Rains in Goa bring a bounty of wild greens

During the monsoon an abundance of foraged greens, which have unique flavours and medicinal benefits, fill Goa's markets

- Joanna Lobo

It's a gloomy monsoon morning. Rows of women are sitting outside the Panaji municipal market, selling all kinds of leafy greens. "Bai, taikilo zai ge (do you want taikilo?)," they call. Taikilo or Cassia tora is one of the leafy greens sitting alongside bundles of small cucumbers, local bitter gourd, pumpkin leaves, tendrils of valachi bhaji (long bean leaves), rolled leaves of alu and bouquets of terem (both colocasia) and thick stumps of killah (bamboo shoot). In separate baskets are bikna or jackfruit seeds. Standing on its own is aakur, thin and long with tender stalks and buds, looking like asparagus.

This is Goa's highly nutritious monsoon bounty, foraged from gardens, fields and forests.

One of the stereotypes associated with Goan cuisine is that it is predominantly meat and fish based. Yet, vegetables are a beloved kitchen staple. Goa's monsoon vegetable platter is rich with ghodka (sprouted cashewnuts), luthchi bhaji (wild dragon stalk yam), phagla (spiny gourd), maskachi bhaji/kisra (drumstick leaves, stems), pipri (small tender cucumbers), and kuddukechi/pidduki bhaji (silver cockscomb leaves).

Most of the leaves and shoots germinate at the beginning of the monsoon. It is believed that the tender shoots and buds taste the best at this time, before they grow into thicker leaves or flowers or get worms. The leaves and stem of pidduki, for instance, have to be consumed before the growth of the flower. Aakur shows up in fields just after the first rains, growing in brackish water, especially on khazan (land reclaimed from mangroves). Only the buds of aakur are eaten, usually paired with another ingredient—dried or fresh prawns, beans, pulses, and legumes.