A thick stew of many vegetables and toor dal in coconut, soured with tamarind and sharpened with tirphal — the dish of Goan Hindu festivals.
What makes it khatkhate
Many vegetables together, cut large.
Toor dal and ground coconut with red chilli.
Soured with tamarind or kokum, with jaggery.
Tirphal.
Where it comes from
Made in Goan Hindu homes for festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi and for weddings, when a vegetarian table is needed. It gathers every vegetable at hand — sweet potato, pumpkin, corn, raw banana, drumsticks, yam — into one pot with a little dal.
Its signature is tirphal, the dried berry of a tree related to Sichuan pepper, crushed and added at the end for a tingling, woody sharpness.