Rasam/ रसम (A sweet and Sour soup)

Rasam

Rasam is a sweet and sour soup made all over southern part of India as main course. It is taken with rice/Vada/Idli. I love taking it as soup. Rasam is light to digest and has wonderful flavor of garlic, Curry leaves and spices. Garlic Curry leaves not only add flavor but have tremendous medicinal values and all spices (cardamoms, black pepper, Cumin, Coriander, Fenugreek seeds.. ) have essential oils good for digestion and cough and cold. Tamarind and jaggery when boiled in it adds to the medicinal value. Tamarind when taken raw is bad for throat and also causes acidity but when boiled it acts as medicine for cough and cold. Jaggery apart adding sweet taste also is good when boiled. I can vouch for the effectiveness of this Rasam’s effectiveness in cough/cold/sinusitis because my daughter-in law made it for me when I was at my wits end for getting rid of sinusitis. One glasses of piping hot rasam and I started feeling better and in three days was cured of my trauma. What else one wants if one gets tasty remedies instead of drops and syrups. It acts as a very good appetizer also. Rasam an Indian sweet and sour soup is very easy to make and can be made and stored in fridge for 1-2 days.

Preparation Time: 20 min. (Including making Rasam Masala and Tamarind Pulp)

Cooking Time: 15-20 min

Servings: 800 ml. Rasam

Ingredients Required:

For making Rasam (Sweet and Sour Soup):

• 50 gm. Tamarind (ripe seedless)
• 50 gm. Jaggery 
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
• 1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds (Rai/sarson)
• 10 curry Leaves (Kadi Patta/sweet neem)
• 10-12 Cloves of Garlic
• 3-4 Whole Red chilies
• 1 Medium size finely cut tomato (Optional)
• 2 Table Spoons Rasam Powder
• 1 Lt. Water
• Salt to taste
• 2 ml. Cooking Oil

For Making Rasam Powder:

• 50 gm. Tur Dal (Split pigeon peas/yellow lentil )
• 8-10 Cloves (Lawang)
• 10-12 Black pepper seeds (Kali mirch dana)
• 1 Teaspoon Fenugreek seeds (Methi)
• 8 Teaspoon Coriander seeds (Sabut Dhaniya)
• 5 Teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 Inch Cinnamon stick
• 4-5 Black Cardamom
• 2-3 Whole red chilies

Directions For Making Rasam:

Making Rasam Powder:

• Roast Tur dal on low flame till golden brown
• Roast Dhaniya, Jeera and Methi individually (Not together) till golden brown on low flame.
• Roast lawang till it changes color to whitish grey on the surface.
• Pound the black cardamom to split the cover then roast them for one min. along with kali mirch (Black pepper).
• Roast Whole deseeded chili to brown color.
• Let the roasted ingredients cool and then grind all of them together to fine powder and store it in an airtight container use as and when required.

Making Rasam:

• Soak tamarind in 100 ml. water for 10 minutes then boil for ten minutes.
• Cool boiled tamarind. Mash and sieve to take out tamarind pulp.
• Add water to the remaining tamarind and mash and sieve; add this tamarind water to tamarind pulp. Tamarind extract is ready.
• Cut garlic very fine.
• Take oil in a thick bottom wok and heat till smoking hot.
• Add
• Mustard seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Curry leaves
• Whole Red chilies
• Finely cut garlic.
• Cook till garlic is golden brown in color.

Sautted Spices Ready for Adding Tomatoes

• Add finely cut tomato.

Tomatoes Being Cooked With Sauteed Spices

• Cook on low flame till tomato pieces become soft and mushy.
• Add 3 Spoon of Rasam powder and mix (See tips). Cook for one minute with continuous stirring.

Rasam Masala Added to Cooked Tomato spices mixture

• Add
• Tamarind extract
• Jaggery
• Salt

Tamarind Extract and Jaggery added to cokked Tomato and spices mixture

• Boil for 2-3 minutes.
• Add remaining 900 ml. water
• Boil for 10 min with occasional stirring
• Yummy Rasam is ready.

