They say it takes a village to raise a child. In our home we say it takes the whole house and its resources to cook my mamma’s savoury soup (garo baiffen) which is special for breakfast during Ramazan. Ramazan and Roshanvilla’s ( my home) garo baiffen has its own long and special history. It goes together like jam and butter. We cant wrap a ramazan off without it being served in our dinner table every single day for breakfast. This is far from just a soup but a tradition that we are following for ages. The taste of this soup is as intense as how much effort it is being put in cooking this. Just a morsel of taste is all it requires to fall in love with this and my home ( dont tell me I didnt warn you.
A glimpse of ingredients that goes into the soup
My mother is a slave of routines and rules. Compromising the taste to any extent is just not acceptable in her rule book. The quantity and quality of the ingredients that goes into this is of utmost importance during the ramazn days (the kitchen situation at this point is high- stress) She puts her heart and soul without being failed a single day for as long as I could remember (I’am above 35) That kind of dedication is what makes this a continuous blockbuster dish for us.
Ingredients needed
6 medium onion
6 cloves garlic
2 inch ginger
3–4 fresh chilly
curry leaves (raanabaa and hinkadhi fai)
2–3bilimbi
1 cup sun dried basmati rice
3/4 of a tuna
3 coconuts milk
3 cups moringa leaves
2 1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1 tea spoon pepper powder
2 tea spoon cardaman, cinnamon and cumin powder (mixed)
salt to taste
serving size: 15 people
preparation
Let me first give a good stretch to myself before starting this off! along with the rising morning sun the preparation begins. A handful of basmati rice goes under the bright sun to get a little sun dried. Thats an important step to give the right consistency to the soup. Someone has always help mamma to pluck the moringa leaves and separate each leaf individually with no stem attached. Its my fathers job to get his hands on a freshly caught tuna for the day’s soup. And he always succeeds on getting one before its noon. Whilst my mother occupies herself with cutting the freshly brought tuna there is always one of my sisters who shed few tears and chops the onions. ( both fish and onions are being cut in a specific size) mostly garlic ginger paste and spices are done in advance. Coconut milk, rice and moringa leaves are the base of this soup.
Mamma cooking the soup in our kitchen
In a large pot ( serves for at least 15–20 people) put together washed rice with the chopped onion, garlic ginger paste, chilly, curry leaves, bilimbi and moringa leaves. Now bring the pot to cook in a high heat followed by adding coconut milk, turmeric powder (always cook in a watery milk) and salt. Keep cooking until the rice is soft and gives a nice consistency to the soup. You have to keep an eye on this while its cooking giving occasional stirring to avoid rice being sticky on the bottom of the pot. It takes almost good 30 minutes to cook before adding the fish into the soup and now again it needs to cook for almost another 1/2 an hour. Adjust the consistency of the soup adding more coconut milk if necessary. Finish it off with putting the final add in’s and reduce to a simmer in a low heat for 10 minutes. The final add ins consists of 1/4 of the onions half of ginger garlic paste and the spices I mentioned in the ingredients along with some chillies soaked in to concentrated coconut milk.
A bowl of garobaffen ready to eat
This soup screams ramazan like no other dish ever has for us. The starchy, earthy and spicy taste with the bulky little pieces of tuna makes it one of its kind. Give it a little try and see if its worth your time and effort. Its not that big of a job if you are cooking for few people ( My version seems difficult due to partly my mother never takes any short cuts or easy way of doing things and in our home we cook for a lot of people. dont be scared to try )
