15 Best Goan Recipes | Popular Goan Recipes

A trip to the beach can cure a bad mood and so can Goan food.

Goan Recipes- Goa's got everything a hot tourist destination does: sun, sand, beach and most importantly, good food. Authentic Goan food is one of the biggest reasons tourists flock to this glorious state. It's spunky; it's got personality and is seriously addictive!

Goan food is extremely different from the food of other regions and this can be attributed to its rich and diverse cultural heritage. It's a potpourri of flavours: beef, pork, coconut, jaggery, cashew and an endless variety of seafood. A lot of Goan dishes like Prawn balchao and Sorpotel are well known and relished around the world. (More - From golden beaches to Goan recipes: Explore Goa)

Goan food has many similarities with Portuguese food and this is mainly because of Portuguese inhabitants who lived there for almost 450 years. Goans didn't take after their prominent use of garlic in every dish, but definitely latched on to their flair for bread-making. You'll see that Goans often swap their regular bowl of steamed rice with soft and warm bread. Spices, fish and coconut have dominated Goan food for centuries and it's only in the last few years it has started to be featured with new, more innovative ingredients like fenni and vinegar.

We've put together 15 excellent Goan recipes that you can whip up in your kitchen with great ease.

1. Goan Fish Curry

What's Goan food without authentic fish curry? This recipe comes exclusively to us from the head chef of Leela Palace, Goa and is a must-try. (Recipe video)

_{Tender fish marinated in lemon and cooked in a rich masaledaar gravy.}

2. Goan Prawn Curry

Crunch your way to juicy prawns cooked in a coconut milk based Goan curry and let the magic of Goan food take over.

_{Also known as Ambot Tik, Goan prawn curry is a creamy, delicious dish to savour with all your heart!}

3.Fish Recheado

'Recheado' means 'stuffed' in Portuguese. Simply put, it's a pomfret infused with a tangy recheado paste and fried with onions till crisp and golden brown. (Recipe: Recheado masala) (Recipe Video)

_{Here is a masala stuffed pomfret recipe that will surely make your mouth water.}

4. Bebinca

This delicious Goan dessert is carefully layered to perfection. It is prepared using coconut milk, eggs, butter, and most importantly, jaggery. Traditional Bebinca has about seven to sixteen layers but you can have as many as you wish. Each bite of this cake makes the next one seem even more exciting.

_{Bebinca or bibik is a pudding like Goan dessert with layers of cake made with coconut milk, eggs, butter and flour.}

5.Pork Vindaloo

This is perhaps the most sensational and memorable Goan dish. 'Vin' stands for vinegar and 'ahlo', pronounced and written as 'aloo', means garlic. Chillies, ginger, garlic and cumin make the luscious red _masala _which is mixed with vinegar laced pork and cooked in a fiery red gravy till it's flaky and tender.

_{Pork meat flavored with sweet and tangy flavours of gur, chillies, ginger, garlic and fried perfect.}

6.Rava Fried Fish

Anyone who has been to Goa or heard of Goan food will know this dish. Fish fillets flavoured with ginger, garlic and red chillies are fried to perfection and garnished with aromatic coriander. (Recipe video)

_{An easy to make fried fish recipe enriched with ginger, garlic and red chillies.}

7.Chicken Xacuti

Xacuti is back and this time for those looking for some juicy chunks of spice infused chicken. A great chicken dish to add on a dinner party menu, serve with any Indian bread or is best enjoyed on a bed of hot rice.(Recipe video)

_{A delicious Goan chicken curry that exudes an aromatic flavour.} 

8.Chicken Cafreal

This dish originated in the Portuguese colony and hence takes a Portuguese name. Chicken is marinated in an extremely spicy paste and cooked with vinegar and rum till the chicken turns tender. (Recipe video)

_{Serve this Goan favourite with chips and salad, or plain rice.}

9.Pork Sorpotel

This Portuguese inspired dish is cooked in almost every catholic household in Goa for Christmas. It is said that authentic Sorpotel is heated for about 20 minutes each day after the first and tastes best on the 3rd or 4th day.

_{Pork Sorpotel}

10.Goan Nevri

Commonly known as 'karanji', sweet small balls made of flour are stuffed with coconut, sugar, cardamom and almonds. A famous sweet dish from Goa, this recipe is prepared especially during Ganesh Chaturthi and Diwali festivals.

_{Sweet dumplings made of maida or flour and stuffed with coconut, sugar, poppy seeds, cardamom and almonds.}

11. Bolinhas (Goan cookies)

Cookies with the flow of semolina, crunch of cashews and delicious flavor of coconut. These cookies are a perfect snacking dish to accompany a hot cup of tea.