The word ‘saasam’ or ‘sasav’ means mustard in Konkani. That’s the reason this dish is called saasam/sasav.
Recipe credit: Darshana Muzumdar
Serves 4-6 as a part of an Indian meal.
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized pineapple
- Jaggery to taste
- ½ cup fresh coconut grated
- 4-5 byadgi dry red chillies or 2 guntur red chillies
- ¼ tsp mustard seeds
- Salt to taste
Method
- Clean, skin and cut pineapple into small pieces.
- Grate the jaggery and add it to the pineapple pieces. Mix gently and keep aside to allow the jaggery to dissolve and blend with the pieces.
- Grind grated coconut, chillies and mustard seeds adding as little water as possible to make a thick paste. Byadgi chillies give it a red colour and are not too spicy. Guntur chillies are more spicy and don’t lend it much colour.
- Add this mixture to the pineapple pieces, mix gently, and keep aside for at least half an hour to allow the flavors to blend.
- Serve as an accompaniment or with rice or rotis.
NOTE: This is a raw dish and does not require any cooking.
For the Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) version:
- Use rock salt instead of refined salt.
- Use date or raisin paste instead of jaggery. Soak the dates for 2-4 hours if they are not soft before grinding them to a paste with a little water. If you want to use raisins, make sure they are soaked for at least 4-6 hours before grinding them. Use the soaking liquid to grind both the soaked dates or raisins.
