Mysore Rasam

I made this Rasam today after a very long time.  Hubby dear only reminded me about this and it has come out very well.  So thought can blog this so that kids can do this tasty dish and eat.

Ingredients:

1. Tamarind or Puli, Imli. One small lemon size or 1 and 1/2 Table Spoon,  if it is the paste.
2. Tomatoes   2  Cut into small pieces.
3. Tur Dal   3/4  cup 
4. Channa Dal  1 t spoon
5. Coriander seeds, (kottalmalli vidhai)  2 t spoons
6. Red dry chilli   4 or 5 
7. Black pepper (Milagu) few
8. Jeera  (Jeeragam)    1 t spoon
9. Dry Coconut (Copra/Kopparai)  A small piece grated.  grated should be around 1 to 2 Table spoons.
10. Asafotida Powder  a little 
11. Jaggery/ gud  1 small bit 
12. Oil  1 t spoon
13. Salt 1  and 1/2 t spoon
14. Little Bit of Gud(Vellam)(Optional)
15. Ghee ,Mustard seeds for Garnishing
16. Coriander leaves finely chopped

Boil the Tur Dal in Pressure Cooker till it is cooked well. Give one or two whistle so that it cooks well.

Take a thick bottomed 'Kadai' (Iluppachatti) and fry the 'Copra' without oil till it turns brown.  

Keep Aside.

Fry the Channa Dal, Coriander seeds, Red Chillies, Pepper, Jeera ,in 

the oil till light brown.  Add the Asafotida powder also.

 Powder this along with the fried Copra in a Mixer till it is finely powdered.

Keep Aside.

Take the Tamarind juice (if you are using Fresh Tamarind soak it in hot water for some time so that the whole juice comes out), or  add water to the Tamarind Paste and mix well .

Add salt and the cut Tomatoes and let this  boil for 10 minutes in Medium Fire.

  Now the uncooked smell of the Tamarind would have gone.

  (In Tamil we say  pachhai vasanai pogum varai kodikkanum)

Now add the powder  which you have kept ready and mix it well.  Let it boil together.  ( approximately you will need 2 table spoons of the powder)  Add the Jaggery / gud 

Taste the Rasam and if it is too bland , little more  powder can be added before switching off the stove.

Add one to one and half cups of  water to cooked Tur Dal and mix it well with a spoon or with clean hands so that the Dal is smashed completely and no Dal sticks out .

   Now add this Dal water little by little to the Rasam.  Add little and when the Rasam starts boiling Add some more...

 Like this add the whole Dal Water and once it just comes to boil  put the cut Coriander leaves and switch off the stove.

Garnish  with Mustard seeds  and Jeera spluttered in hot Ghee. 

 To do this keep a  small Kadai or Spoon meant for garnishing  (iluppa karandi) on the stove and add 1/2 to 1 t spoon of ghee.  now add 1/2 t spoon of Mustard Seeds and once it starts spluttering, add the Jeera and if you like you can just add one Red Chilli also.

 Switch off the stove and put this mustard, jeera, chilli into the ready Rasam.  Mysore Rasam is Ready.

Rasam is eaten with cooked rice in South Indian Families. So Mix it with Cooked Rice and eat.

The Side dish for this is potato curry.

You can eat it with the 'gundu' Urulai curry that is with potato fry.

That is what I have cooked today.   The recipe  for this is also in my blog but it is one of the earliest recipes I have written.  

 The Mysore Rasam Podi ( powder) can be made and stored in fridge and can be used whenever needed 

Ingredients for powder

1 tspoon oil for roasting 

1 cup coriander seeds

1/4 cup Channa dal

1/8 cup black pepper

1/4 cup jeera 

15 (approximately) red chilies ( byadagi chilies taste better and gives good red colour. ) 

If using byadagi  red chillies take 20 

( both byadagi and normal red chillies can be used together take half and half 10 +10)

Asafoetida 1/2 tspoon 

Roast all these together in  a Kadai with one tspoon of oil till  light brown 

Take one cup grated dry copra ( put the copra pieces in a dry mixer and run it .  it will become like grated copra this can be used)

Roast dry copra separately , without oil on a low flame till light brown 

Powder everything together in a mixer.   This powder will be little coarse. 

Use it when ever needed.

Rasam

This is a South Indian Soup which is normally eaten mixed with Rice. In our households normally we have three course of meals for Lunch. First course is a thick Gravy with vegetables called 'Sambhar' mixed with rice and eaten , Second is the Rasam which is more watery than the Sambhar and mixed with rice and eaten. There is always some vegetable curry as side dish. and the third is Curds or Yogurt mixed with rice and eaten along with some pickles.

Ingredients for Rasam.

Tamarind if paste 1 table spoon or 1 lemon size tamarind soak in water and take out the juice.
Sambhar powder 1 t spoon
Salt to taste
Tuar daal 1/4 cup
Tomatoes 2 or 3
for garnishing one t spoon of ghee, mustard seeds, cumin or jeera seeds and one red chilli (optional)
Asafotida powder little
finely cut coriander leaves
a little coriander powder and cumin powder will enhance the taste.(optional)
Method.
Cook the tuar daal after soaking it in water for some time. It is better to pressure cook it so that it is cooked well. keep aside.
Mix the tamarind paste in water or take the tamarind juice , add salt and sambhar powder. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces add and let it boil. set aside few pieces of tomatoes.
Add the asafotida powder.
Mix the cooked tuar dal in a cup of water.
Once the tamarind raw smell is gone, add the few tomato pieces which were set aside and add 1/2 t spoon of coriander powder and 1/2 t spoon of jeera powder, add the dal diluted in water little by little as the mixture boils. add the dal completely and when it just starts to boil add the cut coriander leaves.
and switch off the stove.

Garnishing.
put a t spoon of ghee in a garnishing spoon (or a kadai or a sauce pan) and add mustard seeds and one red chilli. once it splutters add cumin seeds and also asafotida powder (Very little) Pour this over the Rasam and Serve hot. This Rasam can be taken as Soup also.