Cashews are a conversation starter, after all they are
shaped like the ‘inverted comma’ quotation symbols, aren’t they?
This versatile fruit/nut is a favourite across the country ,
whether it is roasted on pulavs, or ground into pastes for curries as varied as
the Punjabi butter chicken or the hyderabadi qurmas, even the tamilian pongal
is studded with toasted cashew nuts. Sweet dishes like kaju katli barfi and
even payassam cannot do without this mildly sweet and creamy nut.
A master of disguises playing both sweet and savoury roles
with elan, the nut itself is a scene stealer even without the garb of disguise.
Diwali celebrations warrant the mandatory visit to friends and relatives homes,
and amongst a wide variety of delicious home made karanji and chakli and aloo
tikki and chana chaats, one woman sheepishly admitted that she had had no time
to prepare home made delicacies that year. She conjured up an assortment of
salted, peppered and spiced cashew nuts instead, needless to say they were gone
within a blink of an eye. Cashews are a perfect celebration treat.
Goa shares an even more intimate relationship with cashews. From
late march to mid April, is the cashew harvest season, a time when the cashew
apples are harvested and consumed. These delicate fruits don’t take well to
travel and thus is not available at your local fruit market, for a taste of these
flame hued fruits you must travel to the sunny state of Goa. This is also the
time when alcoholic drinks like the Urak and it’s triple distilled version ‘feni’
are made. Cashew nuts and their flavoured versions are the favourite touristy
souvenir all through the year, but at this particular time all the avatars of
the fruit take centre stage_ the extremely photogenic cashew apple, the equally
enticing Urak, and the robust Feni.
Park Hyatt Goa, recently celebrated the “cashew trail” for
its fourth consecutive year. Started in 2012 in association with Madame rosa
distillery, the event traces the journey of the cashew fruit. This year there
was an extensive event packed line up which behgan from the 10th of
April all the way to 19th april, and culminating in a cashew trail
brunch.
The brunch,
held at the resort property on south Goa was attended by local food connoiseurs,
to national and international travel and food enthusiasts.
Familiar
dishes had got the cashew twist, whether it was the Feni flambed prawns, or the
Urak marinated chicken wrapped ina banana leaf, Rawa and cashew encrusted king
fish and even broccoli and zucchini were wok tossed with cashew.
Bartenders worked
their magic with Feni and Urak inspired cocktails, and spirits were high as
people enjoyed a barbeque style brunch under the swaying palm and coconut
trees. A live band played popular Goan Konkani songs along with English classics,
while children were kept entertained with painted tattoos, sack races, and
cashew stomping.
A sprightly
and well attended couples cooking competition was underway as well, where
dishes inspired by the cashew took centrestage. With winners walking away with
vacation vouchers to Hyatt properties across the country.
The highlight
of the event though was the auctioning of 45 litres of Feni, known as the “lambranza”.
Lambranza incidentally meant rememberance, whether it was in memory of the late
artist Mario Miranda who had done the artwork for the Feni or in rememberance
of this sunkissed golden afternoon I couldn’t tell, but it was a thouroghly
enjoyable experience to see the bidding of the Feni. What started out at a
humble 5000 rupees had crossed the 100000 mark! After which I lost count. A similar
auction is held every year and the money is given to a charitable organisation
making Cashew for a good cause.
So, the next
time you are contemplating a holiday with a culinary twist, or even a peek in
to the countries rich and varied culinary heritage, make a dtae with the cashew
and you will be surprised at all that your favourite dry fruit can do.
The Park
Hyatt Goa had a veritable smorgasbord of events to choose from this year, such
as Feni tasting masterclasses, a cashew cycling trail to and froim the cashew
platations, an excursion to the cashew factory to experience first hand the
making of Urak and the distilling of feni, cooking workshops for children and
cocktail making and competions by Shatbi Basu. Each year they get bigger and
grander with the cashew celebrations, so enquire about it on your next trip to
Goa, and you wont be disappointed.
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