The Goan love of fish is well known. Not so well known is our fondness for tambdi bhaji (lit. red vegetable).
Fish curry, rice, and tambdi bhaji completes the trifecta of the ideal Goan meal. Capped by a relaxing siesta, it is the recipe for a good, healthy, and productive life. In Goan homes, this leafy vegetable is cooked simply with freshly grated coconut, green chilli and salt.
Commonly referred to as Red Amaranth or Blood Amaranth, tambdi bhaji is known to botanists as Amaranthus Cruentus. The cultivation of tambdi bhaji and other forms of traditional Goan produce is now under severe stress with the widespread supplanting of fertile fields with ugly concrete.
These first two images were taken in Taleigao with rows of tambdi bhaji backlit by the low sun. In the next post, we shall meet the men and women who give life to this soil despite all odds.