Showing posts with label Rasam recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rasam recipe. Show all posts

Thursday, 21 December 2017

Hesarukaalina Bassaaru (Green Gram Rasam)


Down to earth traditional. Farmer’s favourite. Authentic Karnataka dish handpicked from an endless list of rasam varieties and served on a platter! Prepared by using greens, vegetables, lentils, sprouts stock (i.e., the water strained after cooking greens, grains or vegetables) this delicious Bassaaru derives its name from two Kannada words “Basidu” (which means strained) and “Saaru” (which means Rasam).

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Stew
Preparation Time:  20 min
Cooking time:  30 min
Serves:  5 persons

Ingredients
Green Gram                            250 gms                     
Curry leaves                            1 sprig
Green chilly                             1 no.
Cumin seeds                            less than ½ tsp
Peppercorns                            4 or 5 nos.
Ginger                                     ¼”
Grated raw or dry coconut     2 tbsps
Jaggery                                    1 tsp
Salt to taste                             1 tbsp approx.
Tomato                                    1 no. fine chopped
Water                                      1000 ml
Dry fry green gram for a minute. Let it cool. Wash it well and drain out the water. Cook in pressure cooker along with water and salt, in low flame upto 2 whistles and then switch off the burner.
Grind cumin seeds, peppercorns, ginger, green chilly, fine chopped tomato and grated coconut to a paste. Add this to the cooked green gram and let it boil.
Green gram Bassaaru is now ready.

Tete – a – Tete:
Lime juice may also be used instead of tomatoes. Squeeze the juice from ½ a lime and add to the bassaaru at the end.
A portion of the cooked green gram can be ground along with masala if thicker consistency is required.
In this recipe, excess water is added to green gram while cooking. However, you can use just the required amount of water for cooking green gram and reuse broth i.e., water strained after boiling any dal, grains or vegetables and add to the cooked green gram before boiling.
Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi




Monday, 18 December 2017

Mung Dal Rasam (with Lime and Tomato)


Feeling hot? Chill yourself with this “Cool Drink”….piping hot Moong Dal Rasam! Ideal Soup for summer. Hailed as the healthiest among dals, these small, split, flat, yellow coloured beans used in the rasam are quick to cook, easy to digest, low in calories, high in fibre, rich in nutrients, packed with protein and helps shed weight. This “Friend for All” cooked moong dal makes a healthy friend with people very young and old, as also the sick and ailing.  

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Stew/Soup
Preparation Time:  5 min
Cooking time:  30 min
Serves:  5 persons

Ingredients
For pressure cooking:
Moong dal                   75 gms
Water                          500 ml
Turmeric powder        A pinch
Ghee                            A drop
Tomato                        1 no.
For grinding:
Cumin seeds                ½ tsp
Ginger (grated)           ½” piece
Green chilly                 1 no. (small size)
Curry leaves                1 sprig
Coriander leaves         1 tsp
Coriander sticks          2 or 3 nos. (if they are tender)
While boiling
Water                          500 ml
Salt to taste                 1 tbsp (approx.)
Ground chutney          (quantity generated while grinding)
For seasoning:
Ghee                            1 tsp
Cumin seeds                ¼  tsp
Pepper corns               ¼  tsp
Green chilly                 1 no. small size and slit
For flavour and garnishing
Lime juice (extracted from 1 lime) and coriander leaves

Directions
Wash moong dal with water, drain and keep aside.
Wash tomato, ginger, curry leaves and coriander leaves in salt water. Drain and keep aside.
Cook dal in a pressure cooker in low flame along with water, turmeric powder and a dash of ghee. When the dal is half cooked, add chopped tomato pieces and continue cooking the dal. Switch off the burner after 2 whistles. Let the pressure in the cooker subside.
While dal is getting cooked….you can do grinding.
For this, chop ginger after peeling its skin. Grind all ingredients listed under “For grinding” using a few spoonfuls of water.
Add this ground chutney, water and salt to the cooked dal and boil it for 5 to 10 min. on low flame. Watch the gentle green coloured rasam glowing while boiling with the jeera-ginger-pepper combine for 5 to 10 min. Towards the end add lime juice and switch off the burner. The awesome aroma from this nutritious rasam rings a bell… it’s time for seasoning.
Heat ghee in a small skillet. Put cumin seeds. When they crackle put pepper corns and slit green chilly. Switch off the flame. Immediately pour it on to the boiling rasam.
Garnish it with thoroughly washed and chopped fresh coriander leaves.
Moong Dal Rasam is now ready.
Serve hot with steamed rice, idli or use it as Bonda Soup, a popular combo of South India.

Tete - a - Tete:
Quantity of water, salt and spices can be altered to suit the consistency and taste that you desire.
Moong Dal Rasam is also known as Hesaru Bele Saaru or Pesaru Pappu Charu
Moong dal is used for preparing a variety of dishes like rasam, dal, pongal (khichdi), curry, vada, payasam (kheer), besan laadu, halwa, kosambari (salad), soups, spicy parathas and even in many rice preparations.
While purchasing moong dal, make sure it is yellow in colour and free of moisture or insects. This can be known by checking for lumps, if any.
Moong dal can be stored at room temperature in air tight container for a few months.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

DANTINA SOPPU BASSAARU

“Elai Dantu, neenyaakae nanage biddi gantu” grumbled grumpy  farmer Bantu. (Hey Dantu, why on earth did you get hooked to me?)
Lively leafy Dantu had this to say to her haughty hubby Bantu….
Potent nutrient, forever vibrant.  Grown as flower, cooked as veg…eatable, colour of mine can be red (nah not when angry!) or can be green (me in envy...with you? Ha ha nah J). Called in English as Amaranth I do justice, for neither the colour nor the flower in me withers even when death drags away my powers.

