Touch of sweetness: How Mumbai’s Goans are using black jaggery to stay true to culture, memories

For Bandra-based Genevieve Gonsalves, Goan black jaggery holds a very special place in her home. It is not just any ingredient but one that evokes many emotions and the taste of which she yearns for. It makes her nostalgic and reminds Gonsalves of her mother, who passed away years ago, and the time she spent in the sunshine state as a young girl. She says, "My mom used to prepare many dishes with the Goan jaggery. She used to prepare tizan (a Goan porridge), alle belle (Goan pancake with coconut), fov (made from flat rice) - all of which have jaggery in them." Like many other Goan families, Gonsalves's mother also made patoleos (sweet pancakes) for August 15, celebrated as the Feast of the Assumption, among the Catholic community. "Papa would also give us a slice of coconut and jaggery on the first of the month."

The ingredient is so important that every time the 53-year-old visits Goa, she makes sure to get back at least a kilo of the distinctly sweet ingredient from a Goan lady in Siolim. It lasts for months as she uses it judiciously and had enough stock to last her even during the pandemic. One would think that it is because she uses a lot of black jaggery in her food but in fact, it is the complete opposite today, a stark different from her days growing up in the city, when her mother was around. She says, "Now, I use the black jaggery instead of sugar to make my porridge. When my husband is around, I use it every day in the morning to make with oats or laapsi (sweet dish)."

Black jaggery is used in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes in Goan cuisine including vonn, a traditional sweet. Photo Courtesy: Marian D'costa

Goan connection
Recently, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar launched Gourmet Travelogues, an initiative, according to executive chef Dane Fernandes, to bring to light lesser-known parts of India's culinary history through the hyper-regional cuisines of India. For the first limited-edition menu called The Goan Chapter, Fernandes, the in-house Goan entered familiar territory by visiting Goa and rediscovering the cuisine to put together dishes, he reimagined with the help of childhood friend, Chef Avinash Martins who runs Cavatina in Goa's Benaulim. He explains, "Goan food is an amalgamation of Indo-Portuguese, Saraswat Hindu and Aboriginal (tribal) cuisine. It's so diverse and yet very comforting." And, being Goan himself, Fernandes says he wanted diners at the five-star property to experience the state's rich cultural history.

Like every other cuisine, Goan cuisine has many interesting ingredients which give it the many flavours. Fernandes explored the use of many ingredients and unique elements like kokum, Goan vinegar and chorizo, xacuti masala, recheado masala, jackfruit, cashew, local chilli but his favourite was black jaggery, which he says is a secret ingredient he likes to work with. "Native to Goa, black jaggery is of many kinds, the mild sweetness, caramelised flavour and slight nuttiness makes it the perfect silent hero in most of my dishes," he explains.

Black jaggery is used in a variety of dishes in Goan cuisine. The jaggery is primarily made from the sap of the coconut palm or from sugarcane and sold in Goa's markets in a distinctive pyramid shape. Apart from tizan, alle belle, fov and patoleos, it is also used to make other Goan sweet specialities like bol, dodol and pinag among others.

Chef Dane Fernandes uses the black jaggery in many dishes but his favourite is using it while making Tonnache Bangde, which also featured on the menu. Photo Courtesy: Chef Dane Fernandes/JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar

With such extensive use, Fernandes's love for the ingredient comes as no surprise. The kind of place it has had in Gonsalves's home for decades is a proof. The city-based chef makes use of the versatility of the ingredient not only in sweet but also savoury dishes. He explains, "I use it as a topping for the sanna (toddy-fermented Goan bread), one can also combine it with coconut as delicious stuffing for the traditional Alle Belle (a tea time crepe-like pancake). I even add it to the ragi sheera to play out the delicate flavours which my four-year-old son enjoys indulging in." His personal favourite dish made using black jaggery is the Tonnache Bangde, which also featured on the menu. It is a traditional mackerel preparation marinated with in-house koji, cold smoked with hay and coated in traditional Goan recheado masala. The dish is Yakitori grilled and served with their take on rutabaga pickle and recheado kewpie mayo.

The fact that the type of jaggery is used in different cuisines in the state, and is made by different people, also means it influences flavours in dishes in varied ways. "Since it is prepared in home kitchens and local farms, no two batches of black jaggery ever taste exactly the same. The flavour profile changes with each harvest. That's the beauty and challenge in working with this ingredient every day," says the city chef. While the use remains the same, he adds that the form may change, and he personally likes to grind it using a mortar and pestle for a finer texture.

Marian D'costa of Aiyo, Patrao!, a two-year-old delivery kitchen, makes use of jaggery in savoury dishes such as pork sorpotel and pork aad maas. Photo Courtesy: Marian D'costa

Sweet and savoury tales
Elsewhere in the city, Marian D'costa of Aiyo, Patrao!, a two-year-old city-based delivery kitchen that dishes out Goan and Kerala cuisine, rediscovered her love for the ingredient much later. It was when she started using black jaggery after embracing the art of cooking in her late 20s, and hasn't looked back ever since. "Coconut palm jaggery renders a certain deep sweetness and smoked coconut-y richness. Apart from flavouring, it also gives the dish a beautiful colour. For a sorpotel, it gives a gorgeous crimson or even mahogany, and for the Goan vonn, a deep umber," explains the 32-year-old.

While she remembers her mother buying such jaggery, less than 20 years ago, some of her earliest memories of consuming the ingredient was when tasting, what she calls the best food cart sorpotel, she has ever had, in Majorda in Goa. "When asked about the recipe, the kind lady shyly mentioned the black coconut palm jaggery as just one of the many secret ingredients," she adds.

Now, many years later, D'costa, sources her black jaggery from Mapusa market. She uses the jaggery not only in her pork sorpotel, popular Goan dish but also other traditional specialities like pork aad mass (made from meat on the bones) and vonn (a sweet dish made with palm jaggery). The Bandra-based school counsellor-turned-home chef, who runs the kitchen with her partner Ashwin Nair, says she adds the ingredient in her dishes for two main reasons. "I love the colour and taste it gives a dish. It's not overtly sweet, but has a subtle yet sensual bitterness that takes certain Goan dishes to another level." In fact, she doesn't want to limit it to the dishes she already uses it for and wants to try using it to flavour her red meats before grilling and maybe even in a chocolate dessert soon.

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