• 13 hours ago
India is currently home to 800 species of wild and flavorful edible seaweed. Tapping into the rich biodiversity in the state of Goa, Gabriella D'Cruz free dives into tide pools to harvest it. As the founder and ecologist of the Good Ocean seaweed food company, D'Cruz supplies the local ingredient to world-renowned restaurants, including Masque in Mumbai. In the kitchen, head chef Varun Totlani incorporates the harvested seaweed to reinvent traditional Indian dishes like pani puri, chaat, and popadam.
Transcript
00:00India has 800 species of seaweed, all of them are currently edible.
00:04I run The Good Ocean, which is India's first seaweed food company,
00:07where we wild harvest local seaweed and we sell it to chefs across the country.
00:12We generally bulk harvest one species, which is sargassum.
00:15It's the most abundant species available,
00:17and we are able to supply it to restaurants more consistently.
00:20I often get asked by the fishing community what I'm doing.
00:24A lot of people think I'm coming to the tide pools to harvest mussels or oysters,
00:28and then I have to tell people I'm not really interested in mussels and oysters,
00:32I'm here for the seaweed.
00:34And have you tried it? It tastes fantastic.
00:36Why don't you try some?
00:37And I always get very strange looks.
00:44We've wrecked this beach a bunch of times.
00:46We found it to be actually probably some of the best biodiversity
00:50when it comes to tide pools in Goa.
00:52Not only is there a substantial amount of sargassum,
00:54but it tends to be really, really healthy.
00:56And I think since Chef wants to do the seaweed caviar,
01:00it would be really cool if we could find some fronds that have more ebblers.
01:07So I got my mask and my snorkel.
01:09Even though this is a shallow harvest,
01:11I'm going to need it at some point to be able to look underwater
01:15and identify the seaweed species.
01:17So I'm going to find a pathway to the seaweed that's safe,
01:20figure out a way in which Chef can come in as well and harvest the seaweed with me.
01:25Seafood is a big part of our cuisine throughout the country,
01:28but we don't really have seaweed in our traditional food.
01:31Honestly, till a couple of years ago, I didn't think it was even available.
01:34I stumbled upon Gabriela on Instagram.
01:36We're looking to do a lot of different things with it
01:39to kind of get it in the mainstay and an everyday Indian meal.
01:44In general, seaweed has a root-like structure called a holdfast,
01:48which anchors onto a rock and then it grows upwards.
01:51So what that means is you have to freedive right to the bottom
01:54and then be really careful as to how you harvest it.
01:56Bring it up to the surface and then put it in a net bag and bring it back to shore.
02:00So that means that we have to keep going down quite often, which is a bit tiring.
02:04The tide is coming in really fast, so it's a little difficult.
02:07And so while it is a really lovely skill to have,
02:09it doesn't take away from the fact that for many, many coastal communities
02:13who rely on this as their main livelihood,
02:16it's a really hard job that they just don't get paid enough money to do.
02:24So we've just finished our harvest for the day.
02:27This one is spatterglossom. It's a raw mango seaweed.
02:30A delicious seaweed because it has a really distinct flavor unlike any other species.
02:34One thing that we really want to make sure with the spatterglossom
02:37is that we put it in seawater to make sure that it doesn't change its color
02:42and then change its flavor.
02:43So we're going to just keep this in here and make sure that it stays cool.
02:47Here we've got sort of a slightly different species of sargassum than we normally use.
02:51It's got very thin fronds and the air bladders are quite slim.
02:55And so these are two different species of sargassum.
02:58This one is of course the sea grapes which are slightly different.
03:02These are very beautiful.
03:04They look like mushrooms.
03:05To be honest, if you see it from here also, it does look like mushrooms.
03:09This one is padina and this is essentially more of a bitter flavor profile
03:13but the texture is really, really interesting.
03:15We've used this before.
03:16We've done a seaweed salad with it.
03:18And then this is dictiota.
03:20You can identify it because it's got digitate like seaweed.
03:24So it's got finger like seaweed.
03:28There are two of us that work at The Good Ocean.
03:30It's myself and Chaitanya.
03:32I handle essentially the ecological side of things.
03:35So I'm an expert in seaweed and I understand the coastal ecosystem.
03:40And Chaitanya handles operations.
03:42And because of him, we have this functional product that is food safe.
03:45And I think that's really important when it comes to setting all of our quality controls.
03:50This is our processing unit.
03:51And this is Shobha.
03:52She's been working with us for a couple of years now.
03:54She's the backbone of our processing unit.
03:56We would never be able to get any of the stuff we get done without her.
03:59So this is probably the most intensive part of our process.
04:03We are going to go through every piece of seaweed by hand.
04:07And no seaweed is going to end up in a bag
04:09until it has passed through one of our three hands.
04:12So essentially what we want to do when we sort the seaweed
04:15is to remove any kind of impurities that we see on it.
