tomatoes. Pour in water and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer.
5.Chakli
Roast the urad daal flour lightly in a pan until it turns aromatic. In a bowl, combine rice flour, gram flour, and the roasted urad daal flour. Add the sesame seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, hing, and salt to the flour mixture. Mix well. Add butter and rub it in until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add water and knead it into a dough. Heat oil. Fill a chakli press with the dough and squeeze out spirals onto a greased plate. Slide the chaklis into the oil and fry until golden brown and crisp. Let them cool completely.
6.Chonne
Warm up oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking pan. Mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk the milk, egg, and melted butter. Mix all the ingredients together and stir until just combined. Drop the batter into the greased pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
7.Sannas
Soak 1 cup of rice and add ½ cup of urad daal separately. Drain and grind them into a smooth paste, using water to get a batter-like consistency. Add 1/2 teaspoon of yeast dissolved in a little warm water, along with 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix the batter well and leave it to ferment. Once fermented, pour the batter into small round molds and steam them for about 15-20 minutes until they are cooked through. Let them cool before removing from the molds.
8.Ambotik
Clean and wash the fish. Make a paste using fresh coconut, dried red chillies, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, and tamarind. Fry chopped onions. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a few minutes. Add the coconut paste and cook. Add water to form a thick gravy. Let it boil, then add the fish pieces and simmer until cooked.
9.Samarachi Kodi
Take coconut and grate it finely. Heat a pan and add some ghee or oil. Put in mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and fenugreek seeds. Let them splutter a bit. Then add chopped onions, green chillies, and curry leaves. Fry till they turn golden. Add the grated coconut and fry till it turns little brown. Now, add some red chili powder, turmeric powder, and salt to taste. Mix well and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Finally, add some water and let it simmer till the gravy thickens.
10.Kismur
Take coconut and grate it fine. Take some dry red chillies, coriander seeds, and a little bit of hing and fry them till they smell nice. Next, take the grated coconut and mix it with the fried masala. Add salt and lemon juice. Mix everything.
11.Konkani Fish Fry
Take prawns and clean them well. Make a mixture of turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, and a pinch of salt. Rub this mixture all over the prawn pieces and let them marinate. Heat some oil and gently place the prawn pieces into the oil and fry them until they turn golden brown and crispy.
12.Chicken Cafreal
Take fresh coriander, mint leaves, and green chilies. Blend them together with some vinegar, garlic, ginger, and cumin. Marinate the chicken pieces in this mixture. Fry the chicken in a pan with some oil till it is nice and golden brown.
13.Sorpotel
Mix the meat and liver together with some salt until they are tender. Fry the meat in oil. In another pan, fry the onions, garlics, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Add the fried meat to the onions mixture and let it cook together. Add vinegar and red chilli paste, and let it simmer on low heat for half an hour.
14.Alle Belle
Take one cup of flour with a little battur and salt to taste. Mix them well and let it sit for about two hours to ferment. Grate some coconut, add jaggery and a pinch of cardamom powder. Cook them together in a pan until the jaggery melts and the mixture thickens. Heat a griddle and pour a laddle full of the batter on it. Spread it out gently into a thin pancake and let it cook until it turns golden brown on both sides. Once the pancakes are ready, spread some of the coconut and jaggery filling on one side and fold it into a half. Press it gently and remove it from the griddle.
15.Kokad
Soak kokum fruits in little bit of water, then squeeze out the juice and strain it. In another pot, heat up some coconut milk till it is warm. Mix in the kokum juice, a pinch of salt and a little bit of sugar. Let it all simmer for a bit.
16.Dodol
Heat milk in a pan. Once it is warm, add the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Then, add the kovas and stir well to combine. Let it cook on low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. When it’s done, pour the dodol into a greased tray and let it cool completely. Once cool, cut it into squares.
17.Bolinhas
Take all-purpose flour and mix it with sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk together 1 egg, 1/2 cup of melted butter, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix all the ingredients and knead. Make a dough. Make small flat balls and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
18.Sukya Bangdyache Hooman
Clean dry bangda fish. Soak them in water for a few minutes to remove the extra salt. Heat oil and add a pinch of hing and cumin seeds. Add chopped onions and fry. Next, add tomatoes and cook until soft. Add ginger-garlic paste, and fry for a while. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, and Kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well. Add water to the desired consistency and bring it to a boil. Add the soaked bangda fish, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
19.Khatkhate
Chop various vegetables like carrot, potato, yam, drumstick, and raw banana into big chunks. In a large pot, boil these vegetables with a little salt until they are half-cooked. Make a paste using fresh grated coconut, dry red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and turmeric powder, adding a bit of water to get a smooth consistency. Once the vegetables are half-done, add this paste to the pot and mix well. Allow it to simmer on low flame. Add salt to taste. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, let them splutter, then add curry leaves and asafoetida. Pour this tempering over the khatkhate and stir.
20.Tambdi Bhaji
Wash red amaranth leaves thoroughly and chop them. In a pan, heat some oil and add cumin seeds. Add a pinch of hing and then toss in the chopped amaranth leaves. Add salt to taste and stir well. Cook the leaves on a low flame, covering the pan. Stir occasionally.
