One Day At A Time

Sasam is an iconic Konkani delicacy. A friend of mine ate this Sasam at a Konkani wedding and asked for its recipe. So here it is. A sweet and savory fruit salad with coconut and mustard seeds. Generally, this fruit salad is made with mango (Ambe), pineapple (Avanas) with a few grapes. This treat gets its name from mustard, which in Konkani is called as Sasam. Ingredients: Mango (chopped) - about 2 cups Pineapple (chopped) - about 11/2 cups Red Grapes (halved) - 1/2 cup Shredded Coconut (fresh or frozen) - 1 1/2 cups Mustard Seeds/Saasam - 1/2 tsp Dry Red Chilies  (Byadagi variety)  - 2 or 3 Turmeric/Haldi - 1/8 tsp Jaggery/God/Gool (grated) - 3 tsp Salt - 1/8 tsp How to make Konkani Ambe Sasam: Peel the mango skin and dice the flesh into bite size pieces. Repeat the same for pineapple as well. Cut the grapes into halves. You can make this Sasam with just mango as well. I like adding grapes for a little more color. You can skip grapes. Grin...

Creamy potato soup with leeks seasoned with Italian herbs. Ingredients: Potatoes - 3 small Leeks - 2 Garlic - 3 big cloves Fennel/Saunf Seeds - 1 tsp Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp Dry Italian Seasoning - 1/4 tsp Milk - 1/4 cup Butter or Oil Method: 1. Cleaning Leeks: Discard the root part of the leeks.  Dice the whitish and light greenish parts of leeks and place them in a bowl of water.  Mix with hands so that the dirt settles down and clean leeks float on the water.  Place the leeks on a clean towel to wipe excess water. 2. Coarsely grind fennel seeds.  Finely chop garlic.  Peel the potatoes, dice them and place them in a bowl of water.  I used red potatoes. 3. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp oil in a pan.  Add diced leeks, garlic, black pepper powder, little salt.  Saute till leeks turn soft.  4. Add 1 - 2 cups water, diced potatoes, ground fennel and dry Italian seasoning (marjoram, thyme, rosema...

Parsnip is a root vegetable similar to carrot, but creamish white in colour.  You can follow the same recipe for potatoes, carrots, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower etc.   Ingredients: Parsnips - 6 Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper/Red Chilli Powder - 1/4 tsp Italian Seasoning - 1/4 tsp Oil - 2 tbsp Salt Method: 1. Peel the parsnip skin and dice it into long pieces, like fries. 2. In a mixing bowl, add black pepper powder, cayenne pepper, Italian seasoning, salt and oil.  Mix well.  Add the diced parsnips and toss to coat them well.  Add grated ginger and/or garlic if you like.  Dry ginger, garlic, onion powders can also be used.  3. I used a dry organic Italian seasoning with marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, oregano and basil.  Sometimes I use Indian Garam Masala and Chat Masala as seasoning. 4. Preheat the oven at 375 deg. F for about 10 minutes.  Spread the parsnips on a baking dish.  Bake the par...

A cool thirst quencher perfect for summer.  Mattha is a spiced buttermilk drink which helps in digestion.  Buttermilk is also known as Taak (Marathi and Konkani), Chaach, Chaas, Majige (Kannada). Ingredients: Curd/Yogurt - 2 cups Green Chillies - 2 Cilantro Leaves - few sprigs Ginger - 1/4 inch piece Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp Jaggery or Sugar - 1/2 tsp Salt Method: Blend curd with green chillies, ginger, asafoetida, salt and jaggery till all the ingredients are mixed well.  Add 4 - 5 cups water and mix well.  Use ice cold water if you like it chilled.  Lastly add finely chopped cilantro and quick spicy Mattha is ready to slurp.   Add salt, sugar to suit your taste.  Instead of asafoetida, cumin/jeera powder can also be used.  Few (chopped) mint leaves can also be added.

Sesame Chicken is one of the popular Chinese chicken recipes which is generally deep fried.  This recipe is a healthier baked version. Ingredients: Chicken Breasts - 2 (about 400 gms) Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp Vinegar - 1 tbsp Honey - 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper/Red Chilli Powder - 1 1/2 tsp Chipotle Seasoning - 1 tsp (optional) Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp All Purpose Flour or Corn Flour - 1/2 cup White Sesame Seeds/Til - 1 1/2 tbsp Black Pepper Powder/Miri - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Oil preferably Olive oil - 4 tbsp

A refreshing healthy lemonade, perfect for summer. Ingredients: Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp Water - 2 cups Ice Cubes - 2 Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 3 tbsp Ginger - 1/4 inch piece Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 1 pod (seeds only) Black Peppercorn/Miri - 1 Salt - 1/8 tsp How to make Panak: Grind green cardamom seeds, black peppercorn to a fine powder. I used a mortar and pestle. Crush the ginger.  Grate the jaggery/gud/gul. In a mixing bowl, add 2 cups water, lemon juice, cardamom and pepper powder, crushed ginger, pinch of salt and jaggery. Stir with a spoon till jaggery dissolves. Add more jaggery to suit your taste. You can use a strainer or sieve if required. Add ice cubes and desi Lemonade is ready.

Konkani pan fried potato fritters with a crisp semolina crust.  Easy yet tasty appetizers.  Eggplant/baingan and arum root/colocasia root fritters can also be relished in a similar way.   Ingredients: Potato - 1 big Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup Red Chilli Powder/Cayenne Pepper - 1 tbsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/8 tsp Tamarind/Imli/Chinch - small piece Salt Oil Method: 1. Peel the potato skin and dice it into thick round slices. 2. In a mixing bowl, add potato slices.  Add red chilli powder, turmeric, tamarind, salt on the slices.  Mix/Toss well  and keep it covered for 30 - 40 minutes. 3. Coat the potato slices in semolina.  Heat a pan and add 1 tbsp oil.  Fry the semolina coated potato till crisp.  Check with a spatula to see if potatoes are cooked.  Shallow fried and crisp Batatya Phodi or Kaap is ready. 4. Instead of semolina you can use corn meal (not corn flour) which has similar texture as semolina.  You can also...