A good cook’s notes from Kochi to Goa

Anita Anand, Goa

In this age of the internet, cookbooks may well have become passe. However, every now and then, on and offline, one catches the eye and says, “Pick me.”

Such is Tale of Two Kitchens. It is not only a culinary journey through two coastal Indian states but also the story of the author and her family, and how she came to be the person she is today.  Originally from Kerala, Crescentia, or Cres, as she is known to friends, was born and raised in Ernakulam on the island of Vypeen.

The cookbook is a delight. With glossy pages for the colour photographs accompanying the text, it contains recipes and Cres’s personal history of the food, ingredients, and recipes of the two states. The chapters are devoted to her time in Vypeen, the three bungalows she lived in, and life on the island. After schooling and college in Ernakulam and Cochin (now Kochi), she moved to Kolkata to work, then to Mumbai. Her stay in Mumbai was short, as she met her husband, Chrys Fernandes, at a wedding in Kolkata and then moved to Delhi for marriage and a new life. Cres had a long career with UNICEF in Delhi and subsequently retired early to start a pickle factory. Imagine!

Between 2004 and 2018, Cres and her husband ran Bernardo’s, a successful restaurant serving Goan cuisine, in Delhi and then in Gurugram. Bernardo’s was lauded by food writers and attracted considerable interest till it closed.

Since then, Cres does pop-ups, teaches Goan cuisine, makes Goan sausages and Christmas cakes, and caters to parties and dinners. She now lives on a farm in Farrukhnagar in Haryana with some 32 dogs they have given shelter to.

The first recipe in the cookbook is Fish Kozeeth, a light fish stew. I like that the recipes are only a page long. In the upper left corner of each page, the category (e.g., main dish), yield (e.g., 6-8 persons), and serving instructions (e.g., serve with hot steamed rice) are provided.

Then there is a description of the dish’s origins and preparation method. On the right side of the page are the ingredients and measurements. In both Goa and Kerala, coconut milk and unpolished parboiled rice are essential ingredients in the cuisine and are included in recipes; there is a note on how to prepare them. Most helpful.

Cres’s love of cooking is natural, as she grew up in a family that lived in harmony with nature. The homes of her childhood were typical of Kerala architecture, with wooden floors and staircases and Mangalore tiles on the roofs. There was a vegetable garden. Her father was knowledgeable about and loved animals and poultry, rearing turkeys, pigs, ducks, geese, and chickens. Not surprisingly, the food on the table came from their backyard. As with families and communities of that time, this was true of both daily fare and celebrations. An idyllic existence.

Despite this, Cres says she didn’t learn to cook at home, but she remembers the aroma and taste of the food well. In creating and recreating recipes for the book, she reached out to her older sisters and other family members. Thanks to them, the cookbook offers recipes for cakes, other typical sweets, pickles, fish and pork dishes, and those made for special occasions, which in both states are linked to farming festivals and celebrations.

There are recipes for two of my favourite sweets: bebinca and patoleos. Bebinca is a multi-layered sweet made with egg yolks, flour, coconut milk and ghee. I took a workshop in Goa last year on how to make it. Patoleos is a tea-time snack made from rice paste filled with coconut and jaggery, wrapped in turmeric leaves, made on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary, also known as the Konsachem Fest, when farmers give thanks to God for a good harvest and pray for the next harvest to be good. Our part-timer, Mohini, brought me these, and I couldn’t get enough of them. They are addictive.

There is a useful glossary of terms used for the ingredients and common local foods featured in the cookbook. An additional note that appeals to me is how to prepare homemade toddy. I’m not sharing this, so I guess you’ll have to buy the book!

The cookbook is a fascinating read and a great gift for oneself and for others who cherish coastal cuisine and enjoy cooking. For those who aren’t adept at cooking, it’s a great coffee-table book to peruse while watching the sunset with a mug of tea or coffee, or something stronger. 

Anita Anand first visited Goa in 1986 and continued to do so for many years. She moved to Goa in January 2025. She writes, paints and enjoys nature.