Karathe Sasam
‘Sasam’ are the Konkani dishes having uncooked coconut masala (like ambe-ananas sasam , beetroot sasam ). Karathe (Bittergourd/karela) or bhende(bhindi) sasam is used as a gravy, it has crispy fried bittergourd/okra in coconut masala. (Karathe sasam is more famous compared to bhende sasam).
My dad always loved this dish, but since I hated Karela, I used to ask mom to give this sasam without karela in it. But recently when I prepared this dish (with Karela) I simply loved it. It gets its unique taste because of crispy Karela.
Though I had the picture clicked a long back, somehow this dish had slipped out of my mind. Varsha , thanks for reminding me.
Ingredients: Bittergourd/Bhindi (Cut into small pieces) 3/4 cup Coconut(fresh) 3/4 cup Green chilies 3-4 Tamarind 1/2 tea spn Ghee 1/2 tea spn Salt
Some people add 1/2 cup buttermilk to this before serving.
Method: Add salt to bittergourd and leave it for 1/2 an hour. Then squeeze out the water to remove bitterness. Wash with water. (If using okra, ignore this step). Heat ghee and fry bittergourd/okra on a low flame till they turn very crispy. Grind coconut with green chilies, salt(be careful while adding salt, bittergourd retains some salt in the previous step) and tamarind to a smooth paste. Add sufficient water to bring it to a gravy consistency. Just before serving, add the fried bittergourd/okra (Since this dish tastes great with crispy bittergourd/okra, store the gravy and vegetables seperately in refregerator. Bring them to room temperature before serving and then add the bittergourd/okra. Alternately, serve them seperately and while eating, mix both).
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 15mins
I always loved to cook recipes from other cuisines. Have learnt hundreds of new recipes from all the fellow foodbloggers in last one year. The other major source of new recipes for me, are my readers. I have been getting so many mails from my readers that almost daily I come up with a new dish for lunch/dinner. This recipe is from Aruna . I didn’t know her two months back, but these days we exchange 2-3 mails almost daily. She has sent many recipes to me and this one caught my immediate attention. When I tasted this, I simply loved it.
This is what she said about this dish, “In my ex office one collegue, who was a Rajasthani, used to get this subzi in his tiffin. He used to call me everytime when he got the same, even though he ate his lunch very late. This is a chatpata subzi and goes well with chappati or poori. As 1 tsp of chill pd is used jaggery is also used in good qty so that it is sweet and spicy”.
Read Garam Masala’s Sev Tameta here , I am not sure if both are same.
Ingredients: Tomatoes(big) 2 Mustard 1/2 tea spn Cumin seeds(jeera) 1/2 tea spn Chilli powder 1 tea spn Turmeric a pinch Curry leaves 3-4 Jaggery 1 tbl spn Oil 1 tea spn Sev Salt
Method: Cut the tomatoes into cubes (not very small). Heat oil and make add mustard, jeera. When they start popping, add curry leaves. Add the tomatoes, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Add 3/4 cup water and jaggery . Cook till the tomatoes become tender. Add sev and serve immediately. (Just mix the sev at the time of serving else it will loose its crispiness).
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 15mins
