BRYCE D’SOUZA
It was a Sunday afternoon of another weekend in Goa. Coming home from the long arduous journey, I spent a few minutes sifting through the pages of the local daily.
All of a sudden, I was taken aback by the sumptuous aroma of a Goan dish that filled the entire household as my mum set off to prepare it as part of a huge spread for the feast day. I have no words to describe my love and fascination towards this dish that I now proudly consider on such days as T.G.I.P.D - Thank God, It’s Pulao Day.
With its strong aroma - a culmination of the spices of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves – ‘pulao’ is but one of the dishes that has grown to occupy a prominence in many Goan households on feast days. Driven by the aroma it brings in, every time my mum has prepared it, I also drew a liking towards this delicacy.
After a lot of convincing with my grandmother, I was finally granted my spot in the vast expansive kitchen. As it is customary in most households, men are not accustomed to being in the kitchen.
However, I stood out amongst the extraordinary men who demanded that we have an ‘equal say’ or an ‘equivalent position’ into the household chores.
Like most Goan households, the onions were grouped together in an iron basket at the side. There was a cutting board that lay there open, awaiting its mistress’ usage along with a vegetable knife that accompanied it. In another tray lay a bowl of tomatoes and another small container with the key spices - cloves, cardamom, pepper and cinnamon needed to prepare this dish.
Since it was my first time, I was a bit puzzled at first on how to prepare this fantabulous delicacy. As we were still reeling through the Covid-19 pandemic, there were a lot of scares and worries on close contact given how far the virus had spread exponentially in the State. Nevertheless, I took this as a challenge and initially began assisting by cutting onions and tomatoes. As I mastered the art of cutting and chopping vegetables, I then took on the lead to help gather the ingredients required for the dish.
One day as my mum was extremely busy with a number of calls for our church feast, I was all of a sudden trusted with the responsibility to prepare the pulao. I was initially nervous at first as I was so used to assisting my mother to prepare the dish and never prepared it myself. To add it, I could faintly remember the consistencies of the ingredients to be used in proportion to our consumption. In my first ever stint to prepare this dish, I throttled all the ingredients into a vessel of 'hot oil'. With the sudden drop into the vessel, I ended up having a portion of my feet burning in ‘hot cooking oil’.
This was a lesson that I learnt and later realized that the flame should not be on high, but rather at ‘medium level’. Once it is set to medium, I could slowly put all the ingredients in their respective order- first spices, followed by onions and then later tomatoes.
I also learnt the great virtue of patience. Cooking is an art that requires a whole lot of patience and persistence which teaches you how to stay ‘calm’ despite your circumstances.
After having repeatedly prepared the delicacy over the course of weeks and months, I am now proud to state that I have mastered the art of preparing the ‘Goan pulao’.