What to Eat in Malvan Today?

What makes it Malvani

Malvani food uses a roasted masala of dried red chilli, coriander and other spices, ground with fresh or roasted coconut. Kokum, a dried sour fruit from the Konkan, gives the tang where other coasts use tamarind. Meals come with rice, and often with bhakri or chapati. It is hot food, but the heat comes with flavour.

The fish curry

Malvani fish curry is the dish that carries the town's name. It is a thin, orange-red coconut curry with kokum, poured over rice. The fish changes with the catch. Surmai (kingfish), pomfret and bangda (mackerel) are the most common. Ask which fish is fresh that day.

The thali

For a first meal, order the Malvani seafood thali. It usually has fish curry, a fried piece of fish coated in rava or masala, rice, bhakri or chapati, and sol kadhi. Prawn and crab thalis cost more and depend on the day's supply.

Kombdi vade

Kombdi vade is chicken curry served with vade, puffy fried breads made from a spiced rice-and-lentil flour. You tear the vade and dip it in the gravy. It is a good choice for anyone who eats meat but not fish.

Sol kadhi

This pale pink drink is coconut milk with kokum, a little garlic and green chilli. It is served cold with the meal or after it, and it calms the chilli heat. Vegetarians often drink it with rice as a simple meal of its own.

Modak

Modak are steamed rice-flour dumplings filled with coconut and jaggery. They are made in huge numbers for Ganesh Chaturthi, when they are offered to Ganesha. Outside the festival, ask at sweet shops or home-style restaurants.

When the catch is thin

Sea fishing usually stops from June to the end of July. Restaurants stay open, but choice is smaller, and some fish comes from stored stock. The best fish is from September to May. See the where to eat page for restaurants.