A twin homage to Goa and Kerala, with authentic local spice blends and barbecued vegetables as the star turn
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egetables take centre stage at our restaurant, Acme Fire Cult, be they grilled, smoked or coal-roasted in dying embers until they’re rich with sweetness and char. Fire transforms vegetables in a way that no conventional kitchen can, and that approach has followed me on my travels throughout India, where cooking over coals is embedded in everyday life, from roadside tandoors to beachside grills. The bold, spice-laden food of Goa and Kerala in particular have shaped my cooking, and today’s dishes, both inspired by fire and spice, are veg-forward barbecue dishes with roots in tradition and flavour, only turned way up.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Goa and Kerala, and this is a love letter to both. Recheado, which means “stuffed” in Portuguese, is a fiery Goan masala paste that’s traditionally rubbed into oily fish before frying or grilling, but it’s just as transformative on vegetables (I’ve toned down the chilli a bit, so just dial it up if you want more heat). The sauce borrows from the coconut-based curries of Kerala’s backwaters, all fragrant with curry leaves, sour with kokum and tinged red by Mexican guajillo chillies, which aren’t exactly traditional, but I seem to put them in almost everything these days. Kokum is a sour dried fruit from Goa’s Konkan coast that I always bring back in my suitcase. You can get it in south Asian food shops; failing that, tamarind will also do the job.
