Monday, June 9, 2008

Ambe-Avnaasa Saasam, PA Juice, Raw Mango Pickle, Fruit Basket , Ladoos -I HATE!!



'Saasam' is a term in Konkani for Mustard seeds or Rai. The dish is a curried side dish- its very popular in marriages , made of fresh fruits, in a way curried fruit salad! The main ingredient here is mango and pineapple ( ambe, avnaas respectively in Konkani) many add black grapes and green grapes as well to make it look more colorful and the curry has some saasam in it.
Am not too sure whether Saasam name has been derived from Rai or in other Konkani dialect it means 'mixture' !

My Amma prepares it this way, there are many variations to it as well.

Ambe Avnaasa Saasam -->>

Ingredients :
1/2 cup chopped mangoes (ripe, alphonso)
1/2 cup chopped fresh pineapple pieces
3/4 th cup coconut (fresh / dessicated)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds toasted
Tamarind (half-a-marble sized)
Hing a tiny pinch
2 tsp jaggery
3-4 red chillies (more if u prefer spicy)
Salt

Tadka : 1 tsp - Coconut oil, 1 tsp - rai, 2-3 sprigs - curry leaves


Method :





Place the chopped fresh fruits (mango , pineapple) in a big serving bowl. Grind to fine paste - coconut, chillies, tamarind, jaggery, toasted rai, hing with water enough to give it porridge consistency, add salt to taste , add water to obtain sauce consistency, pour over fruits. Mix well.
Heat oil in a small pan, crackle the rai, add the curry leaves, pour atop the curried mango-pineapple mix. Cover and allow the flavours to gel.
Have it as a side dish or just like a dessert .

Update : 15th June 2008:

This goes to Sig's @ Live to Eat -Tamarind Event!
(Tks Sig, its got a eeny weeny bit of tamarind though!)

Summer --- beat it with Fresh Pineapple Juice




In a blender, blend one cup cubed fresh pineapple pieces, add a pinch of black salt, a pinch of pepper, a pinch of cardamom powder, two tsp sugar (the pineapple was on sweeter side) a dash of lemon juice, add two cups of cold water, blend, strain, serve!! INDULGE!

Kairi Pickle-Cooked Version -- This appeals to all those who have tastebuds which drizzle saliva at the mention of sour-sweet-spice! I am one of this troop!! :D
The below measure yields a bowl full of pickle, has to be consumed in a week's time.
Adjust jaggery, chili powder and salt as per your personal preference.



Ingredients :
2 grated kairi/raw mangoes
6-7 tbspn crumpled jaggery
1/2 tsp rai
1/2 tsp fennel seeds/saunf
1/4 tsp methi seeds
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Black salt
1/2 tsp red chili powder
Oil -cooking oil/vegetable oil

Method :
Cook down the kairi with jaggery, once all the liquid has evaporated, mix in the black salt and red chili powder. Take 1/2 tsp oil in small tadka pan, heat the oil, crackle rai, add saunf and methi seeds. Pour this tempering over the kairi-jaggery mixture. Mix well, add the elaichi powder.
Have this with chapatis and Droooooooooooooooolllllllll !


Last week I prepared the following from blogs -- they were :


Meera, a dear blogger and friend to me , posted longggggggggg back a yummy
Lemon Yoghurt Cake, which finally saw light of the day in my kitchen --



Meera, this cake was too yummy thanks for sharing and describing it so well, got over same day!
Also her lovely dish Masoor Tikhale, a family recipe, is now a weekly addition with the lovely aromas of day to day ingredients put together, a dish polished off in one meal with no leftovers!!
Thanks yet again dear!!


Mansi of Fun and Food, posted a gorgeous finger food, Vegetable Bread Baskets which called for shaping the slices (fresh bread will need to be flattened a bit with rolling pin prior to baking to avoid crumpling) of bread n baking them, (170C for 12-15 mins until toasted) which appealed to me a great deal..so thought why not try, but I tweaked the filling recipe to suit my pantry...turned these basket shaped toasts to fruit basket with just chopped cherries and mangoes, seasoned with little chat masala, base of basket was a tsp of Gulkhand (jam can be used-get as creative as you can) with this fresh fruit filling topped with mozzarella cheese shreds, baked 170C for 7 mins until the topping just melts, these were finished off as evening snack on a weekend!

Fruit Basket - Bread n Fruits --






Try these to satisfy yourself of a crispy-fruity combo! Thanks Mansi!!!


Trupti of Recipe Center made these lovely Sabudana Ladoos and ever since it stayed at the back of my mind, trying to find some time to make these...and while making realised that it didn't take time at all!! They were so delicious I gobbled off many of the 14 ladoos and my kiddos n hub followed suit!
(Two notes - 1. The sabudana needs to be fried until brown. 2. Sabudana powder has to be sieved.)

When I went over to her space to comment on these, I was pleasantly surprised to find her tag me. Its a simple tag, hence I took it up...




