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).