Thursday, April 1, 2010

Goan breakfast - Pao Tonak

This is a favourite breakfast in Goa and the first time I had this was when I was visiting my Dad's friend's family there. The lady of the house is an excellent cook and this was a very interesting breakfast.
I am not a breakfast person - I cant have something really heavy for breakfast, but on a lazy weekend, this is a great breakfast and keeps you stuffed for a few hours !

The 'tonak' is basically made with dried peas and potatoes and a strong aromatic masala.
I found this pretty packet of assorted legumes and thought it would go well in this tonak masala, so used this in place of the dried peas.

legumes

The pao there in Goa is a crusty one, which I dont get here, so I used the softer, bready pav to go with the tonak...

pao tonak

The masala is quite strong and very aromatic, but if it doesnt suit your taste buds, you can use garam masala instead, though I'd suggest you give this fresh masala a try..

What you need -

1 cup peas / any other legumes
1 potato (I didnt use this)
2 onions
1 cup grated coconut
1 tsp tamarind
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste

For the masala

2 tsp coriander seeds
4 red chillies
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 cloves
1 inch strip cinnamon
4 pepper corns

What you do with it -

Soak the peas / legumes overnight
Roast and powder all the ingredients under 'Masala'
Peel potatoes and cut to bite-size pieces
Boil the potaoes with the legumes
Chop onions fine
Fry the onions, add grated coconut and tamarind
Grind this to a coarse paste
Add the dry masala, sugar, salt and turmeric powder
Add the potato and legumes and cook a little more
Adjust salt and add more water if required.
Serve hot with pao, bread or chapatis

11 comments:

notyet100 said...

wow this looks interestin thanks for sharin,..

Miri said...

Wow - thats an interesting breakfast idea!! we are definitely breakast people so am going to try this . I miss the crusty pav but :(

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

looks yum...

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing...even this is new for me...though i have been living in goa for yrs:)

Parita said...

Wow thats some very delicious and yummy breakfast, thanks for sharing :)

Nandini Vishwanath said...

Heyyyy Arch! I was going to take your number from Suma and call you. But I couldn't coz we never spoke while in India :( and I was hardly online. Sorry about that.

Next time for sure :)

Rachel said...

When i moved to Goa a few years back, we went for breakfast expecting to have dos or idli and this what i got.. soon acquired the taste for it.

FH said...

Beautiful name for this dish, as always I love anything with Beans. so yummy, and nutritious.

A_and_N said...

Are you in the US? Wow! Send me your email so I can pass on number to you?

Sharmila said...

Hi Arch! I thought you were on a break .. now I see my reader had not updated. :-(
This is a new dish to me ... good one. :-)

Varsha Vipins said...

Hey Arch..looong time..:)..how are you?whatsup?
Thats a graet looking heavy breakfast..love that gravy..I make a similar masala for some non veg dishes..The combo look satisfying n much better than usual vada pava-chana combo..!

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