Saasam

Anushree and I celebrated seven years of being married in December. Our wedding day is still vivid in my mind. Risky as it is to admit that by this I do not just refer to the fact that it rubber-stamped our being able to spend the rest of our lives together, nor am I referring to memorable wedding ceremonies and celebrations, which were, of course, special. I am alluding to the food at our wedding! Anyone who knows me well enough, Anushree included, knows how important food is to me - so she takes no offence to being second to food in my memory of our wedding (I think, but I will know for sure, after this blog is published!).

We had a traditional Aamchi meal at our wedding, and it was absolutely finger-licking (I definitely licked mine at the end of it). Dali thoy, sheeth (plain rice), masala bhaath, tendli ani bibbe upkari (ivy gourd with cashews and coconut), phulwar ani vatana bhaaji (cauliflower and peas) and pooris, phodiyos, and salad to go with these. Remembering this amazing food makes me so nostalgic. Wait, did I mention the royal fruit "Saasam"?

The caterer, was not aamchi, and though he was familiar with some aamchi food, he had never come across Saasam - a dish unique only to the Aamchi cuisine. That said, he was kind enough to visit a family friend for the recipe, and was in turn very kindly taught it to him too.

To put it extremely simply, Saasam is an Aamchi fruit salad. It is made with tropical fruit that you will find in abundance along the western coastal region that we Aamchis have settled in - mangoes, pineapples, bananas, but also oranges and grapes if you want it more elaborate and colourful. Living in the UK, I guess you could use any fruit you readily find, though I'm not sure crisp apples would go well with it. No harm trying though. Of course, key to the Saasam is, well, the 'saasam' or raw mustard ground with a sweet, sour, and spicy coconut mixture. Mixed with sweet and tangy fruit, this flavourful and slightly pungent 'massol' refreshes all your taste buds. Heaven.

I made my Saasam with the fruit I had in the house - banana, orange, kiwi, and quite unusually, a mango too.

I found the process of making this dish a little messy (as you will see in the video), but that was really down to my technique of chopping the fruit. The end product however, was mmmm so good. Polished in flat five minutes.

Ingredients

1 banana

1 orange

1 mango

1/2 kiwi fruit (the other half had been eaten by the 11 month old in the house!)

Any other fruit you wish to use

2-3 tbsp jaggery powder

3/4 tsp tsp salt

Massol

1 cup fresh or 3/4th cup dessicated coconut

2 tsp whole mustard seeds

1 tsp byadgi red chilli powder (or use 2 whole bedgi chillies instead)

1 tsp tamarind (de-seeded)

Method:

1. Wash and cut the fruit into medium sized chunks/pieces - not too big (otherwise they won't take in a lot of the massol), but not too small. Place the cut fruit into a bowl. Note: I made the mistake of cutting the pieces too small, which meant they released more water while chopping and made it a lot messier.

2. In a mixer-grinder, grind to a semi fine texture the massol ingredients other than the mustard seeds with a very tiny amount of water (as the fruit releases water too, and you want the massol relatively dry). Now add the mustard seeds and grind again to a more fine texture. Note: If you add mustard seeds at the start itself and grind, the massol is likely to become quite bitter.

3. Place the massol on top of the chopped fruit. Add the jaggery and salt just before serving, and then give the fruit and massol a good stir. Note: If you want to make Saasam while entertaining guests, as advance prep you can chop the fruit, place the massol over it, cover it to keep the fruit from darkening and keep it in the fridge in advance. Then add salt and jaggery just before you serve.

And that is it - super simple and super yummy. It's a perfect side dish, but surely one wouldn't mind having it as a main on its own (I mean, it is a kind of fruit 'Salad' after all).

