It is that time of the year again, when the aroma of plum cakes floods our homes. With the onset of December, a slice of Christmas cake makes its way into our menus irrespective of what time of the day it is—a tea snack, a quick sweet bite post lunch, or dinner. With raisins, nuts and prunes, and sometimes with a generous serving of rum, the rich 'plum cake' is the star as Christmas sets in. For Kolkata residents, Christmas is incomplete without the fabled fruit cake of Nahoum and Sons, the city's last surviving Jewish bakery. There is such a heavy demand for the cake in December that the bakery often stays open for extra hours.
If it is Nahoum for Kolkata, it is the cake from 75-year-old Vas and Sons Bakery that Mangalore craves every Christmas. Uzwal Menezes, a Mangalore-based lecturer, has been a Vas cake loyalist since childhood. “I love the traditional plum cake from the bakery,” he says. There is, however, more to Indian Christmas cuisine than just cakes. For Menezes, Christmas is also about the quintessential Mangalorean delicacies like guliyo (deep fried rice marbles), kidiyo (sweet curls), nevryo (sweet puffs), rice laddoos and kokkisan (rose cookies, similar to the achappam in Kerala). Most of these are traditionally made in homes during the Christmas season. Some, like Menezes, still hold on to the traditions.
Kokkisan
Christmas for Anu Rooble Madeckal from Kochi is a time of feasting, a time when her mother would cook up a banquet of sorts for the family. “Of course, we all pitch in and help," quips Anu as she drools over the memory of past Christmas lunches at home. Like every other Christian home, Anu too wakes up to soft, lacy appams and thick stew (mostly mutton, beef or chicken) for breakfast. “We rush home after the morning Christmas mass, to break the 25-day Nativity fast with a variety of non-vegetarian dishes,” she says. After the appams, lunch makes way for a wide platter of dishes ranging from beef roast, chicken varattiyathu, duck roast, prawns ularthu, fish and mango in coconut milk, and pork ularthu, she says. Not to miss the chicken cutlets.
Christmas day lunch is the highlight of the day and often sets the stage for warm family reunions, and bonding over delectable food. “Christmas lunch is always a family get together at a relative's home. And pork is one of my favourite things, so a combination of sorpotel and sannas are heaven,” says Gwyn D'Mello from Goa. Sorpotel, of Portuguese origin, and a favourite around this time in Goa, is a spicy pork dish. “Sorpotel has diced pork in a masala gravy. Meat, fat, and pig's blood also go into it,” he says. Sannas, often paired with sorpotel, are spongy steamed rice cakes, similar to idlis. The standard tangy-spicy vindaloo is also a regular on the menu. Rice also forms an integral part of the main course in the form of sausage pulao or plain vegetable pulao.
Apart from all the meat, Goan Christmas memories are made of sugary treats like the traditional bebinca (a multilayered cake made from rice flour and coconut milk), dodol (toffee-like dish from coconut milk and jaggery), kulkul, and rose cookies. Most of these are labour-intensive, and may not be made in homes any more.
“When we were we kids, we would have sweet bread baked from sticky rice flour on Christmas eve,” says Jenny Thingshung who hails from Manipur. “With modernisation, those traditions have changed now,” she adds. All said, pork is their favourite, too. Unlike other parts of the country, they follow the Naga style of cooking with very less spices and seasonal ingredients. Garlic, and chilli flakes are the standard ingredients. Christmas eve, Jenny says, is fun-packed with family get-togethers, music and dance around a bonfire.
