“Kooka Sasam (Chinese Potato Mustard Paste Curry)” … sasam is a traditional dish from GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine that is prepared with different veggies be it tuber, fruit or salad variety and surprisingly they all taste wonderful each differently imparting the flavour of the veggie used … the season of kooka has already come to an end and I had just two handfuls leftover from my old stock … this mustard based curry tastes awesome served with rice … Yummilicious ….
** Sasam is a curry prepared with addition of mustard seeds to the ground masala. If you browse through the blog using search option or via the common link to all sasam recipes shared at the bottom of this recipe you will find that I have prepared them with veggies, tart flavored veggies, fruits, tuber vegetables, leafy veggies etc. and they all have some minute differences though they are all referred to as sasam (in Konkani GSB Cuisine). Some of the curries are prepared cooked while some are not. Some have inclusion of jaggery while others do not, some have curds and so and and so off.
** These are all tradition recipes from GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine, a community I belong to and have been in vogue for generations. I learned them from my Amma, aunties, family friends and relatives while my amma learned them from her amma (my mamama) and she from hers. While it comes to preparing traditional recipes I just follow them without questioning and sometimes do make changes of my own to suit our liking. I have always found traditional dishes a source of inspiration which gives me a large slate to work on wherein I can give my own twists and still the taste remains intact.
** I am proud of Konkani food which seems an endless choice to prepare from and this recipe is a proof to same. I have been blogging for over 10 yrs now and there are many more I would like to share and sometimes I find myself doing much less than how much I would like to do, either due to time constraint or coz of health issues, how I wish I had started earlier. So to all out there do try out dishes and enjoy them with your family and friends as there is nothing more healthier and tastier than home cooked food and there are plenty of them shared in this blog and more to come, so stay in touch.
** Last year some kooka was stored aside which I had completely forgotten and surprisingly most of them were still edible while some had softened and had to be discarded. Usually the season of Kook is from November to February while sometimes they are available till March. This year too I purchased some stock in the month of March and stocked it in open in a corner in my kitchen and kept checking out as I used them. I did want to finish them by April but ran a few days later this time and luckily most of them were still edible, so prepared sasam using them which was in my to list for a long time.
** Here is my simple recipe for “Kooka Sasam (Chinese Potato Mustard Paste Curry)” … my style, tastes best served with rice ….
** For this Curry I have used only one tuber veggie ie Kooka (Chinese Potato). In all I have used about two handfuls ie 12-15 medium sized ones. There are a few methods you can use in removing the outer skin of this muddly kooka and I am sharing them below, you may try any method you find easier or any of your own too.
** About preparing Kooka/ Chinese Potato : Cleaning kooka/ chinese potato is the biggest task. I have changed my method of cleaning, but your can prepare it anyway that is suitable to you. Having said this, cleaning also depends upon the quality of the kooka available to you. In Mumbai, sometimes we get really good ones, that peel off easily while sometimes we don't. So I will add in a few methods of peeling of the skin and you may follow as per the variety you get using trial and error method.
** Method 1 : One way of peeling the outer skin is, You can either just use the potato peeler and peel the kookas using it.
** The Traditional Method : The other traditional way is to put kooka in a gunny bag (Ghoni) and tightly packing it and then banging/ hitting it on to a stone firmly while rotating the bag all round as you go through the method. This loosen the skin and most of it comes off. Just scrub it with both hands retaining it within the gunny bag to loosen it more. This method is not used much now as it is difficult to access gunny bag. Even rice have been started to come in plastic type bags. If you have one, you can sure try this out. My mother used to make it this way and during childhood we used to loved doing it for her. We really did enjoying banging around the gunny bag to loosen the outer skin of kooka.
** My Method : I soak the required amount of kooka in plenty of water for about 5-10 mins, changing them a few times if they are too muddy. This loosens the dry mud that is sticking to the kooka. The I try loosening off the mud right there in the water by rubbing them between fingers. Some kooka are well behaved and peel off easily, while some are stubborn and just do not listen making it difficult. So use the potato peeler and zap it comes out faster than when you run it on the drier one mentioned first.
** Important step of soaking in water once its peeled : It is very important to drop the skin peeled kooka/ chinese potato into water to prevent it getting discolored. So keep a bowl with plenty of water ready and drop the peeled kookas immediately into them. Once done, wash them in plenty of water, rinsing many times in fresh water and remember to keep it soaked in water till the preparation/ cooking time.
** IMPORTANT NOTE : I can say that this is also a easier method of peeling off outer skin of smaller sized Kooka/ Chinese Potato as the above mentioned methods may turn out tedious. Again, for preparing gojju, kooka needs to be cooked really soft, so that you can easily crush them with hands or with a small weight or potato masher for perfect result, so the peeling method really depends upon the curry.
** Addition of Kooka/ Chinese Potato to this curry : After peeling the skin in any of the above mentioned method, wash it well in plenty of water and then cut it into 1 inch sized pieces depending upon the size of the kooka as they come in small and medium sizes. If large cut them into 2-3 pieces and if small you can retain them whole as it is. Just follow your judgment and keep the cut pieces even sized.
** As mentioned above I have used 12-15 medium sized Kooka/ Chinese Potato for this curry, you may use according to your requirement. Wash and add kooka pieces into thick bottomed vessel with 1-2 cups of water, a pinch of turmeric/ haldi powder, 1 tsp of salt (namak/ meeta) and cook on medium heat until 90% cooked. Do not overcook the pieces or else they will get mashed and will not retain shape.
** For the ground Masala : Add into a mixer grinder ½ cup of freshly grated coconut (soyi/ nariyal/ tengina kayi), oil fried 3-4 kashmiri red chilly (kumte mirsanga/ byadgi mirchi), a small marble sized piece of tamarind (chinchama/ Imly) and grind to a smooth paste adding very little water. You can use the kooka cooked water for grinding the masala here which is what I always follow. After the masala is ground fine add 1 tsp of sasam (mustard seeds/ rai) and further grind for a few seconds. At this point do not try grinding sasam to smooth texture, just a few rounds of grinding is enough.
** Note : Do not grind the sasam/ mustard to a smooth texture after adding it the masala as it will then turn the masala slightly bitter in taste.
** Add the ground masala to the cooked kooka and mix well. Check and add more water only if necessary to bring to required gravy consistency. Add salt as required only, remember we have added some while cooking kooka, so be careful. Bring all together to a boil on medium heat stirring in between until you see bubbles appearing on surface. Lower the heat to minimum and continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
** For Tempering/ Pannaka/ Tadka : Heat 1 tsp of Coconut oil (Nariyal Tel/ Narlel Tela) in a small tadka pan, when hot add 1 tsp of sasam (mustard seeds/ rai) and when it begins to splutter add 8-10 fresh curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu), fry for a few seconds, remove and pour it over the simmering curry.
** Remove from heat, cover and keep the sasam/ curry aside to rest for 10-15 minutes for the flavours to be infused into the curry. At the time of serving, check the consistency of the curry as it tends to thicken. If you find it too thick then add some boiling water and mix well to bring to desired thickness and its ready. Remember this curry is of semi thickness and tastes best served that way, so do prepare accordingly.
** “Kooka Sasam (Chinese Potato Mustard Paste Curry)” is done and ready to be served. Sasam tastes best served with rice only and I would suggest you do so for best of taste, though if you still do not want to have rice, you may relish it with roti/ chapati. In all a delicous curry with the mild taste of mustard that tastes awesome.
** There are plenty of “Sasam” recipes shared in Blog, each one is slightly different, however they are all equally tasty, sharing a common link below, which you may click on to browse through them and prepare that which appeals to you …
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