Rullam (Aaju's Rullam)

This dish is dedicated to someone who was really specially to us (and to the entire Chitrapur Saraswat community in the UK) - Mohan Sajip, who passed away on on 08 November 2020. Mohan maam ('maam' - which is the respectful term for elders in Konkani and is the equivalent for "uncle") was a doting grandfather figure to us and there are so many adjectives to describe him - effervescent, caring, gentle and affable are just a few of these. Anyone who knew Mohan Maam even for a passing second was deeply touched by his positivity and love, for that is all that he emanated. He was one of the first aamchi persons to come to the UK and played a pivotal role in forming what is now the UK Saraswat SamajSabha. Through decades he remained a strong supporter of the Samaj Sabha and its activities over many years.

He was exceptionally well traveled and knowledgeable and liked to keep up with the times - Mohan Maam's whatsapps and the use of emojis was super impressive for a man of his age. I am so thrilled that he also sent Konkani stories through voice notes for Aatmay, something I am eternally grateful for.

The week before his passing, Anushree and I had a real longing to meet him and his wife Sharde Pacchi, particularly as we hadn't seen them since the start of the year owing to the pandemic. That morning, I had planned to make my R recipe and wanted to make "ajju" rullam (the significance of which is explained in the video recipe). I called Mohan maam to speak to him and ask for his recipe, but as he was unavailable at the time, his son Vinay Maam Sajip gave me the recipe. We later paid a socially distanced visit to Mohan Maam and Sharde Pacchi, and we are so happy that we undertook that journey as we would otherwise not have seen Mohan Maam before his unfortunate demise .

Mohan Maam will be deeply missed but he has left behind so much love and so many fond memories for all of us to cherish, and we are only grateful to have had the time we had with him.

Rullam or upma is a typical aamchi breakfast dish made from semolina. Whilst I had made the dish (and the photos below are of this), I thought it was only right that this should be demonstrated in Mohan Maam's name by Vinay Maam. Therefore, I would ask that you please watch the video published on Insta and Facebook.

Vinay Maam has kindly provided the recipe below - it is incredibly helpful and detailed.

Ingredients:

Quantities for: Four servings plus some left over

Extra coarse semolina 450 ml (or you can use Coarse semolina)

Boiling water 900 ml (or 680 ml if you're using Coarse semolina)

Frozen mixed vegetables as shown in video recipe - Broccoli, carrot, peas, sweetcorn, red pepper - all cut small (can use fresh if frozen unavailable)

1tsp Cumin

2 tsp Udid dal

2 tsp Mustard seeds

6-8 Curry leaves

Cashew nuts split/broken (To taste - generous handful)

50 ml Vegetable oil

3 tsp Salt

1 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

3 tsp Sambar powder

A dash of lemon juice

Garnish:

Shredded coconut or desiccated coconut + a little water)

Coriander leaves

Method:

1. In a small-medium saucepan, put the vegetables, 1 tsp of salt and the lemon juice. Add all the boiling water and keep on a very low flame. The lemon juice helps to keep the colour of the vegetables bright.

2. In parallel, on a medium flame in a wok or kadhai-style dish, add the oil and wait for it to warm up. When fairly hot, add the cumin, and soon after, add the udid dal and mustard seeds. Stir a bit, wait for the mustard seeds to pop, then add the curry leaves and the cashew nuts. Keep stirring until the cashew nuts become a uniform brown colour (by this point the udid dal will also be a slightly darker brown). Add the semolina and stir thoroughly, so that the oil coats the semolina grains uniformly.

3. Keep roasting the semolina, stirring continuously, for around 10-15 minutes on the medium flame. You'll know when to stop roasting by noticing that where the semolina meets the pan, it starts to turn a noticeably darker shade of brown. (As you keep stirring, the semolina overall will turn slightly darker than when you started, but as the change is gradual and not pronounced, you may not be able to tell from that when to stop.)

