Subscribe to RSSA nonvegetarian Konkani thali
Many Konkanis who live in the coastal areas are seafood lovers. This goes to such an extent that, some people call all seafood as “vegetarian” :)). I have seen some people who eat fish 6 days a week. One day -usually Saturday or Monday, are purely vegetarian. Some have started eating chicken from the last one generation, but still seafood wins hands down. I think it is mainly because we get very fresh river as well as sea fish as we live on the coast. Not that all the Konkanis are non-vegetarians, many are purely vegetarian, but today’s post is all about seafood lovers.
My Aayi was a vegetarian before her marriage. But after she got married, she started cooking as well as eating fish. Her fish dishes are just out-of-the-world. Usually all Konkani seafood dishes are served quite hot. At my home, we all love seafood. But SIL and I, not so much. Pappa and Aayi like it, but they won’t miss it if they don’t eat it for a while. My bro and husband are huge fans, so whenever they are at home, fish is cooked.
Everything changed for me after we moved to US. I have tried lot of different seafood here. But it is never the same. Our local Chinese grocery store has some “known” fishes but most of the time they are spoiled by the time I bring them home. Since they are frozen, the taste is never the same even if I buy the freshest looking fish. I thought it was because the way I cook them, but when Aayi visited us last year, she tried and the result was same. They just don’t taste good.
So when we visited India in March, we were all set to eat some of our favorite fish dishes. The day we reached Bangalore, my bro took us to “Fish Land” - An old style restaurant near Majestic, which serves Konkani style sea food. For the first time, I finished everything in my thali (that’s an achievement, if you know me). Then we went to seafood heaven. Our native. Aayi prepared us everything that we loved. So I decided to write this post and clicked few pictures.
This is one of the favorite Konkani seafood thalis which everyone loves. Writing about this is like a torture for me as I know I won’t be able to eat it until I visit India again :(. But anyway, I want it on this blog, so here it goes.
- Plain rice (some people like to serve boiled rice/matta rice but at my home, we always eat white rice)
- Alle kande ambat
- Kokum kadi
- Bangde dhoddak
- Bangde fry
- Mango pickle
- Onion rings and lemon
Shilpa, this post is truly a torture for me too. Firstly, the color color of the Alle kaandya ambat, dhoddak and that fish fry, and upon tht the mention of Fishland in B’lore :(…Am really homesick now …
June 19th, 2008 at 7:49 pmThis is one of the prettiest thalis i’ve seen! The color just rocks, Shilpa! Btw, the lil’ sketches for you and Aayi on the sidebar are so cute
June 19th, 2008 at 8:06 pmThe thali is truely delicious.This is lunch time for me and it is difficult to resist.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:50 pmI am a vegeterian but slowly through your posts I am getting tempted to try fish.
You and Aayi are really gifted.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:08 pmHi Shilpa..
My first post on your blog…All your recipes are superb…Its been long since you posted a chicken recipe…Do we smell something of chicken in the next week?????????
June 20th, 2008 at 12:22 amShilpa….I am a seafood lover & your pic is making my mouth water!! ;p
June 20th, 2008 at 3:18 amPass me the thali to me. I willbe really hapy with it.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:00 amEven Bengali and Kashmiri brahmins eat fish and some meat in Kashmir too, still are vegetarians!! It comes from some history I think!
June 20th, 2008 at 6:20 amThali looks wonderful.I still got to get used to cooking Sea food and certain kind of meat though, I call it Lingayat mentality!:D
Fish dishes in this thali are my favourite. I am really longing to go back and eat all this now
June 20th, 2008 at 8:48 amoooh! wow!! what a spread Shilpa! Yum Yumm!!
June 20th, 2008 at 9:20 amThis is an absolutely fantastic website. Your recipes are such a joy to read, and I am certainly set to try some.
It is rare to come across someone so genuine in food writing, nowadays.
Keep up the good work.
