CASEY MONTEIRO
In Goa, Christmas savouries go beyond being sweet. They could be crunchy as well. But today, not many are familiar with certain Christmas crunchies simply because they are not easily available and stocked only in select shops, thereby taking them off the Christmas platter. One such crunchy is mandare.
In the past, when making bebincas was the privilege of the elite, mainly because of the expense involved in the making, the locals, usually the working class, created their savouries and eats using whatever was in plenty and easily available.
So, from coconut to jaggery to pumpkin, all common ingredients found their way into Christmas sweets and a customary sweet back then was mandare – made from pumpkins.
Not only were pumpkins easy to grow, but they also had a longer shelf life. They were harvested in October, providing sufficient time for people to start preparing their Christmas crunchies.
WHAT ARE MANDARE?
For retired banker, Maura Fernandes from Verna, it was a Christmas staple at her maternal home in Vasco. Growing up, she recalls her mother making them. “Even after I got married, people in the neighbourhood in Verna would prepare them,” she says.
Mandare are made of pumpkin and rice. These are boiled, cooked and pressed into shapes like small round chapatis and dried in the sun. “Once they were well dried, we would store them in tins,” remembers Maura.
Preparation to make these ‘fryums’ begins as early as a month prior because the batter shapes need to be thoroughly dried. These are then stored in airtight containers or jars to prevent them from getting moist.
In the book Cozinha de Goa, History and Tradition of Goan Food, author Fatima da Silva Gracias describes mandare as huge wafers (or papadams), and explains that they are prepared from home-grown pumpkin and rice, which are ground to a paste.
In the book 'Cozinha de Goa, History and Tradition of Goan Food', author Fatima da Silva Gracias describes mandare as huge wafers (or papadams), and explains that they are prepared from home-grown pumpkin and rice, which are ground to a paste.
Bright colours of red, pink, yellow and green are added to the dough, and a small portion of the dough is taken and spread on the back of an aluminium plate and steamed in a traditional copper vessel, konfro, and then sun dried, she writes.
These colourful fryums are a favourite, especially with children, and were traditionally fried and eaten on Christmas Eve.
WHERE HAVE THE MANDARES GONE?
Mandares, as a Christmas delicacy, have become a rarity in Goan households, with some not even aware of their existence. Even sweet shops that sell Christmas sweets and savouries don’t stock them, barring a few exceptions like Luizinha Stores at the Mapusa market.
So, why have mandare been pushed off the consuada platter? Fatima writes how it’s possibly because the yellow pumpkin, from which it is made, is no longer widely grown in people’s houses. It is also time-consuming, she adds.
So, why have mandare been pushed off the consuada platter? Fatima writes how it’s possibly because the yellow pumpkin, from which it is made, is no longer widely grown in people’s houses. It is also time-consuming, she adds.
Marie-Lou Alemao, a retired teacher from Caranzalem, remembers eating the mandare, when she was young, from the kuswar that people sent them. “I feel it is not being prepared like earlier times because of the time factor and its tedious preparation,” she avers.
SWEET SIMILARITIES
Mandare have a lot in common with fryums, prepared in several households and which are eaten during the monsoons.
Architect Nickita F Dias says her mum makes a similar dough, but from sabudana (sago), which is dried in the sun and fried during the rains, when things like fish and other food items are difficult to find.
Currently, mandare are available in a few shops which sell Christmas sweets in Mapusa, Panjim and Margao.
