A Taste of Konkan

Cookbook author and loving grandmother Asha S Philar is a storehouse of knowledge and tales about Konkani Saraswat cuisine, the food from her native land. Mrs Philar’s book, The Konkani Saraswat Cookbook (Published by Terra Firma publications), comes loaded with recipes from the Konkan belt and is neatly divided into sections like breakfast, rice, vegetables, pickles and preserves, home remedies, for babies and new mothers, sea food and so on. What makes it interesting though are the personal notes and observations Mrs Philar includes along with the recipes. “I learnt cooking first from my mother and then my mother in law in Suratkhal,” she tells Silvertalkies. In her sixties now, her cooking skills were further honed as an active participant of the Ladies Club in the Regional Engineering College campus of Suratkhal. “We would give live demos of the food, just how they show on televised cookery shows today,” she remembers. The book was a result of gentle prodding by her brother and sister-in-law and is aimed at “young people” according to her. It’s also her way of recording a kind of food that is fast disappearing from modern kitchens. Mrs Philar shares a recipe of ‘Surnoli’ from the book and says this spongy yellow polo or dosa, is a great favourite.

“The slightly sweet taste is its special feature. If you are a first-time maker of surnolis, follow the recipe carefully and plan small quantities over a period until you get the moist, spongy texture right. In Baindoor, on the highway, people stop to eat at Shanbhag Hotel, well-known for surnolis. They are served here with butter and—as if they weren’t sweet enough on their own—with sugar sprinkled over!

Surnoli

Spongy Surnoli

(Makes about 18–20)

3 cups rice, wash and soak in 6 cups water for 2 hours

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, add to the soaked rice

1½ cups beaten rice (poha) or puffed rice

½ teaspoon turmeric

2 cups curd (yoghurt) or buttermilk

Mix together and set aside: 3 tablespoons coconut, grated; salt and gud (jaggery) to taste, dissolved in a little water

Grind the soaked rice and grated coconut until medium-fine, then add the poha–buttermilk mix and turmeric, and grind further, but stop when the batter reaches a very slightly coarse texture. Put it in a large bowl to leave room for the batter to rise. Cover and set aside to ferment overnight.

The next morning, add the salt and gud and combine well. The batter should have an easy pouring consistency. To prepare the surnolis, heat the griddle, then lower the heat to medium-low. Pour a ladleful of the batter on the griddle in a circular motion, starting from the middle and working your way to the centre. Do not spread with the ladle as the surnoli need to be spongy with holes appearing as it cooks. Spoon a little oil round the edges. Cover and cook for a few seconds until light brown on one side. Surnolis are generally served flat, in a pile, and eaten with butter. Some like it with lemon pickle, possibly to add a dimension to the slightly sweet taste.

If the batter tastes very sour, sprinkle a little sugar over each polo, cover and cook. In place of the poha (puffed rice), soak a slice of bread with the rice, fenugreek and turmeric, and follow the other steps. Some people like the additionally lighter and porous texture this gives the surnolis. You can also add tender coconut pulp (½ cup), while grinding the batter, to make soft surnolis. In that case, reduce the grated coconut to 1½ tablespoons.

Recipe image courtesy: Terra Firma Publications

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