4. Once you've reached the point at which to stop roasting, turn the flame under the vegetables off, and turn the flame under the semolina to a minimum. (The vegetable mixture should be steaming gently but not simmering or boiling.) Add the water and the vegetables to the semolina, carefully and slowly to avoid spatter (there will be some spatter, which is why the flame is turned right down). Stir the mixture through: the semolina will absorb the water and increase in volume. If you like your rullam a bit wetter (the quantities I've given are for a dry/friable consistency), you can add a little more water from the kettle to your taste to make the consistency more like a paste. Turn the flame off completely.

5. Add the shredded coconut (it's OK to add directly from the freezer; wait a bit and the heat of the rullam will thaw it and allow you to mix it in) and the coriander leaves.

Mix everything through thoroughly and serve hot with some crisps (ready salted, salt-and-pepper or cheese-and-onion) or a crispy Indian concoction such as sev or chiwda/Bombay mix, and some nice South Indian-style coffee or some masala tea!

Panpole

Panpole (pronounced paan pole-layh) is the aamchi 'neer' (meaning 'water') dosa. Rice and fresh coconut is ground with water to a watery consistency, to make thin and light dosas that have holes all over, making them look like papery lace. I think the consistency of the batter, a hot pan, and the manner of pouring the batter onto the pan is what makes a good panpole (singular: panpolo).

Although Panpole were on my original list of the Raody randap alphabet challenge, both Anushree and I were a bit nervous about them, as they can be a bit of a touch and go. In fact, Anushree was more tense than I was. I have never tried making them before, and so I had no clue about what it entailed, but Anushree said she had tried it a few times, with little or no success. On the day however, after much deliberation, I reminded myself of the "challenge" I had embarked upon and went with my gut to make some panpole.

And guess what? We were pleasantly surprised to see that this time the panpole came out pretty well! Anushree guided me through the recipe especially the manner of pouring of the batter onto the frying plan, and made the pitti chutney to go with the panpole as we are both huge fans it. That said, my in-laws have now said to me that I will have to make the panpole again - it seems making them without "god soyee" (jaggery infused grated coconut) as an accompaniment cannot be counted as a valid entry, haha. If you choose to make the god soyee, use the recipe I have in my "oondlakal".

Of all the recipes I have made so far, this probably had the least ingredients - coconut, rice and water.

All you dosa/polo fans out there - no fermentation needed, which is a huge advantage. Also, one does not cook both sides of a panpolo. Once one side is cooked, simply fold it into half or quarters, so it remains slightly crispy on one side, and soft and melt-in-the-mouth on the other!

Ingredients

2 cups rice

1 cup of fresh or desiccated coconut

2-3 cups of water (but this measurement is very fluid, pardon the pun(pole)!)

5-6 tsp cooking oil

Note: I forgot to add oil to my ingredients photo, but without it your panpole are very likely to stick to your pan!

Method

1. Wash the rice well and soak it for 30 minutes in warm water which is just enough to cover the rice.

2. If you are using desiccated coconut, as I did, soak it also in just enough warm water to cover it, for the same length of time as the rice.

3. Grind the rice, coconut, and salt in a mixer grinder to a very fine consistency. Once ground properly, add 2-3 cups of water to ensure the batter is watery thin in consistency.

4. Heat a pan (Note: We used two pans - one non-stick flat pan, and the other a non-stick coated iron round bottom pan). Once properly hot, add 1/2-1 tsp oil.

5. Pour rapidly one ladle full of batter onto the pan from a slight height, and in a circular manner. Note: Do not take too much batter or your panpole will not come out thin. The heat from the pan, the watery thin batter, and the rapid (as opposed to a gentle) pouring should result in tiny holes appearing in the polo. Pour small amounts of further batter to fill in the gaps (not the holes) so as to get a roughly circular dosa/polo.

6. Cover the pan with a lid and let the panpole cook properly on one side. You might have to reduce or increase the flame to cook the panpole without burning it. Pour 1/2-1 tsp oil along the sides to help lift the cooked panpole.

7. Fold it into half, and then help yourselves to some!