-Brian Mendonça
Looking at my Nalli
Gosht, served on a silver platter, I knew this was the right way to
celebrate Women’s Day with Queenie. A fierce shot of ‘Fenitini’ – feni laced
with cranberry juice put me into the mood.
The Kache Gosht ki Biryani was
a Hyderabadi favourite and it came with raita, a chilli dried in the sun, Bagarey Baingan and some pickle. Sheermal
cut into quarters was served in place of pao. Sheermal
is part of Awadhi cuisine and is a saffron flat bread with a touch of cardamom.
We were in a sprawling old Goan house in Saligao which
was tastefully refurbished. Cryptically
called Saligao Stories,* artefacts in
the house boasted ikat weaves,
porcelain plates, a whole wall of intricate block prints, and a gallery of
black and white photographs. There were paintings for sale. The stories
exemplified by the food platters were two, viz. the Hyderabadi and the Goan. We
decided to opt for the Deccan. Indeed we felt like nawabs served by the custodians of the house.
I remember the biryani I used to enjoy at the bustling Alpha
hotel, opposite Secunderabad station in the late-1990’s when I was pursuing my
Ph.D in Hyderabad. What I liked most was the boiled egg they served with the
biryani. For Chinese we used to head to Jimmy’s Nanking, again in Secunderabad city. On one occasion, my friend
Elish was divested of a princely sum for an exotic sounding Chinese dish called
‘Egg Foo Yung.’ It turned out to be an omlet. Universal
bakery on M. G road made delicious burgers.
I felt privileged to be treated to a meal by Professor
Isaac Sequeira at the Nizam Club on Public Garden Road. Professor Sequeira was from Sequeira vaddo in Saligao. In faraway Hyderabad
he took me under his wing and honed my appreciation for western classical music.
He was famous for his phrase, ‘Kator re
bhaji’ which meant, ‘Go for it.’ He was Head, Department of English, and
Dean, Faculty of Arts, Osmania University, Hyderabad when he passed on at the
age of 75 in September 2006.
Two months earlier Professor Lakshmi Chandra, my Ph.D
supervisor and mentor, and her mother Mrs. Ruttonsha hosted a reading of my
poems under the aegis of the Poetry Society of Hyderabad in the Secunderabad
Club.
Meals used to be served in the hostel mess at CIEFL,
near Tarnaka,
Hyderabad, as early as 8 p.m.
We used to devour the delicious dishes of Andhra cuisine. The steaming rasam, and buttermilk used to go down
well with the main courses. On one occasion when I was on the Mess committee, I
instructed the cooks to make Goan Chicken
Xacuti for the hostelites as a Sunday special. I remember how the cooks
could not understand what barishab (fennel
seeds) were. I had to call home for help!
But seriously I would need to go back to Saligao Stories for the ‘decadent’
dessert , Khubani ka meetha. Apricots
from Hyderabad stewed and served with fresh cream in Goa – a meeting of two
worlds.
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*www.saligaostories.com Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 25 March 2018. Pix taken at Saligao Stories, Saligao, on 8 March 2018.
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