Spunky Rasam Varieties

In the recent past a few people asked me for some of my recipes and I realized I hadn't updated my blog in a while... So while I am in the process of doing that, I figured I would include my family and friends on this journey of adding some mouth watering recipes to my blog. Cant wait to see what they have in store. Meanwhile to kick start this journey I am adding a few more recipes of my own .
Winter is here and most days all we need is some spunk in our food to warm the otherwise cold season.  If its simple to make then , its all the more fun. One such mouth watering simple food for the stomach is Rasam. 

As you would know thanks to wikipedia " Rasam or Chaaru or Saaru or Kabir is a South Indian soup , traditionally prepared using tamarind juice as a base with the addition of tomato, chili pepper, pepper, cumin and other spices as seasonings. Steamed lentils are added along with any preferred vegetables. Nowadays all the seasonings required are combined and ground beforehand into rasam powder, which is available commercially. It is eaten with rice or seperately as a spicy soup. Rasam has a distinct taste due to its own seasoning ingredients and is usually fluid in consistency".

Elsewhere in my blog I have the recipe for Medicinal Rasam . It is my goto Rasam when Im under the weather with a scratchy throat, fever or cold. However one of my most popular Rasam is actually a slight variation of the Maharashtrian Saar.

Saar

Ingredients : 

2-3 large beef stake tomatoes cut, 1 medium onion cut, 1tsp Ginger-garlic paste, 2 tsp Cumin seeds, 4-5 Green chilli pepper cut, few curry leaves , few coriander leaves 1/2 tsp Mustard, 2 tbs Clarified butter/ ghee, salt one heaped tsp., 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1 pinch Asafoetida powder.

Method : 

In a pan heat one tbs clarified butter/ ghee and saute' 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, green chilli pepper & onion. Add ginger garlic paste, tomatoes , curry leaves, salt & turmeric powder. Cook on medium until it starts slightly browning. Remove from fire and let it cool. When its cools grind it into a smooth paste. 

In a vessel heat 1 tbs of clarified butter and sputter mustard, and the remaining cumin seeds add Asafoetida and the paste with 4-5 cups of water and let it boil for a few minutes. You can adjust the spice and salt by adding red chilli powder or ground pepper at this point. Season with Coriander leaves . 

This can be served as a soup or with rice. 

The next one is my hubby's favorite thing to make when he gets in to cook. And I have to admit , he makes one mean "Regular Rasam". The main ingredient that he puts in in his Rasam is love . If you follow this recipe and some love of your own, Im sure its going to be as wonderful as his dish.

Regular Rasam 

Ingredients : 

1-2  tomatoes cubed, 2 tsp Cumin seeds, , few curry leaves , few coriander leaves, 1/2 tsp Mustard, 2-3 tbs Clarified butter/ ghee, 1 heaped tsp salt , 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1.5 tbs tamarind paste or 1 lemon sized tamarind (this would require you to soak it in warm water for sometime and get the tamarind essence), 1/2 cup Red gram dhal or lentil, 1-2 heaped tsp of rasam powder (recipe given elsewhere in my blog if you want to prepare it from scratch) , 1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder, 2 dried whole red chili pepper.

Prepreparation: 

In a pressure cooker add  the red gram dhal with 2 cups of water and turmeric and cook. In a separate vessel  boil 2 -3 cups of water with tamarind paste and asafotida for 5-10 mins.

Method : 

To the boiling tamarind water add cubed tomatoes and curry leaves and let it cook/ boil additional for 5-10 minutes. Whisk the pressure cooked lentil to a loose consistency with water.  Add Rasam Powder, Salt and add this to the boiling tomato tamarind mixture . Now let this boil for additional 5-10 mins  

In a pan, heat clarified butter / ghee and sputter mustard & cumin seeds with whole red chili pepper and season the rasam . Add coriander leaves also for seasoning at this point. 

This can be served as a soup or with rice. 

Cumin Pepper Rasam (Milagu Rasam)

Ingredients : 

1 Tsp each of Red Gram Lentil (tuvar dal), Cumin seeds, Coriander Seeds, 1 or 2 Red chilis, 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, 2 tsp Bengal gram Lentil (chana Dal) , Tamarind, 1 pinch Asafoetida (Heeng) , Salt to taste, Curry leaves , Coriander leaves, Ginger, Clarified Butter/ Ghee, Garlic, Turmeric, Mustard seeds , Cut Tomato (optional).

Method : 

In a pan, saute Red Gram Lentil , cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, ginger, Garlic, Bengal Gram Lentil, red chilis, Asafoetida, black pepper & curry leaves until the lentils turn golden brown.  Remove from flame. When it cools down sufficiently, grind to a paste. This is your Masala Paste

In a vessel boil tamarind paste with the salt and a lil asofitada. (you can add cut tomatoes to add some flavor at this point)

In a pan heat clarified butter and add mustard. When the mustard starts to sputter, add to the boiling tamarind juice . Also add the ground Masala Paste and let it boil. When it starts frothing put it on simmer and let it boil for some more time before switching off the gas.  Season with Curry leaves and coriander leaves.