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Mangalore Special

Mangalore Recipes

 Kuswar

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Bangude pulimunchi, silver-grey mackerels straight from the seas lapping the Mangalore coast and cooked in a fiery tamarind-red chilli sauce without the ubiquitous coconut, its chicken equivalent “Kori bananje”, crawly-fresh crab masala, Marwai Aajadina (shell fish dry curry) and the steamed rice delicacies all - Aritha pundi (dumplings), Neer Dosa (lacy pancakes), Appam and Kori Rotti (dry rice flakes dipped in gravy before serving) ! Doesn’t it want one to break into a Yakshagana waltz in sheer ecstasy?

Welcome to Mangalore city. It's hilly. It's a seaport.  And it's getting increasingly famous for its distinctive and fiery cuisine. A cuisine of flavoursome chicken and prawn curries made with fresh coconut milk and fiery  masalas, and a vegetarian repertoire that ranges from red cucumber to raw jackfruit and white pumpkin to green banana and taste of its own Pork Bafat and  Sorpatel...Yummy!!

The city is cosmopolitan in its structure and food habits. There are the Bunts of the former South Kanara district, a community of  Brahmin vegetarian eaters and robust non-vegetarians who make their food w ith coconut milk and flavouring agents like tamarind, kokum and raw mango; there is the Mangalorean Christian who adds beef and pork to his cooking pot; and the Moplas, an interesting species of Malabari Muslims with Arab blood in their veins and a rich and spicy cuisine of chicken, meat, egg and biryanis.

Fish, of course, is the staple diet of Mangalore especially Kane (lady fish) to really appreciate this delicacy when it is cooked as a gassi or fried with rawa and masala and served before you.

Epicures believe that fresh coconut, chillies and the Mangalorean mind together create culinary magic.
Mangaloreans love rice in all forms - red grain rice,  sannas (idli fluffed with toddy or yeast), pancakes, rice rottis, kori rotti (a dry, crisp, almost wafer-thin rice rotti which is served with chicken curry as a delicacy), and neer dosa. Patrode, a special dish  prepared by steaming stuffed colocasia leaves, is a delicacy not to be missed. Akki rotti, or rice rotti, is a favourite not only in Mangalore but also in Malnad and Kodagu.

They have some unusual food there in Mangalore and that's because they bring some unusual ingredients to their cooking. Like the local spinach Besale which grows wildly and abundantly, raw banana and bamboo shoot. And the jackfruit and breadfruit, fruits used as vegetables in Mangalorean cooking, and a sweet cucumber called Taute that is actually a vegetable treated like a fruit and used extensively in the making of Sambar. They are fairly health-conscious, these Mangaloreans,and that is why they rely on jaggery that is made of palm and not sugarcane. It makes the Payasam that much more special.