3-day Konkani Food Festival to be hosted at The Gateway Hotel by Chef Komal Prabhu

Mangaluru: A three day Konkani Food Festival will begin from Friday December 7 at the Gateway Hotel which will be curated by Chef. Komal Prabhu.

When one notices how the community of Goud Saraswat Brahmins have kept the memory of their migration from the north to the south alive through food, for example daali tovey, a gravy central to their cuisine, it can be seen how food is central to the culture and life of the GSB community. The history of migration and difficulties involved in the long journey is reflected in the ways the community for its survival made roots, shoots and fruits all a part of their food culture. Most of these preparations involve minimum ingredients and this fact tells us the story of the diversity of the community due to migration.

History confirms that any community which has had to migrate develops a strong survival instinct. Food being one of the most basic necessities of survival, it is not just the availability of different vegetables, fruits and leaves during various seasons which make different cuisines possible, it is the compulsion to nurture and safeguard the body and health in various weather conditions. It also prompts the communities in transit to develop different cuisine for different seasons.

This is the history that has given birth to the culinary heritage of the GSB community, which in the rainy season nourishes itself with taikilo, gudgudu alumbe (thunder mushroom) paghil, kirlu (bamboo), warms itself up during winters with kook, avalo (gooseberry), ambuli (raw mango), duddi (pumkin) and nurtures itself during spring with matti gulla, kadgi (raw jack), jeev khadgi (bread fruit). When summer comes, which is the cruelest of all seasons, the GSB community beats the heat savouring ambo (mango), bibbo (cashew), pachponos and ponos (jackfruit).

In celebration of this rich cultural heritage and in honour of the history remembered through and in food, the renowned The Gateway Hotel is organizing Konkani Food Festival a first of its kind, where the GSB community’s special dishes will be taking the centre stage.

Curated by Chef Komal Prabhu of the renowned Chef Komals Kitchen has artfully crafted the menu.

The Konkani Food Festival aims to bring the food lovers of Mangaluru and nearby places a variety of items prepared by the community.

The fest will include items like panak, kokum soda, nimbu sharbat, fried yam kismoori, salla kismoori, mixed sea food salad, mixed veg pickle, sandige, curd , clams sukka, silver fish rava fry, crab sukka, squid rawa fry, fish naked fry, teasel gourd (paagil) fritters, tender jackfruit fritters, sanna polo and patrado, horse gram soup, prawns and crab with garlic soup, amla and garlic soup, fish alle piyao ghashi, bolanjeer pannaupkari, prawns hingauda, anjal pannaupkari, kundapur chicken curry, kane ambat, prawns pannaupkari, avnaas ambe saasam, bibbe and tendle upkari, thingalavare and soorna bendi, mushroom amshe thikshe, dalithoy, neer dosa, khotto, moode, kadle, bele payasam, pova kheeri payasam, ragi manni, doodh pak, tausha muddo, and mando.

Chef Komal who has an experience of over a quarter century in the profession, played a key role in turning a prominent seafood restaurant the most sought after place in Mangalore for GSB cuisine. The Konkani Food Festival is a continuation of her dedicated effort towards promoting and popularizing traditional GSB cusine.

About Chef Komal Prabhu
Komal Prabhu is a leading name in the Food Hospitality Industry. She has more than 20 years of experience in this space. She also manages Rathna Hotels, a restaurant at Bangalore Golf Club and a 24 x 7 Corporate Cafeteria.

Chef Komal’s Kitchen also has food court at Diya Systems, Mangaluru. She loves networking with people. Customer focus and people management skills are her strengths! The word “Impossible” is absent in the dictionary of her life. An eternal optimist, she takes both bouquets and brickbats with equal grace. “Our critics are our architects towards success” is her motto!

Over the years, Komal has been recognized as an accomplished Chef, with Mangalorean and GSB cuisine being her USP. Her burning desire is to propagate and popularize GSB cuisine at the International level. Towards achieving this, Komal conducts workshops for women food entrepreneurs on GSB delicacies, and also handholds budding chefs who are interested in learning the finer points of this style of cooking.

She has been also invited as a judge for many culinary events and as a resource person for talks/ workshops on women entrepreneurship. Komal was awarded the Adani First Generation Business Excellence Award during the State level POWER Summit held at Udupi in February 2017 She is also an active member of Mangalore Toastmasters.

– By Laxmi Shenoy