“Apple Grapes Strawberry Sasam (mustard gravy curry)” … it’s the season of strawberries and there seems to be a bumper crop of it … just felt why should mangoes have all the fun, tried our own Konkani Saraswat mustard based gravy dish, a salad sort of a dish but with addition of ground masala … gave my own twist and tried the same dish but with addition of these three wonderful fruits and the result was something beyond my imagination … it was simple par excellence, so tasty, that the whole bowl got empty in no time … Yummilicious …
** Thanks to Government initiative of encouraging harvesting of veggies, in Mumbai Veggies and fruits have been flocking the market for a over a year now. Strawberries which was rich mans fruit is now available to all though there are still some who sell them overpriced fooling people by using packaging methods, trust me they are available by Kgs now especially with push cart vendors and I am lucky to have a few trustworthy regulars who come with different types of fruits everyday just right out of my building making life that much easier.
** I have always loved strawberries while hubby is not so fond of them, but brings them for me always. Recently he bought them in bulk and I must confess here that after relishing the sweetest of them I was wondering what new dish I could churn out. I prepared a different version of chutney and relished as milk shake which is common. Yesterday being Republic Day, we Indians always love to prepare something sweet, but somehow I did not want to end up preparing a sweet dish as both hubby and I are not much fond of sweets.
** I was just speaking out my mind loud wondering what I could prepare as sweet dish when hubby blurted why don’t you try out strawberry sasam, I was sort of taken aback just for a second thinking with strawberries??? He innocently said yes, I will eat them however it turns out to be, Ahhhaaa after that there is really no looking back, is there??? so I prepared our own konkani saraswat style sasam, a famous mustard based gravy dish with addition of three fruits I had handy at home, that’s strawberries, grapes and apple.
** For those who are new to “Sasam” recipe, it’s a gravy based recipe prepared either with veggies or fruit, slightly different methods which I have already blogged. Traditionally prepared with ripe mango, pineapple and grapes, these are served during festive occasions or celebrations. It’s Republic Day and I am proud of my country that is seeing progressive days and is emerging a winner in many fields, so sweet dish as a mark of respect to republic India is a must and here is something different from the usual regular one.
** After preparing the dish, though it looked lovely I was hesitant of making an offering to God, wondering if it tasted good, you see I could taste it only after the offering made, well, with a small prayer on my lips I placed the bowl before God and later on first gave a spoon of the same to hubby and watched out for reaction, he just said, you taste and let me know and I did so and all I did was thank both God and hubby for this wonderful dish, trust me it was par' excellence and is sure to be prepared many more times.
** Here is my recipe for “Apple Grapes Strawberry Sasam (mustard gravy curry)” … the recipe remains the same as the traditional ones with twist only on addition of different types of seasonal fruit, do try them out, it tastes wonderful ……
** Wash and drain well about 20-24 fresh "strawberries", slice off the stem portion and them cut them into pieces, say about 6 of each and put them into a wide bowl.
** Wash and drain well about 18-20 fresh "green grapes/ draksha", and cut them vertically into two pieces and add them to the cut strawberries in the bowl.
** Slice off outer skin one large sized "apple" thinly and then cut them into pieces of the same size as of others discarding inner seeds and add them to the fruits in bowl.
** Masala to be ground : Add into a mixer 1 cup of freshly grated coconut (soyi/ nariyal) with 2-3 green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hari mirchi), 2-3 dry Kashmiri red chillies (kumte mirsanga or byadgi mirchi) and grind to a paste with little bit of water. Lastly add in ½ tsp of mustard seeds (rai/ sasam) and further grind all together for another minute of two. The seeds should have been crushed well. Now add about 2-3 tblsp of jaggery powder (godda pitti/ gud) and grind together till mixed well adding water only if necessary.
** Add the ground masala to the fruits in the bowl along with a pinch of salt (namak/ meeta) which is optional and toss well together gently. Check consistency of the sasam/curry, and add in water as is needed only. This is a thick gravy dish, here the masala just needs to be coated to the fruits well and a little bit left as excess in and around. Again, the masala water should not leave on sides, so be careful with addition of water.
** “Apple Grapes Strawberry Sasam (mustard gravy curry)” is done and ready to be served after making an offering to God if doing so. This is a side dish sort of dish served along with other dishes during lunchtime. Konkani Saraswats (GSB) that is my community people usually serve it during celebrations or festive days. However, is also prepared in homes on weekends when family dines together. Go ahead and enjoy this new twist/ variation in the traditional dish with your family and friends, I am sure they will love it.
** Note: If you want to serve the dish after a few hours, it should be kept in the fridge immediately to avoid it turning sour as the dish is not heated. Again, this dish is not seasoned/ tempered though in some place the traditional one is done so with curry leaves and mustard seed in coconut oil, however for this particular variation I would not recommend it.
** Note: This Sasam is Usually prepared with Pineapple, Ripe Mango and Grapes very famously known in GSB Konkani Saraswat Community as Avnas Ambe Sasam. However when the same is not in season, you can do so by adding on seasonal fruits like how I have done many times, this one too runs on the same lines, try it, tastes wonderful.
** Sharing below a common link to “Sasam” recipes in the Blog, where in you will find both sasams prepared with veggies and fruits. Do check out on them for more information about different types of sasam prepared in Konkani Saraswat Community.
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Thanks.