—A Britain-based admirer of yours (and your mother’s) recipes.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:35 pmShilpa, the thali looks gorgeous. And what a great idea to have your mom blog with you. I am so looking forward to this
June 21st, 2008 at 5:55 pmShipa,
I am a vegetarian, Can’t say much about fish, but the thali surely looks colorful and delicious!
June 21st, 2008 at 6:47 pmHey Shilpa - you inspired me to make this meal for lunch today. I couldnt make the dhodak but I made shrimp pickle instead and instead of bangde fry I made mhori fry. Delicious. Thanks for the awesome idea! It took a lot of time but well worth it. Hubby was very happy
Shilpa: Wow…Fish thali here in US. Thats great Sudeepta. Looks like I too have to try something soon.
June 21st, 2008 at 7:42 pmShilpa
Good to hear you are a konkani vegetarian!
Delicious meal! and that bangda fry looks so good.
And do you realize bangda is very high in Omega 3s. Just what the doctor ordered! :-))
Sorry to hear that you will not be going home soon. Not to worry, i will be going to Kumta next month and will try these ‘fresh’ and report back! :-E
O, I’ll remember to bring pics too :-E
Kudos on a excellent post! and hats off to your mom!
O, I love those little cartoons of you and your mom you have on the side. Cute!
June 21st, 2008 at 10:00 pmShilpa: If you call chicken also vegetarian, I am a pure vegetarian :)).I wish I could find bangda here. Have to find out which other fish has high Omega 3.
:(( You are bad ..I know you will have good fish in Kumta :(( I feel so jealous.
Hey Shilpa,
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:51 amwow…. super thali… color is so spectacular. And photo of mom and daughter is very cute.
This post is making ME crave fish now too! Wow…the colours are fantastic and everything is making my mouth water terribly!
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 amThis is sumptuous spread Shilpa !!!
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 amShilpa, I love your recipes and had the honour of posting one inspired by your blog today. Thank you!
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 amdelicious and mouthwatering thali….i luved it
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pmWow Shilpa. The non-vegetarian thali looks wonderful. I am a konkani too, living in US & so I miss all this fresh mom cooked seafood.Looking for some more konkani delicacies ahead.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pmNice pics…..
Solkadhi is missing!
Shilpa: I have kokum kadi in above which is the version more popular at our place.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 pmOk…Ok..
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 pmI guess kokum kadi doesn’t contain coconut milk. right?
I belong to the clan of konkani brahmins that has remained vegetarian
my uncles eat… a couple of my aunts have started eating after marriage… but as a family, we’re predominantly vegetarian. I always get asked, ‘Oh you’re from Mangalore… then you must be eating fish!”
I have eaten this fish fry … my cousin is married to a GSB from Karwar and she made this for me once. It is the only way I can eat fish
on the rarest of rare occasions that I do 
The thali looks so inviting. I just got back from home… had ambya sasam, chowchow, dali saar etc. Bliss!
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 amShilpa, I believe u live in Kansas, u might find Bangda in Surya grocery store in Olathe. The fresh ones are available in chinese stores, they are called Jack mackeral or Indian mackeral. By the way the thali looks awesome.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pmVow Shilpa….very presentable..Ths thali is a feast for d eyes of all Seafood lovers like me..it luks so mouthwatering..!!..With ur wonderful recipies..U make me feel hungry every time i visit ur blog
Btwn,il b tryng ur Chicken tikka masala recipie soon..its v.appealing..thnks for sharing
Meenal
June 26th, 2008 at 3:37 pmHI SHILPA,
BUT I THINK A NON VEG KONKANI THALI IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT A SUNGTA/BANGDYA KISMOOR.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM ORIGINALLY A KOKNASTHA MARRIED TO A GOAN GSB,BUT IM SO USED TO THE GOAN FOOD,THAT MY OWN PEOPLE ARE AMAZED AT THE WAY I HV BEGUN TO EAT SEAFOOD,AND NOT JUST EAT ALSO PREPARE.:)THNAKS TO U AND UR WEBSITE.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 amWow… looks great
August 8th, 2008 at 3:39 am