Pineapple Sasam

Pineapple Sasam

Ingredients

1 small pineapple (ripe) [3 cups of chopped pineapple]
Oil 1 spoon
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida a pinch
curry leaves 6
salt as per taste

Masala to grind:

1 cup shredded coconut fresh/frozen
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Little tamarind paste (2 tsps)
3-4 red chillies [I use byadgi dried chillies, pre-roasted in a drop of oil]
jaggery for taste

Method

Grind the ingredients for the masala above by adding water and making a paste.
 Remove the peel from pineapple. Dice the pineapple into bit sized chunks.      
Heat oil in a thick bottom pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.
Add the curry leaves, then asafoetida and mix well.
Add the chopped diced pineapple and stir until it cooks up.
(This does not take a long time, about 5 minutes).
Add the ground masala paste, salt and cook until the raw smell
of the coconut paste is gone. Add little oil if necessary.
This can be served with rotis/phulkas or as an accompaniment with rice.

Karela Sasam

Karela Sasam

Ingredients

Bittergourd (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.
Heat ghee and fry bittergourd 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 (Since this dish
tastes great with crispy bittergourd, store the gravy and vegetables
seperately in refregerator. Bring them to room temperature before
serving and then add the bittergourd .