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Baked into festive corners by the Big B’luru Bebinca
In Bengaluru, diverse Christmas traditions blend rich plum cakes, kuswar sweets, and varied cuisines, reflecting the city's layered Christian heritage.
‘Tis the season when I avoid certain friends; when I take sides, and take stock of my Christmas cakes and cookies. You see, I am lucky. I have several friends who make excellent plum cakes. Here’s the thing: I am not monogamous with respect to my cakes. So each year, I switch sides and buy my Christmas goodies from a roster of favourite bakers. The trick is to stay quiet about the whole thing, because rum cake in Bangalore inspires perspiration and passion. Each person swears by the person they get it from, and takes it very personally if you happen to disagree.
There are some 5 lakh Christians in Bengaluru, making up just over 5% of the population, as per the 2011 census. The reality is that there are probably closer to 8 lakh Christians in this city, thanks to an influx of immigrants from the Kerala and the Konkan coasts. Christian castes and communities are as layered as a bebinca— with Roman Catholics forming the majority in Bengaluru, followed by Latin Catholics; Protestants including CSI, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal; and Orthodox sects including the Malankara, Jacobites and other subcultures. Each celebrates Christmas in their own distinct way. What they eat during the season depends on where they are from—Kottayam, Trichy, Vizag, Mangalore or Goa.
That said, there is one anchor: the rich plum cake; a potent potentate of the Christmas sweet brigade. Everyone loves it, even non-Christians. Why not? Rich and dense, this cake originated in Victorian England and morphed with Indian spices and toddy into its current version. Its basic recipe involves soaking dried fruits in rum and brandy. Hotels get on the bandwagon with boozy cake-mixing ceremonies. Homes in the Cantonment of Frazer Town and Cooke Town exhale smells of baking spices and flavours all December long.
Then there is the Kuswar. The first time I heard this word was when I was standing in line at Thoms, only to hear the elegant lady beside me say, “I haven’t even started my Kuswar this year.” This festive sweet platter, called “kuswar” by Goan and Mangalorean Catholics is predicated on a few good things: fried buttery dough fashioned into multiple shapes and dusted with powdered sugar. Often there is coconut milk involved, since this tradition flowered in the Konkan coast where coconut trees are in abundance. The heroine of this platter are the kulkuls or sweet coconut curls, Also called kidyos, which means worms in Konkani, they are fashioned using forks or even combs, and are imaginative variations of the Portuguese Filhoses Enroladas.
The other famous dish is the rose cookie, which isn’t really a baked cookie but a fried one. Considered an adaptation of the Portuguese Rose de Coque, that trickled into India during the 400-year Portuguese rule before the British showed up, it is made with an iron mold. The Brits may have given us our trains, but the food influence is much wider from the Portuguese. Other dishes from this Luso-Indian heritage, as the Portuguese-India connection is called, include the Bole Cake, a coconut-semolina concoction where the old recipe called for a fragrant two wine glasses of rose water.
For a vegetarian like me, the main Christmas meal is what mathematicians call a null set, focused as it is on the Colonial “roast” tradition, which is carried forward by the Anglo-Indians. Here meats are flavoured with whole Indian spices such as turmeric, ginger and whole spices. Sometimes the pot roast can include root vegetables like turnip and carrot that simmer in the meat juices and cook as well.
Although pork is associated largely with the Kodavas thanks to their iconic pandi curry, pork for Christmas lunch is “a must” among Roman Catholics from Goa as well, says my friend, Bernadette D’Silva. Some families make a rich sorpotel; others make a spicy vindaloo. Both have a vinegar and spice spiked gravy that is complex, dark and deep. Served along with roasts, chops and savoury pies, it is the feast’s rich and pungent heart.
All of this is washed down with homemade wine made from grapes spiced with ginger, gooseberries, and plums, each of which has a distinct and secret proportion. I get my wine from friends and drink it at night all winter.
Every Christmas, we visit the home of Vivek and Sarah Chandy who throw a Christmas lunch replete with traditional and modern recipes. It is an intimate party at their home: an indulgent testament to the city’s layered past and present, whether British roasts, Portuguese influenced sweets, Kerala curries and Anglo-Indian spice blends all make their way to the groaning table.
(Shoba Narayan is a Bengaluru-based award-winning author. She is also a freelance contributor who writes about art, food, fashion and travel for a number of publications.)
