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Once upon a Mangalorean Cookbook


I get so many crap forwards on my Highschool Whatsapp chat group, it's hard to keep abreast. We, the eight friends who make up this group all grew up together and went to the same school in a little coastal suburb called Bandra in Mumbai India. Even though it’s been over thirty years since we graduated, and even though we all live on different continents now, when we are on that chat group, we become those same teenagers again. And the kind of forwards that usually get tossed around tend to be the kind that reflect that particular era of our lives. You know … the kind that inspires uncontrollable snickers and snorts from Beavis and Butthead.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by this post that surfaced the other day. It was a PDF forward with the title: 207 page treasury of 375 Mangalorean recipes, possibly all the way back from our Great Grandparents' Culinary Skills. I just could not resist. I had to dive in and dig further. And what a treat it was! This was an exhaustive collection of recipes of the catholic community that hail from the coastal town on Mangalore in Karnataka. This was truly someone's life's work, each recipe painstakingly written as if being instructed by an old strict unflinching Mangalorean Grandma. This brought back fond memories of my childhood and the summers I spent with my childhood friend Vinay. He was my closest friend growing up and his home used to become my second home during summer vacation. Vinay and his family belong to this community of Mangalorean christians. 

Vinay's mother Aunty Charlotte is a phenomenal cook and was known for her Sanna's on Sunday, which she served with her signature spicy Pork curry. Sannas are steamed yeast fermented rice and lentil cakes. They are white as snow, pillowy soft bearing the heady sweet sour scent of yeast. Being porous, they are capable of absorbing healthy amounts of liquid, making them the perfect vehicle to transport hot and spicy Mangalorean Pork curry into your belly.  Aunty Charlotte's Sunday lunches still feature in my top five happiest food memories of childhood.

The Mangalorean catholics have a history of resilience and stubborn traditionalism, having broken away from their Portuguese ancestry. In her book "Curry; a tale of cooks and conquerors" Lizzy Collingham speaks in depth about Portuguese colonization. They insisted that locals living in the Portuguese state assimilate completely into the Portuguese way of life, forcing them to abandon their traditional Indian customs and traditions. Those who resisted were discriminated against and taxed severely, which led to their lands being confiscated. This sparked a large migration from Goa to Mangalore which lies further south on India's western coastline. In their new home of Mangalore, the people had the freedom to adhere to their traditional Hindu customs while staying true to their newfound catholic faith.  This migration enabled them to preserve their unique lifestyle.

The foods of the Mangalorean catholics are influenced heavily by Kerala, which isn't surprising, given that Mangalore lies barely 20 kms from the Kerala Karnataka border. While the cuisine remains rooted to and bears many similarities to the cuisine of Goa, one can’t help notice the nod towards the Indian south in their recipes, leading to an ultimately unique and completely different cuisine.

Perusing through those recipes, I remembered fondly all those meals on Sundays at Aunty Charlotte’s. I think I need to give her a call and share these recipes with her. Let’s see what the true expert on Mangalorean cuisine thinks of this collection. Let’s see as well if I can score another invite for Sannas on Sunday for when I visit next.







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