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Of all the amazing women in the food industry, Maria Goretti stands out not only for being a good television chef and host, but also for representing her Goan and East Indian culinary heritage from time to time. She might have started out as a popular VJ, but today she is most popular for gracing our screens with her delectable insights into food and being a cookbook author, apart from being married to actor Arshad Warsi of course. In a recent reel on Instagram, Maria Goretti shared an East Indian recipe that she simply adores and grew up eating.
In the video, Maria Goretti reveals that she soon hopes to open her own café, and when she does, this East Indian food and this recipe for Prawn and Potato Chops will definitely be on the menu thanks to its delicious flavours. “One of the biggest loves in my life is Potato,” Maria Goretti writes in the caption. “I am a very basic, meat and potatoes kinda girl. With some sautéed vegetables on the side, a glass of really good quality bubbly and excellent dessert. Yup really simple.”
Video Credit: YouTube/Maria Goretti's Corner
To make the delectable Prawn and Potato Chops, Maria Goretti first tempers mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chillies in oil and sets them aside. In the remaining oil, she sautees garlic, ginger, fenugreek seeds, chopped onions, salt, tomatoes, red bell peppers, East Indian Bottle Masala until well cooked. To this she adds chopped prawns and butter, and continues cooking until the mixture is ready. She then adds the curry leaves mix to this and stuffs flattened mashed potatoes with the prawn mixture and cheese to make yummy chops.
To add a bit of crunch to the Prawn and Potato Chops, Maria Goretti then dips each chop in an egg batter and coats them with breadcrumbs. The chops are then fried to perfection look truly delicious when Maria Goretti bites into one. She reveals that this recipe is just one of the many lovingly created by the East Indian community in India. “But since my community is a very small community, not many people are familiar with our East Indian cuisine,” she explains.
For those unaware, the East Indian community consists of the original inhabitants of Bombay, Thane and Salsette Islands of present-day Mumbai. Converted to Christianity (Roman Catholicism) in the 15th and 16th centuries when the Portuguese missionaries first made their way into the country, the community is known for its immense love of food. East Indian cuisine, like that of Goa, has been impacted by the Portuguese, but isn’t as heavy on the use of coconut. Predominantly fish and meat eaters, the East Indians rely on their traditional Bottle Masala for flavours and their recipes still remain largely unknown to most Indians, despite their rich culinary heritage spanning centuries.
