Goa cuisine is extremely popular and the spices and flavors used in the food are absolutely amazing. Seafood forms the staple diet of the Goan cuisine and no meal is complete without fish. Rice and fish are undoubtedly the staple food and some of the most common varieties of fish used include tuna and pomfret. Some of the varieties of shellfish that one can enjoy include mackerel, crabs, prawns, lobster, mussels and squid.
Hindu Goan cuisine uses a lot of vegetables, pumpkins, lentils, bamboo shoots, roots etc. Coconut oil is used to prepare most of these dishes. Goan Hindus eat fish and chicken on most days and some days they follow strict vegetarian diet due to religious reasons.
Some of the popular Hindu Goan dishes include fish curry and rice, fried fish, dangar or fish cutlets, bhaji or shak made from vegetables, tondak made out of beans. Goan Catholic cuisine is also seafood based and a lot of spices are also used. Seafood, chicken, beef and pork dishes are quite popular and some of the well-known dishes include arroz doze, balchao, chamucas, xacuti, sanna, vindaloo and croquettes.
Chilis are used extensively in Goan food and most of the dishes are extremely spicy. The goan bread called pao is also quite popular usually eaten for breakfast along with some kind of goan curry. Lunch and dinner usually comprise of fish and rice or those who are vegetarian can consume lots of lentils, different types of vegetable preparation and rice.
Baji-pao is the traditional Goan breakfast, which is ideally a plate of stewed vegetables, which contains coconut flavor and is served with traditional Goan bread called pao. Lunch and Dinner is mostly Goan fish curry with rice. A lot of dried fish is also consumed along with fish curry and rice. Vegetarian food is also easily available and strict vegetarians can enjoy vegetable stews that are flavored with coconut, herbs and chilly. Cottage cheese is also part of the vegetarian diet and is prepared in different ways.
Where desserts are concerned, one of the most popular items is undoubtedly bebinca, which is a kind of pudding prepared from coconut oil, sugar and egg yolks. A variation of this pudding is called batica, which is served warm and dodol usually prepared during Christmas. Though it may come as a surprise, lassi is extremely popular in Goa, which is a drink prepared from water and curd and is flavored with sugar to make it sweet lassi or salt to give a salty flavor.
Goan food is truly delectable and when visiting Goa, one should gorge on all the delicious delicacies that this amazing place has to offer. Goa food is sure to please even the most discerning travelers in the world.