Caldin ~A Goan Catholic Veggie

You have heard me rant quite a bit that the Goans do eat veggies contrary to the popular view. Of course the veggies are few but they are tasty. My view of all the veggies was that they are all covered with masala in the Goan way.  How wrong can a person be!! Even after staying in Goa for 25 years I am still uncovering dishes, vegetarian mind you.

I was chatting with my friend Judy and happened to ask her what Caldin is. Caldin is traditionally a Goans Catholic veg dish. It means ‘in a gravy.’  

  Surprised? Even I was quite amazed.

I did ask her quite rudely, I might add, Catholics and veggies. Her reply was quite a revelation. We cannot eat meat all the time dear, she said we feel the need to eat veggies too. Of course the veggies used in Caldin are like cauliflower, lady finger, potatoes quite a few but we do eat them.

She did share the recipe with me. Not content that night we went out for dinner and Apeksha n I ordered Caldin and enjoyed it.

Now since I did not have all the veggies at hand thanks to the fact that I had not done my weekly shopping I had to make do. So my Caldin had only cauliflower and some tired looking carrots! And still the caldin was appreciated.

Ingredients:

To grind:

• A small knob of Ginger
•  4 cloves garlic
•  ½ tsp Coriander seeds
•  2 Green chillies
•  ¼ tsp Haldi
•  ¼ tsp jeera
•  ¼ cup coconut

For the coconut milk:

•  1 coconut grated

Rest of the ingredients:

•  4 cups mixed vegetables
•  3 medium onions, finely chopped
•  2 tomatoes, finely chopped
•  A lemon sized ball of tamarind
•  Oil
•  Salt

Method:

1. First extract coconut milk on e thin and one thick. In case you need here is how.
2.  In thin milk soak the tamarind.
3.  Grind all the ingredients under to grind heading to a fine paste using a little water.
4.   Fry onion till translucent add the tomatoes and fry till they are softer.
5. Add the ground masala fry on a low flame.
6.  Add the thin coconut milk. Add veggies, salt & boil covered till the veggies are par-boiled.
7. Add the thick juice. Cook till done.
8. Serve with steamed rice or rotis. The Goans will prefer it with pav or uno.

Linking this to Julies's Event Garlic and Spice Guest Hosted by Vidya

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