Marking Shrove Tuesday with Goan Alle Belle
This sweet coconut-stuffed pancake marks the last feast before Lent, a season of fasting and austere diets for 40 days in Goan Catholic homes.
It’s a classic Goan pairing: coconut and jaggery. And if it is made in a Goan Catholic home, the jaggery must be madachem godd (literally sweet from the tree), a mountain-shaped black jaggery made from the sap of the coconut palm. This classic pairings finds its way into neuris, patoleo, bol and of course, alle-belle. Alle belle is a delicious teatime treat; a coconut pancake, stuffed with sweet jaggery and coconut, and a fleeting hint of cardamom. Some people add food colour to the batter to create more colourful pancakes.
Image by Annika Panikker
Image by Annika Panikker
While alle belle is popular throughout the year, they are made specially for Shrove (or Pancake) Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday marks the last day of celebration before a 40-day period of fasting. Shrove Tuesday is typically a day of feasting. Making pancakes was the simplest way to use up all the rich food like cream, butter, and eggs before Lent began. In Goa, this was probably a custom that originated during colonial rule. “Merenda was a teatime ritual especially in more influential homes, and they would make a lot of sweets including alle belle. It was quite a luxury given the ingredients that went in, so they probably gave it up during Lent and Pancake Tuesday came about,” says Crescy Baptista, one half of The Goan Kitchen. “Besides, it is Carnival time, so people do want a bit of celebration too.”
CRESCY BAPTISTA’S RECIPE FOR ALLE BELLE
Makes 15
Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 egg
1 cup refined flour (maida)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Salt, to taste
A little oil or butter
For the filling
1 full coconut scraped
1 pyramid black jaggery ( about 100 g) powdered
2 tbsp sugarcane jaggery ( about 30 g) powdered
A pinch of cardamon powder
Method
Mix milk, water, maida, egg, salt and vanilla essence.
Brush a nonstick pan (22 cm diameter) on the gas with a little oil or butter. Using a ladle, pour in about 50-60 ml batter and swish around until the batter spreads evenly across the pan. Cook on slow fire until the edges are golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Repeat until all the batter is used up.
Making the filling by mixing coconut, jaggery and cardamon powder. Ensure the jaggery is mixed well and has no lumps.
Place a pancake on a flat surface, and spread a tablespoon of filling at one end. Roll twice, then tuck the edges in and roll over fully. Repeat till all the pancakes are filled.
Banner image credit Annika Panikker. Follow her work here.
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