Sundays were always special. Mum displayed the best of her culinary skills on the 7th day of every week. One of the family favourites was the Xacuti. ? A photocopy of the original Portuguese culinary delight Chacuti, it got Indianised with our kind of spices and flavours. The Goan Xacuti is a heavenly gravy mix of roasted coconut base topped with poppy seeds and Kashmiri Chillies. Chicken, mutton or fish, Xacuti pairs up with any chief ingredient. Paneer and mushrooms too, yes. Mom’s kitchen best, however, was the Shark Xacuti. Quite a tongue twister, eh?
Well, for all those of you who follow me, this is a once in a blue moon where I am going to post a recipe on my blog. So close those jaws and read very carefully. (What else could I do with X?)
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| Image Source : Wikipedia |
Ingredients :
500 gms Shark(slices)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsps oil
2 green chillies(chopped)
2 onions(chopped)
1/2 cup tamarind juice
2 tbsps chopped coriander leaves
For the Masala
6 tbsps freshly grated coconut
6 dry red chillies
1 tbsps coriander seeds
a pinch of aniseed
1/4 tsp poppy seeds
3 cloves
1/2 inch cinnamon
Preparation :
Shark skinning can be a bummer. Resort to local fisher ladies for that. Once you have your chief ingredient all clean and washed, apply salt, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste to the fish slices. Keep aside for ½ an hour to marinate.
Roast the coconut to a light brown. Then roast the remaining Masala ingredients o
ne at a time to retain individual flavours. Then grind them all together to a fine paste keeping a tab on the use of water.Heat the oil and fry onions to golden brown. Then add the green chilies and ground masala paste. Stir-fry for a minute or two and gently add the tamarind juice. Once the mixture is consistent add the fish. Bring to boil and then dim to simmer. Shark like any other fish, cooks fast. Stir from time to time to avoid lumps. Be careful not to break the fish. When done sprinkle coriander leaves and serve hot with Pao (Portuguese for Bread) or Rice.
Slice of Heaven…………………yum!
Find more such homegrown recipes at http://www.goaholidayhomes.com
And if you are like me, who loves to eat but hates to cook, then head to Martins Corner in Goa for the real thing. Do try the Pomfret Caldin too, it is heavenly. In Bombay, Goa Portuguesa and Fresh Catch are what I recommend. The tender coconut vegetable and the prawn balcaho at Goa Portuguesa are a given. Fresh Catch is frequented by the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar. Need I say more? Damn, I’m hungry now. Tally ho, peeps.
Comments
I’m sure my husband is going to have a lot to say about the fish xacuti. 😉
Great foodie minds, Corinne. What more can I say? 🙂
Another Xacuti post – will have to try it sometime.
Do that and then post about it Suzy.
Glad we got the recipe…we did get a peek into the amazing dish through Corinne’s post today. 🙂
Yup, I guess Goans associate X with only Xacuti 😀
This, needs to be tasted. Today.
And I need to be invited over as well. 😀
I will pass 🙂
You can take the Paneer na?
Goa, Goa all over. I love Goans and everything about them. Needless to say C and V are two lovely souls.
Joy always,
Susan
Geez… that pic looked so so droolworthy ! I didnt bother much about the recipe…as my jain kitchen will never let me cook that… but hey we can check out those restaurants when in Aamchi Mumbhai ! 😛
Thanks so much for the recipe! I was looking for a trustworthy one!!
Um…isn’t shark endangered though?!
Roshni, you are welcome. And ya the swimming ones are. These are the edible ones 😛
tried a vegetarian xacuti long time back but it’s been a while i gorged on serious goan food and espeially Xacuti. ANd yes i was pleasantly surprised to see a recipe- a once in a blue moon phenomenon u say; I hoot for regular appearances gal
Nooooooooooooo way! Unless I have another X post to do, lol.
Damn am I hungry after seeing that!
Definitely going to try this the next time I’m in Goa!!
Do that Bhav
The husband would be thrilled to try out this recipe! Will share with him! 🙂
Ah, I’d like a sample please 😛
Thanks for this and gonna try out this and make my Mom proud. (U know, I am a lazy cook 😉 )
Make that two of us. As far as making mom proud, I’ll just buy her a bunch of flowers. 😉
Two Xacuti posts in a single day. Booohoooo! What’s a Goan girl to do?
I want my Mamma.
Awwwwwwwwww, get that feeling totally.
You know, I have never had shark meat…now I am quite curious.
Glad for you at having demolished the letter X. Mom to the rescue, eh? 🙂
Sab Maa ki kripa hai Rickie 😀
The ground masala (minus coconut) sounds awfully like what we Mallus use, except that we don’t use it for fish, only for the different meats. I wonder how long the coconut has to be roasted. Should it turn brown?
Coconut is a staple in any Goan cuisine else it is not considered ‘good enough’, lol. The coconut needs to be roasted to light brown Shail, you will know by the aroma. Too brown will be too burnt to taste.
Sigh!Your first recipe and I can not taste..nainsaafi hai yeh 😀
Maine kaunsi invent kari hai. Come home, will give you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 😛
Sigh ! I too cannot taste 🙂 But did you just say we can try this with PAneer ?? 🙂
Well if you can have gobi manchurian, anything works, me thinks. But yes, mushroom xacuti is a given. Only for the paneer, fry them slices before you mix them with the gravy. They will taste much better.
Will definetely try this one out!
Do that and lemme know 🙂
Wow a recipe from your mummy I still remember eggplant sabji. This I will definitely try with paneer or mushroom. And also let my bro know who will do justice to the more authentic shark version 🙂
Oh yeah, that eggplant one is my fav.
I’d never heard of this before. Thanks for sharing!
Happy to help.
Sounds heavenly. I am going to try that with mackerel. I hope it will be as tasty.
Shark is more like chicken so it works the spices. I dunno about mackerel as it has a very distinct taste. Then too, experimentation is always good to do.
Wow… need to try this with paneer I guess after all Blogwati Gee ki pehli recipe jo hai 😉
Lol, meri kahan…..maine toh xerox kiya hai! It is an age old one. Any Goan household will testify 😀