10 Things I hate( not ate!!) MeMe
1. Superficial attitude.
2. Double standards.
3. Inhuman Nature - Be it for Elders, Peers or for Animals
4. Vulgarity
5. Blood shed/Wars
6. Corruption
7. Anger- Its Destructive
8. Ego- Its even more destructive
9. Alcohol Tobacco etc n way they r Glamorised
10. Infidelity- Hate activities meant 4 animals followed by some mortals!


Passing this on, rather tagging my dear fellow bloggers with no compulsion to take up -- do it only if time permits! :D :D

Meera - EIF

Maya
- AAK

Priyanka - Asankhana

Deeba
- PAB


And if you are wondering how many sweets have I posted, its over a period of one week..but today is special...how .....read below --


A VERY VERY HAPPY *35TH* ANNIVERSARY TO MY AMMA-AANNA (MOM-DAD)!!!




.

55 comments:

Meera said...

Wow!! I remember this bhaji. It is called "Anasa Fanasachi" bhaji in my family. Our version has pineapple, jackfruit and mangoes. and a must for weddings. On konkani side there are two similar dishes made ambya saasam and ambya upkari. now I need to pester my aunt to tell me the exact difference and recipes!!;-)
Thanks for making the cake by Ina Garten and tikhale.
Will surely take part in the MeMe.
Happy anniversary to your amma and aanna!!

Suganya said...

Hi...
That potato gravy looks good. YUM!. I loved those fruit baskets, looks so cute. YUM!

Suganya said...

Hay sorry abt that, Fruits curry looks awesome.

Shilpa said...

a very happy anniversary to your parents Purnima.

Saasam is my fav too(we normally don't add tadka to it). Looks like you were on a cooking marathon again this week :)

Kalai said...

Awesome post with so many delicious items!! Thanks for sharing. :)

notyet100 said...

everything looks so delicious,.specially kairithanks fro taggin me,,will do it soon..

KonkaniBlogger said...

Purnima, Firstly belated wishes to ur parents..Thanx for posting all these yummy recipes, especially love the sasam n the pickle. I'm a die-hard fan of the sweet sour taste :)..Whts the last bundt cake made of ?? See, am still hungry for more, hehhehe..Great post girl and thanx for tagging me. I will take it up, although I think I can just cut paste from here since what I think is similar, hahahh..

bha said...

loved those fruit baskets....u cook a lot ....that was a nice spread.....Happy anniversary to your parents

Divya Kudua said...

so many goodies in one post purnima'di...wowwww!! the lemon cake looks delicious and tempting.i've been thinking of making saasam for a long time now,got the push from you;-) and one more thing-
wishing your parents a very happy wedding anniversary!!!

Purnima said...

Meera --> Wow..liked the name,n jf hmm my moms fave..AS - chopped fruits wt masolu, AU- whole mangoes-'ghonta'variety with no masala n only tadka. 1st dish is for marriages, latter is for temple festivities!
Thanks for your lovely wishes!! Shall surely love to read ur MeMe!

Sukanya --> U must hv been commenting here after looking at Karuna's lovely potato gravy, isn't? :D Tks sso muchhh!

Shilpa --> Oh..thats another variation, without tadka,I will chk your blog if you hv posted this and surely try out NK style too!:D :D

Kalai --> Thankyou!

Priyanka --> Jab 100 ho jaogey tab kya title rakhogey? :D U supergirl, wd surely chk ur MeMe!

Maya --> Thanks for ur warm wishes!In my teens,I used to have sweet pickles from stores, during work-phase, Andheri E -Thakkars- display 20+ varieties of pickles, used to drool n drool at the sight n buy the sweet-spicy-sour mango one, when blog world happened, got to make my own!!! Thats apple-raisin-walnut eggless cake from Divya sharma-fun with spices, earlier blogged about it, muffin recipe, I used bundt pan this once as I was pressed for time! Cut-paste gr8 idea! But u may b surely having ur own 'i hate' list for sure!! :D :D

Bhags --> Thanks for your lovely wishes, well if u think the same..but in hindi,it wd b -'tu kitna pakati hai' heeee

Divu --> I m planning to make that dish from your whanni, pineapple in cond milk+whipped cream! Dont hv gelatin so making the recipe wait! :D Tks for ur kind wishes!!

J said...

I like sassam...didn't know it was konkani till now.

FH said...

WOW!! So many you tried. Good for you. Lemon cake looks great and so does Saasam.
Great MeMe too. My best wishes to your parents!:))

Purnima said...

Jyothsana --> Food Blogging = More GK !

Asha --> U went thru the entire post! U r one amazing person!!Tks for your wishes!!

@the_whisk_affair said...

great collection of recipes and an interesting meme!! pls come over to my blog for something special..

Uma said...

lovely array of mouth-watering dishes! Each and everyone looks yummy! Nice meme too. Happy anniversary to your parents.

Hetal said...

So many delicious recipes to drool over...gr8 work.

MR said...

so true Iam drooling already looking at the kairi pickle!!!
way to go for the start of summer.

