Fabulous fenugreek and the new mother
Exploring the popular post-natal dish, methi pez, in Goan homes
I recently became an aunt.
My nephew, David, is a cute bundle of energy and his arrival changed our lives, and our dining habits. In particular, that of his mother, my sister-in-law Larissa.
Advice and helpful suggestions (many unsolicited) are what greet most women after they conceive. The most common refrain/ advice given to Larissa, during the end of her pregnancy, was “Eat methianche pez. It is good for lactation.”
Methi pez (also called atwal) has been part of post-natal care in many Goan homes. It’s something we had heard about, but never tasted. We rectified that last month. My first taste of the dish and I was hooked. Quite naturally, as someone who will eat anything that contains coconut and jaggery. Methi pez consists of two main things: methi (fenugreek seeds) and pez (rice gruel).
Eating this porridge naturally got me wondering about the dish.
My trusted Cozinha de Goa tells me that new mothers were fed a cake of flour and jaggery for the first three days, and also strengthening sweets like semolina halva, nachini satwa, and doce bhaji. ‘Women were fed a diet that would help produce milk — oat porridge, methi or fenugreek bhaji (consisting of methi leaves cut fine, sautéed onions, garlic, urid dal, little sugar and salt), methi chai, and methi pez (made by cooking together methi seeds, rice powder, coconut juice, jaggery and salt).’
“In the past, there were no painkillers. During those days, cashew feni and methi pez were typical post-natal ingredients, used to heal wounds without surgical interference,” says Medha Avinash Lavande, a retired bank employee based in Panjim.
Methi, I soon learn, is quite the superfood for new mothers.
Wonder seeds
The humble methi seeds are an important part of post-natal care. They are believed to increase the quantity of breast milk — it is part of galactagogues, a category of foods that are known to boost lactation. Methi is also a painkiller, has a high mineral content, offering the required iron to new mothers. It helps regulate sugar, improves skin health, and is an antioxidant.
Unsurprisingly, it turns up in different forms in communities across India: methi laddoos, methi paak, methi khichdi, methi puris and more.
In Kerala, uluva or methi kanji is consumed during the monsoon or Karkidaka Masam (which corresponds to the months of July to August). In Karnataka, menthya adige/ menthya leha is a concoction that includes wheat, ghee and jaggery that’s given to new moms to strengthen their body. Methi paak is common in Gujarat. In some Gujarati homes, they make two types of methi paak. One version — soonth (dry ginger powder), ganthoda (long pepper root powder) and jaggery — is given to women during the eighth month of pregnancy to help formulation of milk. The other — soonth, ganthoda, jaggery, gunder (edible gum), desiccated coconut and dates — is given to women right after birth, for a month.
“Methi has calcium so it enables formulation of breastmilk. It also aids digestion. Ginger powder is good for digestion too, and it helps heal the aching muscles and joints. Edible gum helps relieve back pain. Dates boost haemoglobin levels, jaggery is an energiser,” says Chandranayana Behrawala, 82, a firm believer in Ayurveda. Besides paak, she adds, there is suva methi paani (dill and fenugreek seeds water) given to new moms for three days, which “helps shrink the uterus back to its size and clean out toxins after birth.”
Nandita Godbole, author and food writer, of Curry Cravings adds that methi, haleem (garden cress seeds) and sometimes alsi (flax seeds) are included in postpartum diets to combat anaemia, which affects lactation. Methi is consumed as a paak, or laddoo. “In Ayurveda, all of these ingredients (methi, haleem, alsi) are intensely warming so it is advised to pair it with dairy (like drinking some warm milk along with the laddoo) and consume it during the day,” she says.
Methi certainly appears to be a useful addition to anyone’s diet, but it is important to acknowledge that in certain communities, there is shame associated with not being able to breastfeed. “Women are force-fed these things to improve lactation but in truth, sometimes the stress shuts down the body. Underlying problems such as anaemia, stress, general weakness, low iron, mental health — all of those are more important to a mothers’ health,” says Godbole.
Porridge stories
In Goa, methi pez is part of post-delivery care. It is something that relatives, friends and neighbours will make and send across to a house with a new baby. In a way, it feels like this is their way of welcoming the baby into the world.
“My mother insisted I eat it,” says Lavande. And, she did, alternating it with a rava porridge with ghee. Sometimes, she would also drink a cup of milk boiled with methi powder and topped off with a teaspoon of ghee.