04:18Like a tiny shell of some sort or sand
04:21or anything that could be wedged in the seaweed.
04:23There are also sometimes a little bit of microplastics
04:26or shreds of plastic fiber that you find in the ocean now
04:29because the ocean is just so full of plastic.
04:32We also weigh all of the waste product that we generate from after sorting.
04:36None of our seaweed goes to waste.
04:38We make it into a powder and we sell it as a bio-fertilizer.
04:41I'm really excited to check this powder gloss out.
04:43Oh my god, it stayed.
04:45That's amazing.
04:47That's a win.
04:47It has the flavor of mangoes.
04:49It's different.
04:49It has the flavor of mangoes.
04:50It has the flavor of mangoes, right?
04:51It has the flavor of kairi.
04:52It has the flavor of kairi.
04:52Fantastic.
04:53So that's what it takes.
04:54Cold water.
04:54Ice and water.
04:55Guys, this is like a big, big deal.
04:57We've been trying to figure this out for two years.
05:00Well done.
05:01Seaweed's going in for the first wash.
05:03And in the meantime, I'm going to put salt in the other wash.
05:07Our salt water wash, it's very important for us to get the salt water content right.
05:11This is going to give us enough of a clean salt equivalent to the ocean
05:16for us to put the salt content back in the seaweed after we wash in fresh water.
05:20The first time is exciting.
05:22The second time feels like a challenge to do better than the first time.
05:25The 25th time is not fun.
05:30Anything you eat, somebody has probably done backbreaking, repetitive,
05:37boring, smelly, messy labor to get that onto your plate.
05:41I mean, that is also why seaweed is expensive.
05:44It's really hard to harvest or farm.
05:46It's really painstaking work and it really needs a lot of attention to detail.
05:51Now that Shobha's done with the freshwater wash,
05:54I'm going to try and catch as much of this caviar as possible.
05:56As part of the washing process,
05:58the air bladders are going to fall off and we're going to try and get them in this sieve.
06:02This is one of our proudest achievements, I think.
06:05Came to us on a 2 a.m. cleaning session when it was all floating at the top.
06:09We had a conversation with Varun and seaweed caviar was born.
06:13When we first started, we actually made a big mat and just laid it out.
06:17It sticks to the rack, it cracks when we take it off.
06:20We end up with a lot of wastage.
06:21So we settled on this idea of making these little nests
06:24and that allows us to lift it off later.
06:27The number of times we've had to be up almost all night doing this is problematic.
06:33But it's also been really fun and I think at some point of time you zone out.
06:37It is actually quite enjoyable.
06:38This is our drying room.
06:40Here it's been drying for two days.
06:41The process starts with us pulling all the seaweed off the racks
06:45to get a final idea of how much dried seaweed we've got.
06:48So our last batch came in at 975 grams.
06:51Just gonna log that.
06:53We're now gonna divvy this up into bags.
06:55So the goal here for Shoba is to get the seaweed as flat as possible
07:00and we're gonna vacuum it.
07:02This keeps the moisture out, it keeps the back smooth.
07:06This keeps the moisture out, it keeps the back small.
07:09Helps our ship, keeps the shelf life high, keeps the seaweed fresh.
07:12And that's our final packed seaweed.
07:15This is what's gonna go to mask.
07:20This is our version of pani puri.
07:22Puri means the shell and pani means a broth.
07:25So pani puri is supposed to be like a hard and crispy shell
07:29with a cold, refreshing, slightly spicy water inside.
07:32So when you eat it, it has to be one bite.
07:34It's a burst of flavors in your mouth.
07:36Honestly, a good puri should be almost like tasteless
07:40because there's so much flavor in the pani and in the filling.
07:43The puri is more of like a vehicle to get flavor into your mouth
07:47rather than to have its own flavor.
07:50This is our sea bass.
07:52We're just gonna cure it with the seaweed that we just caught.
07:56Usually in India, we don't really eat anything raw, medium rare or things like that.
08:00But obviously now with time and with new restaurants that are coming up,
08:04things like crudo, sushi, all of this is becoming more acceptable
08:08for the average Indian guest.
08:10We will just roughly crush this and make a bed for it almost.
08:15The idea is to fully cover the fish, almost like buried in the seaweed.
08:19The salt in the seaweed kind of draws out all the moisture.
08:22So here's our fish that we've cured for overnight.
08:25It's almost like you've dry brined the fish in the seaweed.
08:29The process of curing it has made it more firm and dry,
08:32which gives you a better bite at the end.
08:35What we're gonna do is marinate it with a little bit of sesame oil
08:38that's infused with habanero chili.
08:40Add a little touch of salt.
08:42What I'm going to add right now is different textures.
08:45This one is called ampapat.
08:47It's a very traditional mango candy almost.
08:50Pickled watermelon radish, raw mango.
08:52This is essentially a very big part of chaat
08:54because that's what gives it the umami.
