How Mumbai’s Goans are using black jaggery to stay true to culture, memories

Updated On: 25 July, 2022 11:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Nascimento Pinto

JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar recently curated a limited-edition Goan menu as their first pop-up in their ongoing series, Gourmet Travelogues, to showcase the culinary diversity of Goa. With Goan black jaggery being a favourite of executive chef Dane Fernandes, we look at how he uses the ingredient and learn more from a city-based home chef about it

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The jaggery is primarily made from the sap of the coconut palm or from sugarcane and sold in Goa’s markets in a distinctive pyramid shape. Photo Courtesy: Marian D`costa

For Bandra-based Genevieve Gonsalves, Goan black jaggery holds a very special place in her home. It is not just any ingredient but one that evokes many emotions and the taste of which she yearns for. It makes her nostalgic and reminds Gonsalves of her mother, who passed away years ago, and the time she spent in the sunshine state as a young girl. She says, “My mom used to prepare many dishes with the Goan jaggery. She used to prepare tizan (a Goan porridge), alle belle (Goan pancake with coconut), fov (made from flat rice) - all of which have jaggery in them.” Like many other Goan families, Gonsalves’s mother also made patoleos (sweet pancakes) for August 15, celebrated as the Feast of the Assumption, among the Catholic community. “Papa would also give us a slice of coconut and jaggery on the first of the month.”

The ingredient is so important that every time the 53-year-old visits Goa, she makes sure to get back at least a kilo of the distinctly sweet ingredient from a Goan lady in Siolim. It lasts for months as she uses it judiciously and had enough stock to last her even during the pandemic. One would think that it is because she uses a lot of black jaggery in her food but in fact, it is the complete opposite today, a stark different from her days growing up in the city, when her mother was around. She says, “Now, I use the black jaggery instead of sugar to make my porridge. When my husband is around, I use it every day in the morning to make with oats or laapsi (sweet dish).”

Black jaggery is used in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes in Goan cuisine including vonn, a traditional sweet. Photo Courtesy: Marian D`costa

Goan connection
Recently, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar launched Gourmet Travelogues, an initiative, according to executive chef Dane Fernandes, to bring to light lesser-known parts of India’s culinary history through the hyper-regional cuisines of India. For the first limited-edition menu called The Goan Chapter, Fernandes, the in-house Goan entered familiar territory by visiting Goa and rediscovering the cuisine to put together dishes, he reimagined with the help of childhood friend, Chef Avinash Martins who runs Cavatina in Goa’s Benaulim. He explains, “Goan food is an amalgamation of Indo-Portuguese, Saraswat Hindu and Aboriginal (tribal) cuisine. It’s so diverse and yet very comforting.” And, being Goan himself, Fernandes says he wanted diners at the five-star property to experience the state’s rich cultural history.

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