In parts of Goa, the dish is an important aspect of the naming ceremony (or barso) of a child, usually conducted on the twelfth day. “In the olden times, the first atwal was prepared on the day of barso. Joint families were common so the dish was prepared for everyone and thereafter, only for the mother. Later, it just became a tradition of serving it to everyone and a way of celebrating barso,” says Vela Pai Kuchelkar, Pune-based food blogger at Green Platter. She remembers having atwal for the first time when her younger brother was born. She didn’t enjoy it much, and developed a taste for it later in life.
Similarly, Shubhra Shankhwalker thought atwal was the “most horrible thing in the world” because of its taste. That feeling changed after she delivered her daughter. “A relative of mine came with some atwal and that day, it tasted like something else. It was outstanding,” says the graphic designer who does Goan Saraswat food pop-ups under Goa from Home. She ate it every second day for six months.
You will find that variations and dosage vary according to family. Some have it every three days because it causes too much heat in the mother’s body, some will eat it once a day. The recipes differ, too. Polished rice is preferred, but some do use ukde tandul or parboiled rice. “Sometimes, ukde tandul can cause constipation so it’s avoided,” says Kuchelkar. The rice, thus, is chosen according to suitability or taste preference. Jaggery is either the Goan madachem godd (coconut jaggery) or sugarcane jaggery.
Methi pez, I soon learned, isn’t restricted to just Goan families. Kuwait-based Cecilia Pinto says it’s common in Mangalorean homes as part of post-partum care. She grew up watching her mother make methi pez for women who were lactating. When her younger sister delivered in Hong Kong, Pinto went to her armed with a collection of her mother’s post-natal recipes, including methi pez. “They say it cures backache and increases breast milk and strengthens and helps to bring the uterus back to contracted state and relieves flatulence,” she says. On her blog, Cook Like Cecilia, she elaborates on other Mangalorean Catholic practices, including the consumption of fenugreek seeds, fenugreek leaves, fennel seeds and other foods ‘that will provide heat and warmth to the body’.
Sidrah Patel grew up hearing fleeting references to methi laddoos, paak and methi kheer, growing up in the Gulf. It was after moving to Mumbai in 2002 that she started learning more, and methi laddoos became a common feature — eaten for their nutrition. Then, on the third day after her delivery, her mother presented her with methi kheer. “I wasn’t particularly interested,” she says. “Methi laddoos put us off because of their bitterness. But my mother insisted I eat this — my dadi, nani and she had all eaten it and I had to continue this sacred tradition.” It became part of her morning regimen, almost daily for the first 40 days. “It wasn’t as bitter, but very filling and wholesome.” Methi kheer, methi ki khichdi (where the seeds replace the rice), and a mutton soup were part of her post-natal care.
Cold comfort
In Goa, talk to anyone about methi pez, and they usually associate the dish with new mothers. On being asked if they had tasted it, a friend jokingly responded with ‘I’ve never been pregnant’. During my interviews, I learned that people enjoy eating methi pez either when a craving strikes, or the weather calls for it.
‘Atwal is made in rainy season or when someone is down with fever — it helps with digestion’, writes Neelam Datta on her blog, Ranchikood-Goan Kitchen. “The older generation would prepare it and consume it in monsoons, together with aamli (raw mango pickled with salt, and no oil or spices),” says Kuchelkar.
In Lavande’s home, the dish is made when someone in the family has a craving for it. Growing up, her mother would prepare atwal for Lavande and her siblings when they were hungry and needed a substantial fix — they would eat it with stuffed mango pickle. Otherwise, atwal fed to mothers is usually paired with chepnem tor (mangoes pickled in brine). “Since nursing mothers should avoid anything with masala, chepnem tor was the best, and it provided nice contrast of flavour with the sweet porridge.”
At home, my mother has taken to feeding Larissa every few days. She makes her own version of methi pez — it’s a first time for her, too. I’m just the lucky bystander who gets to indulge in her love for the coconut-jaggery pairing.
Recipe
*Soak a quarter cup of fenugreek seeds for 4–5 hours. Strain.
*Cook with one cup of rice, and water. Add a turmeric leaf for flavour.
*When the grains are cooked, add two cups coconut milk, very little salt, jaggery (according to taste) and pinch of elaichi powder.
*Cook till it becomes soft and has gruel-like consistency.