08:57Because that's what gives it the very sour sensation.
09:00Chewy beetroot.
09:01This is a jelly made with sea buckthorn.
09:04It is the same fruit that we're going to use to make the pani or the broth.
09:08And lastly, we're going to use the two seaweed that we kind of caught.
09:12We also got some that were pickled in vinegar.
09:15So we're going to use that.
09:16The sea caviar as a final garnish to this dish.
09:20So now we're going to put the pani puri together.
09:22You make a hole in this.
09:23The idea is to get a little bit of everything in there.
09:27Fill it with water or pani till the brim.
09:29And then go for it.
09:32On the streets, a guy would have two big tumblers of water.
09:35They would make it for you and keep putting a filled one into your bowl.
09:39And then you got to eat it one bite before he's ready with the next one.
09:44Considering that most people find what I do interesting but strange
09:48and they're willing to talk to me about it.
09:50But when it comes to tasting the seaweed,
09:52there's usually some sense of apprehension.
09:54I think chefs play a huge role in being able to generate curiosity
10:00but also translate that into people actually eating the product.
10:04I definitely wanted to use seaweed and particularly this Indian seaweed
10:07that nobody really heard of it as an Indian ingredient.
10:10So we wanted to kind of change that perception.
10:12Use it in a way where Indians are able to connect with it.
10:15So that's why we chose a dish like chaat.
10:18Chaat literally means to lick.
10:20It is basically things, food that makes you salivate.
10:23It is sweet, spicy, sour, textural all at the same time.
10:27Because we're going for a bhel-inspired dish
10:30which is usually made with puffed rice,
10:33we chose to use seaweed and ponk.
10:35So what we're trying to do here is we're going to fry all of this seaweed
10:39to make it a very like crispy texture.
10:44Now what we're going to do is we're going to season it with chaat masala.
10:47Chaat masala is like this spice mix.
10:49For me, it's like Indian umami.
10:51Just give it a nice mix.
10:52Ready to go.
10:53So this is the other ingredient we use called ponk.
10:57It is basically fresh green sorghum.
11:00When this starts growing and they see this in the farm,
11:02it means harvest season is upon us
11:05and it's almost like a celebration for the farmers.
11:09We're again going to season it with this chaat masala generously.
11:13So we're going to do some diced onions,
11:15some diced radish, green mango or raw mango.
11:18We marinate it with a chutney that's made with green apple, mint, coriander, ginger.
11:25A little bit of the salad goes at the bottom.
11:27Tamarind chutney.
11:28Top it up with the crispy ponk that we've already seasoned.
11:32And then lastly, the seaweed.
11:34I would always ask the guests to taste it by itself,
11:37get a feel of the crispy seaweed, the ponk by itself
11:40and then kind of mix it up like chaat
11:42so you get all the different textures and all the different flavors in each bite.
11:48So we're going to put your next dish together,
11:50which is going to be chai and papad.
11:53Papad is basically like a crisp that goes with all our food in India.
11:56Usually it's made with like flour and lentils
11:59but this one we've made with tapioca starch and seaweed.
12:04What we have here is a light broth of some vegetable trim from the kitchen
12:08and some seaweed
12:09and we're going to infuse a lot more seaweed into it.
12:12While that's infusing, we're going to put a salad together.
12:15We have some of the beautiful raw mango seaweed.
12:18We're going to take a little bit of the sargassum.
12:20This is the padina or the sea fan.
12:23This we will just use a little bit of it.
12:25Although it has a nice flavor, it is slight on the bitter side.
12:29Break a nice piece of this that we can use.
12:32We're going to marinate this with a little bit of our vinaigrette.
12:36This is essentially coriander oil and a little bit of salt.
12:40And a nice bunch of all the seaweed mix.
12:43So this is a little sour cream just to introduce a little bit of sourness
12:46as everything is very rich.
12:48I'm going to top it up with some jicama
12:50which is a fresh vegetable, a root vegetable
12:52to give some sweetness and to break away from all the richness
12:55and the saltiness that we have.
12:57And lastly is the seaweed caviar.
13:01What I like about Good Ocean is
13:03it's a lot of back and forth and exchange of knowledge between the two of us.
13:06It's always about exchange of ideas and being open.
13:09That's what the team at Mask does so well
13:11is they really celebrate the ingredient and talk about where it comes from
13:15and take you on that journey back to the tide pools.
13:18I personally am really attached to these ecosystems.
13:22I get a lot of joy from spending time in them.
13:25They're also hugely important to oceanic ecosystems.
13:28They are fish breeding and feeding grounds.
13:31Whenever you're in a seaweed forest,
13:32you'll realize that there's a huge diversity of species
13:35that rely on these seaweed forests.
13:37I spent a lot of my time before this working in the conservation sector.
13:42Here, I just feel like I am able to do something with my hands and make a difference.
13:46I just really believe in seaweed, actually.
13:49I'm really obsessed with it.