Archy said...

Lovely idea of fruit basket !! need to try as early :) !!

Happy Aniversary to ur Amma Aanna !!

Nice array of sweets :) !!

Purnima said...

JZ --> Thanks for considering me 4 'RG' award, hv added ur name in the side bar!

Uma --> Thankyou for ur kind words, glad u liked my meme, tks for wishes as well!

Hetal --> Thankyou!

MR --> Kairis surely activate our glands to produce more saliva!! :D

Archy --> Tks a ton, wd b making Palak pulao from urs soon..you hv made it so easy!!

Mansi said...

The fruit baskets sound like a fabulous idea Purnima! I'm so glad you liked my recipe!:) you are most welcome!!:)D

Trupti said...

Hey Purnima, all recipes looks delicious. I love pickle.

Check My blog there is surprise for you.

Swati Raman Garg said...

baaap re baap .. itna kuch kiski tareef karun samajh nai aa raha.... uff... sahi ho yaar...

ok first of all thanks for the lovely words on my blog...thanks a ton... u make my day with ur lively words, kasam se

FH said...

Purnima, just saw your comment at Aroma. Have a wonderful time in India and enjoy. I will be off blogging in 3 weeks too, will be back at the end of Aug. See you then, hugs to you! Have fun there :)

Sig said...

Happy 35th anniversary to your parents Purnima! Lovely Saasam... I will be happy to have it for JFI Tamarind...

Nanditha Prabhu said...

hi purnima.. pass on m best wishes to you parents.. so many tasty dishes.. wow!!
i love sasam a lot...

Sig said...

Thanks Purnima... When it comes to tamarind, teeny weeny bit is enough normally :)

Nanditha Prabhu said...

an award awaiting you at my place!

TBC said...

What a nice fruity post!:D
Hope your parents had a good time on their anniversary.

The saaasam and the pickle sound really good to me.:)

@the_whisk_affair said...

hey purnima, theres something nice for you on my blog!

Sum Raj said...

hai purnima..i luved each and every pic...by the way ur konkani?

notyet100 said...

thanks for taggin me,..have come to invite u tomy blog...tocollect ur welldeserved =award,..

@the_whisk_affair said...

hey purnima theres something for u on my blog!!

ranji said...

ambya sassam looks awesome purnima!!!i love it....one of my favorite dishes:)...nice entry..

Swati Raman Garg said...

heyy pur.. i have a small something for you in my blog.. come over and check it :)

Andhra Flavors said...

Awesome post with so many delicious items.

A_and_N said...

Holy cow! So many things! I think I'll make two fruit baskets. One for drooling, one for putting the fruits in! They look so delicious!
Superb stuff :)
A&N.

Purnima said...

Dear All -->
Sorry for my late response, am currently on a vacation in India, wd be back by August end. Thank you so much!

Divya Kudua said...

you've been tagged-

http://divyascookbook.blogspot.com/2008/07/memean-award-and-hug.html

Divya Kudua said...

you've been hugged!!

http://divyascookbook.blogspot.com/2008/07/memean-award-and-hug.html

maybelles mom said...

oh, I haven't had ambe-avana saasam in so long. it is my mother's absolute favorite.

ranji said...

All these dishes look gr8 purnima...loved the fruit baskets and the mango dishes,..sabudana laddus are new to me..need to try that out..never cooked with sabudana b4...

Deeba PAB said...

You've been missing for long girl...what's up???

Anamika:The Sugarcrafter said...

purnima, long time...have a nice vacation..India beckons and lures, always !

EC said...

First time on ur blog...lovely recipe collection

Shreya said...

so many dishes.. each equally appetizing and good...Happy Belated Anniversary to your parents. Different MeMe!:D

Shreya said...

I am hearing of Saasam for the first time! With fruits too! Curry must taste great. I don't like PA:-(, so will avoid that in the recipe. love the pickle..fruit baskets are so good. I don't make anything with saboodana. Will try this.
I have tagged you at my blog

KonkaniBlogger said...

Purnima, when you get back from ur vacation, check out my blog and post on Batatya Bhaji, have an award waiting for you :)..

Meera said...

Hi,
Hope you are having fun in India!! Miss you very much.

Paru ... said...

All the dishes look very lovely

Maha said...

Hi Punni....

I enjoyed visiting your blog and and am sure to be a regular visitor. I am proud of you dear.

notyet100 said...

thnks for droppin by,..nd fpr such nice words..:-)//whn will u continue bloggin?

notyet100 said...

thnks for droppin by,..nd fpr such nice words..:-)//whn will u continue bloggin?

Swati Raman Garg said...

main to itthey hi hun kind of :) tussi kitthey ho ... blog nai karni kya abb.. thanks for ur wonderful reaction to CT, thanks a ton...
love,
Swati

Srikitchen said...

all the dishes looks yummy! its my first visit to ur blog and it is too good! do visit my blog when u find time!

Maha said...

Nimaaa.... Happy Birthday to you darling.... Have a wonderful year !