If you were to visit a Mangalurean Catholic person’s house just before Christmas, the air of festivity would be unmistakable. There would be a Christmas tree in a corner, already decorated, and bunting would be put up around the house. The smells from the kitchen would immediately draw you there, and you would see boxes and boxes of delicious sweets – kalkals, rose cookies, fudge and, of course, the essential plum cake – the real stars of the show. The sweets are made ahead of Christmas, so that the day itself can be enjoyed at leisure. Goan and Mangalurean Catholic families follow many similar traditions, in culture as well as food. For both, Christmas is not only important for its religious significance, but it’s a festival that brings the whole family together. And the thing that facilitates this bond is food. One Christmas tradition that Goan and Mangalurean Catholics share is making the kuswar. The kuswar is a collection of sweets and snacks that is prepared and distributed to neighbours, friends and family. Preparations for this start as early as the beginning of December. Items that one can expect to find in a Mangalurean kuswar include rose cookies, kalkals (fried batter made of rice flour, eggs, sugar and cardamom), fudge, neurios (flaky pastry stuffed with coconuts and dry fruits, not unlike the kadubus made during Ganesh Chaturthi in Karnataka), guliyos (hard balls made of rice, milk and jaggery), marzipan, plum cake and many other sweets. Some items that are unique to a Goan kuswar include milk cream (a milk fudge made with cashews), guava cheese or perad (a thick guava jelly), coconut ice, and Baath or Batica cake (made from semolina and coconut). To cut the sweetness from all the desserts, Mangalurean and Goan kuswars also include savoury snacks like banana chips, mandas (steamed cucumber rice cakes) and chakkali. Audrey Cardozo and her family run a home business in Bengaluru called Goan Homemade Food, which sells Goan Christmas food. When they started two years ago, they sold only snacks, and have now expanded into making main courses and desserts as well. “Our aim was to establish and create more space for Goan food in Bengaluru,” says Kareen Cardozo, Audrey’s daughter. Kareen’s role in the business is packaging the orders, cleaning up and cooking lunch for her family. However, she points out that everyone is expected to help out with making the sweets, as it is a time-consuming and laborious process. Preparations start as early as December 1, and go on until Christmas day. Describing the environment at home during this time, Kareen says, “Christmastime in our house is really chaotic. Mum starts playing Christmas music at 7 am, and simultaneously starts preparing the sweets. I wake up to the noise of the grinder and mum’s taunts for waking up late.” “Even though it’s very hectic, it’s a very sweet moment when we’re all sitting and at the table and shaping marzipan and milk cream, filling neurios or decorating gingerbread and cakes. We laugh a lot and joke about, with Christmas carols playing in the background,” she adds. Beverly Pinto, a student who hails from a Mangalurean Catholic family but has lived in Bengaluru for many years now, shares a similar experience of frenzied preparations before Christmas. Her family, too, starts planning ahead of time. Making the kuswar is a laborious process, especially in a large enough quantity to share among family and friends. All the sweets and cakes must be prepared a few days before December 25, so that the family can go for the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, following which they can come home and share the Christmas feast. Pork roast, paired with a thick sauce made with dates and plums, is an essential item on the menu. Apart from this, roast chicken, mutton pulao, salads and sanna (that look like idlis) are also made. Plum cake is another must for Christmas. Some families put raisins and other dry fruits to soak in rum or brandy for a whole year, while others start the process as December approaches. This year, Christmas looks a little different due to the pandemic. With the risk of infection ever present, it’s difficult for families to travel and be together. With churches allowing only a limited number of congregants for mass, changing service timings or offering only online services, the atmosphere is certainly not as festive as before. However, the tradition of making Christmas delicacies and finding ways to share it with others endures. To order from Goan Homemade Food, contact Audrey Cardozo at +91 7875982588.