Crammed with carbos, packed with proteins, a mine of minerals in me you can find. Consume me. I am high in fiber. So your bowel moves better and your health shall bolster. I am easy to digest by all… be they toddlers or mighty older. I am so rich in iron. When you consume me, sure you can rest content.  B’cos on RBC you can count. I prevent your hair from greying, your skin from dying, just so evergreen you can be living. So rich I am in vitamins A n C that living with me has bettered your IsightU to its best. No wonder I see you see me eye to eye. Won’t you now call me “Darlin’ Dantu, you are such a deliteuu!” View cooking this leafy delight right below. You are sure to go green with envy. Miss it and you’ll end up marching past hungry, red and angry.

Down to earth traditional. Farmer’s favourite. Authentic Karnataka dish handpicked from an endless list of rasam varieties and served on a platter! Prepared by using a choice of greens, vegetables, lentils, sprouts stock (i.e., the water strained after cooking greens, grains or vegetables) this delicious Bassaaru derives its name from two Kannada words “Basidu” (which means strained) and “Saaru” (which means Rasam).
In the Rasam recipe shown below, Dantina Soppu (Amaranth) is used. 

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Stew
Time required:  40 min approx.
Serves:  5 persons approx.

Ingredients
Amaranth                                1 bunch
Tur Dal                                   100 gms
Turmeric powder                    A pinch
Tamarind paste                       1 tsp
Salt to taste                            1 tbsp approx.
Water                                    1000 ml approx.

For grinding:  
Channa dal                              1 tsp
Coriander seeds                      1 tsp
Raw grated coconut                1 cup (say ½ of ½ coconut)    
Asafoetida                               A pinch
Rasam powder                        3 tsps

For seasoning:
Oil                                           2 tsps
Mustard seeds                         1 tsp
Curry leaves                            few

Directions:
Separate dantina soppu leaves from its stalk. Wash leaves and stalks thoroughly and drain out the water. Chop leaves fine and stalks too to small bits.
Cook dal in pressure cooker along with water, turmeric powder, dash of ghee and a few curry leaves. Dal should be well cooked and easily mashable. When cooker has cooled and dal is cooked, transfer cooked dal on to a colander. Reserve the drained water (known as broth) for making rasam.
While dal is cooking….
Boil stalks and soppu in a pan along with water. Switch off when they turn soft.
Transfer cooked stuff to a colander. Reserve the drained water for making rasam. In the same empty pan, prepare seasoning. To this add a pinch of turmeric, green chillies, boiled soppu, mashed dal and salt to taste. Saute for some time till the greens and dal blend together as a curry. Switch off the flame. Garnish with raw grated coconut. Dantina soppina palya (Amaranth Curry) is now ready.
To prepare rasam, add ground masala (prepared using ingredients listed above under “for grinding” to the broth. Also add salt and tamarind paste. Let the broth boil well till you get a nice aroma. To this add seasoning and garnish with fresh, fine chopped coriander leaves. Dantina Soppina Bassaaru is now ready.
Enjoy this dual treat with steaming hot rice and/or chapathis.

Tete – a – Tete:
Squeeze the juice from ½ a lime and add to the bassaaru at the end if you like a tangy taste.
A portion of the cooked dal can be ground along with masala if thicker consistency is required for rasam.
In any Bassaaru recipe, excess water is added to dal, grains and vegetables while cooking. Rasam prepared using this water (better known as broth) is highly nutritious.
Recipe contributed by nonagenarian and expert cook Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy


Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Rasam Powder

A splendid blend of spices that is so simple to prepare, once you discover the power of this powder, you will never wish to pick a packet from those super stores!
This delightfully aromatic spice powder - “Rasam Powder” -  is the basic ingredient used in making “Rasam” a delicious South Indian vegetarian stew made with or without dal and eaten with hot, steamed rice or simply sipped like any other soup. However, sans this powder, can there be no rasam? Wait n watch for my future posts to find out the magical answers. Right now I’m busy cooking some “Rare Rasam Recipes” just so I can serve them to you soon!

Dish type: Spice Powder
Time required: 45 min
Yield: 3000 gms 

Ingredients
Red chillies                  125 gms (Byadagi variety
Red chillies                   125 gms (Guntur variety)
Coriander seeds          1000 gms
Jeera                            500 gms
Methi seeds                 500 gms
Mustard seeds             250 gms
Pepper corns               250 gms
Curry leaves               1 big bunch
Turmeric pwd             2 tsps
Asafoetida                  Crystal (1 small gooseberry size)

Directions
Dry fry each of the ingredients separately in a kadai on low flame till they change colour.  Ensure they are not over roasted since they should not turn black in colour.  
Transfer each of them to a plate after dry frying. Allow them to cool well.
Grind them to a fine powder. For better shelf life store it in a completely dry air tight container.

Tete - a – Tete
Red chillies alone can be fried using just a drop of oil.
To make 1 litre of rasam, approx. 2 tbsps of rasam powder is required.
1 fistful of red chillies = approx. 20 nos. = approx. 50 gms
Recipe Contributor: Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy, nonagenarian lady and an expert cook.
Other recipes contributed by Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy include:
Menthyada Hittu (Fenugreek Powder)