As part of a new "Taste of Home" promotion, the Fairmont Dubai will be inviting a series of keen cooks - not professional chefs - from all over the world to take the reigns at Spectrum on One and introduce guests to authentic dishes and family favourites from their own kitchens. First on the list is the mother-of-two Audrey De Souza from Mapusa, Goa. She gives us a quick introduction to Goan food.
A cuisine with many influences
About 450 years of Portuguese occupation made an indelible mark on this cuisine - and fusion dishes such as prawn balchao and pork vindaloo are not the only result.
"Ingredients such as tamarind from Africa, potatoes and pineapples from Ecuador, tomatoes from Peru, peppers from Sri Lanka and cashew nuts from Brazil were brought over by Portuguese missionaries," De Souza says.
Goan food today is a "fusion of cultures throughout the centuries", she says, with Arab, Brazilian, French, African, Malaysian, British and Indian (particularly Konkan) influences.
It's all about the seafood
Thanks to its coastal position, Goa is blessed with an abundance of seafood including kingfish, prawns, shrimps, lobster, crabs, mackerel and pomfret.
De Souza warns that a Goan meal can be considered incomplete if fish, rice and curry cooked with coconut fail to make an appearance.
Important ingredients
As well as the ubiquitous coconut - freshly grated and in cream, milk and oil form - De Souza says that it is kokum (a blackish-red fruit with a salty-sour flavour) that "gives Goan cuisine its particular appeal". Jaggery, black cardamom, Xacuti masala powder, kanji rice and piri-piri are also widely used.
If you want your dishes to taste absolutely authentic, you'll need to grind the spices on a stone and cook them in a clay pot over a fire, to impart a deliciously smoky flavour.
Must-try dishes
Goan fish curry. "It's a staple in the Goan diet. You prepare it as you would a normal Indian curry, but the spice mix is a bit different with the addition of coconut milk and kokum," says De Souza. (See the Bites blog for her recipe for Goan prawn curry.)
Popular street food includes potato chops (potato patties stuffed with minced beef and shallow fried), ras omelette (a plain omelette dipped in spicy coconut-based gravy and garnished with lime and onions) and chamucus (Goan samosas, filled with chicken or beef). Another favourite is stuffed pomfret, which De Souza describes as "a combination of aromatic spices stuffed in pomfret, which is then shallow fried.
"This makes the skin very crisp and easy to tear off and the inside very soft and moist".
From tomorrow until June 15, Audrey De Souza will be cooking traditional Goan food every evening at Spectrum on One. A four-course family-style dinner costs Dh150 per person. For more information or to make a reservation, call 04 332 5555 or email dbi.fdconcierge@fairmont.com
Stuff a pomfret yourself
- In a small pan, heat a little oil and add chopped onion, garlic and ginger. Fry until the onions are translucent.
- Add dry grated coconut and cook until golden. Add turmeric, red chilli powder and a little tamarind and mix well.
- Cool this mixture and grind to a smooth paste.
- Add chopped coriander and stuff the cavity of the pomfret with the paste. You can use mackerel if you prefer.
- Marinate for an hour or overnight.
- Dust the outside with rice flour and shallow fry on both sides until crispy.
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Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Spec%20sheet
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
BABYLON
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The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders
Stuart Kells, Counterpoint Press
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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Sleep Well Beast
The National
4AD
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE finals day
Friday, April 13
Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Selected fixtures
All times UAE
Wednesday
Poland v Portugal 10.45pm
Russia v Sweden 10.45pm
Friday
Belgium v Switzerland 10.45pm
Croatia v England 10.45pm
Saturday
Netherlands v Germany 10.45pm
Rep of Ireland v Denmark 10.45pm
Sunday
Poland v Italy 10.45pm
Monday
Spain v England 10.45pm
Tuesday
France v Germany 10.45pm
Rep of Ireland v Wales 10.45pm
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Oppenheimer
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The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000