Martin's Corner

Betalbatim, India

Martin's Corner sits in Betalbatim village in South Goa, a short walk from the beach, and has been feeding Goans and visitors since the 1980s. The kitchen built its reputation on seafood, but the Goan Catholic meat dishes, sorpotel, balchão, and chouriço chilli fry, draw a faithful lunch crowd. The dining room is large and buzzing on weekends when live music starts in the evening. The chouriço chilli fry comes in a black iron pan, still sizzling, with green chillies and fried onions on top, and a basket of poi bread alongside. Order rice with the sorpotel and poi with the chouriço; the kitchen sends out both without asking.

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Sausages served here

Goan Chorizo

Goa, India

Goan chorizo is a small, intensely spiced pork sausage cured in palm vinegar and dried in the Goan sun. Fiery red from Kashmiri chillies, dark with the funk of vinegar and toddy, pungent with garlic and cumin, it bears no resemblance to its Iberian namesake beyond the word itself. Portuguese colonists brought the tradition to Goa in the 16th century, but local cooks replaced wine vinegar with toddy vinegar, swapped paprika for Kashmiri chilli, and added turmeric, cumin, coriander, and a hit of cinnamon. What emerged is one of India's most distinctive cured meats: sour, hot, fatty, with a fermented edge that no Spanish chorizo has ever come close to.

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