Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Vegetable (Soup) Rasam




I came up with this recipe when my son fell sick 2 weeks ago, with fever and throat infection... long story short, he refused to eat anything. Tried making soups for him and he did not like them.. then since he likes rasam, I thought OK, rasam might be soothing to his throat and be nice to taste while sick. But  had to come up with a healthy alternate to Rasam; to make it a little nutritious for him. Rasam is tasty and good for digestion, but in the end its just tamarind water. So, I incorporated the vegetable soup I had made for him in the rasam and he liked the tangy taste and ate a little. This will be a good way to incorporate veggies into children's and adult's  diet too.


Ingredients:
  • Tamarind - Soak a small lemon sized ball of tamarind in 1/2 cup of warm water
  • Cumin seeds - 2 Tsp
  • Pepper Corns - 1 Tsp
  • Garlic - 2 cloves
  • Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
  • Tomato - 1
  • Mustard seeds - 1Tsp
  • Dry red chilis - 1
  • Curry leaves - 1 Strand
  • Coriander leaves - Finely chopped, handful or less
For Vegetable soup:
  • Vegetables : Whatever you have at home, except bitter ones. Here is a list of what I use, I had these at home, nothing specific.
    • 1/2 Onion
    • 1/2 tomato
    • 1 Potato
    • 1/2 Zucchini
    • Handful of Spinach leaves
    • 5 florets of Broccoli
    • 1 stick of Celery
    • 1 Carrot
  • Tumeric - 1/2 tsp
  • Salt - To taste
  • Cumin Seeds- 1Tsp
  • Ginger - Small piece, chopped roughly
  • Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves
  • Water -3 or 4 cups
Steps:

The steps are easy. First make soup, then use the soup to make rasam.
  •  Make the soup: In a Presuure cooker, put all the ingredients listed under 'For Vegetable soup:' and add enough water to cover all the vegetables.
  • Cook on medium high until you hear 3 - 4 whistles. We want to all the vegetables to cook and disintegrate in the water.
  • Switch off cooker and wait for pressure to release. 
  • Then open the cooker and strain the contents, into a big vessel. Nicely press and mash them thru the strainer and get all the water out of the cooked vegetables. Don't throw the mashed vegetables just yet. 
  • Put it back in the pressure cooker and add just a cup or 2 of water and pressure cook it once more for 1 or 2 whistles.
  • Repeat the whole straining process. This way we have not left any valuable nutrients in the vegetables.
  •  Prepare for rasam: In a mixer grinder, grind together cumin seeds, pepper corns, garlic and asafoetida into a course paste.
  • Heat oil in a wok. When hot add mustard seeds. When they crackle add Dry red chilli and the ground mixture and saute.
  •  Then add the tamarind pulp (Squeeze the tamarind soaked in water to get pulp, use the soup to dissolve the tamarind a second time and squeeze again, repeat until all the flavor is extracted from the tamarind). 
  •  Now add the soup into the wok and stir well. Cut the tomato into big chunks and add into the rasam. You can squeeze the juices into the rasam as you add it. Add salt as required.
  • Add rasam powder if you like, I did not. 
  • Bring the contents to boil.
  • Now add the curry leaves and coriander leaves. Let boil for a min and switch off. I like to add curry leaves in the end as it gives out more aroma than when adding first. 
  • Your done.

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