Goan Cooking

Pick up at the Goa Airport and transfer to your accommodation at Bogmalo Beach (approximately 10 minutes). The rest of the day is yours to explore your surroundings, stroll on the beach, relax under a palm tree, and take a deep breath. Welcome to paradise!

Your taxi will pick you up for cooking school at 8:45am. Today’s class will run from 9:30am to 4:00pm. The class will include a classic South Indian Breakfast – Dosa, Uttapam, Idli, Chutney, Sambar. After breakfast leave for a Farmers Market to learn about the regional vegetables, fruit, seafood, and spices unique to this part of the world. After your tour you’ll return to your cooking school to start your first class. Today you’ll learn about Xacuti ( a curry of white mustard seeds and coconut), Cafreal (a chicken dish originally from Mozambique), Recheado (stuffed fish), and Caldin (a non-spicy fish curry). Throughout the class, you’ll learn about the history of Goa and its Portuguese colonization. This is a hands on class that combines demonstration with preparation along the way. As a finale, you’ll be introduced to different Goan sweets including Dodol (made of rice flour and milk), and Bolinhas (coconut cookies).

After breakfast, you’ll be picked up for a tour of the Spice Plantation, Goan Ancestral Musuem, and the Goa Chitra Musuem. The plantation tour will pass through rice paddies and coconut groves as you learn about the cultivation methods of local spices and their uses. Spices cultivated on this plantation include cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, and black pepper. You’ll also learn about how bananas and pineapple are grown and cultivated.

Lunch will be outside among the lush flora and fauna of the plantation. After lunch, we head to the Big Foot Museum, which showcases a model Goan village. If time permits, we’ll tour a traditional Portuguese style house.

Our day ends at the Goa Chitra Museum. The museum houses a large collection of artefacts and showcases the rich agrarian history of this region. We’ll return to the hotel post. The rest of the day is at your leisure.

Today is Day 2 of your cooking class. Today’s class will run from 9:30am to 4:00pm and include a traditional North Indian Breakfast of stuffed parathas (flat bread filled with potatoes and cauliflower), tomato chutney, poha (flattened rice with peanuts), and Paneer Pakoras. Today’s lesson will focus on learning how to prepare North Indian cuisine. You’ll notice the contrast between the Goan cuisine previously prepared and the north Indian dishes. Heavily rooted in dairy, north Indian food relies heavily on turmeric, coriander, and a spice mix called Garam Masala. Coconut is nowhere to be found here.

For lunch we prepare a North Indian feast of Butter Chicken, Malai Kofta, Biryani, Kheer (a sweet dish of rice and milk). You will have a brief introduction to the cultural context of the food. Your meal will end with a lesson on the many preparations of tea including local medicinal uses.

Transfer to your hotel.

Transfer to the Goa Airport for your onward journey. We hope to see you on an Ekno experience again, soon.