Prawn Balchão is a spicy seafood dish in Indian Goan cuisine

Goan cuisine

Goan cuisine consists of regional foods popular in Goa, located along India's west coast along the Arabian Sea. Seafood, coconut milk, rice and paste are main ingredients of Goan delicacies. The area is located in a tropical climate, and spices and flavors are intense. Use of Kokum is another...

. Balchão is a method of cooking either fish or prawns in a dark red and fiery tangy sauce. Balchão is almost like pickling and can be made days in advance without reheating. The traditional balchão uses a paste made from dried shrimp known as galmbo in Konkani

Konkani language

KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...

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History

Balchão was introduced by Catholic Portuguese to Goa during colonization

History of Goa

Goa is a small state on the western coast of India. Though the smallest Indian state, Goa has played an influential role in Indian history. Goa was one of the major trade centers in India, thus it had always been attracting the influential dynasties, seafarers, merchants, traders, monks and...

, balcháo originated in Macao

Mação

Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....

 (also once a Portuguese colony), where it is called bacalhau.

Prawn balchão

Many people leave out the dried shrimp paste as this lends a fairly strong fishy flavour to the dish. Balchão is often bottled and can be eaten as a side dish.

Catholic homes may use coconut vinegar for its acidic sharpness, Hindu families may use cane vinegar to make it milder. These days it is common to use white distilled vinegar or malt vinegar.