Rasam Ready after boiling for 10 minutes

• Enjoy Rasam as soup/with rice/idli/vada.

Rasam

• Rasam is a wonderful home remedy. Take one teacup full this rasam every 4 hours during  cough/cold/indigestion it is extremely helpful.

Tips:

• Do not roast dal, coriander jeera all together as each take different time.
• Always roast at low temperature for best results.
• Add rasam powder one spoon at a time and taste you may like to increase /decrease the amount according to your taste.
• Amount of jaggery can be increased/decreased according to the taste.
• Those who do not take garlic can avoid it but the taste and medicinal value will not be exactly same.
• More the curry leaves and garlic better the taste and medicinal values.

Suggested Variations:

• If Rasam is to be had with rice/vada/idli then reduce the amount of water to 700ml. to make slightly thicker rasam.
• Rasam can be garnished with finely cut fresh cilantro (Dhaniya patta) or tempered with curry leaves and red chili pieces sautéed in oil.
• When taken with rice/idli/vada grated fresh coconut can be used to garnish to give it a coconutty twist.
• 20-25 curry leaves can be roasted and ground to powder along with other roasted ingredients.

Ras and Gude/रस और गूदे (Uttarankand's Thick Black Soup and savory Of Whole Pulses)

Ras with Rice and Gude

Ras

 Ras in Hindi as well in Kumaoni language means juice. No other name could have been better than Ras which is a thick black color soup made from the mixture of whole pulses available in Uttarankahand in some parts (Pithoragarh) it is called Chudkani. The high light of this savory are the black and brown flat grams available in Kumaon.  These are known by the name of Bhatt (Black) and Gahat (Brown/ reddish brown). Gahat is available in Maharashtra also and is called Hulga. Since Ras has lots of different whole pulses thus it has almost all type of proteins required by us as it is cooked in Iron wok thus rich in iron also. Ghee (Clarified butter) is used to prepare the seasoning which adds the great flavor to Ras. The Boiled dal mixture is used to make dry savory as a side dish and is called Gude.In Kumaon Ras is taken with simple plain boiled rice along with lai/Palak sabji and Mooli, Bhanga (A seeds used as spice in Kumaon) ki chutney. It is winter special and Kumaon is cold in summers and coldest in winter so there it is made throughout the year.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 90 minutes

Servings: 8 Large Servings

Ingredients Required For Making Ras: (Measurements are of a tea cup having 120 ml. volumes)

• 1 cup Bhatt (Flat Black Beans). Also known as black Soya bean

Bhatt (Black Beans)

• 1 1/2Cup  Gahat (Brown Beans/Kultha/ Vicia faba equina)

Gahat (Hulga/Kultha) Vicia faba equina

• 1/2Cup Bengal gram

Kala Chana(Bengal Gram)

• 1/2Cup Chick Peas (Chole)

Chick Peas (Chole)

• 1/2Cup Rajma (Any variety)

Rajma

• 1 Cup Kali Urd (Sabut Urd/Whole Urd)

• 2-3 cm. Piece of Cinnamon

• 4-5 Cloves

• 15-20 ml. Ghee

• 1 Teaspoon Cumin seeds

• 3-4 Whole Red Chilies

• 1 Teaspoon Jambu (Optional)

Jambu

• 1 Pinch Hing (Asafoetida)

• Salt to taste

• 2 Teaspoon Garam Masala

Directions For Making Ras (Cudkani):

• Clean all whole grams nicely and mix them.

Mixture of Whole Pulses(Sabut Dal) for Ras

• Wash the mixture of dals till clear water comes out.

• In a pressure cooker take

• Washed mixture of dals

• 500-600 Lt. Water

•  Lawang (Cloves)

• Piece of Cinnamon

• 2 Tea spoon Salt

• 1 Tea spoon Turmeric Powder

• Close the lid and heat on high flame till pressure builds in the cooker. Bring the heat to low and cook for 40-45 minutes.

• Switch off the heat and allow the cooker to cool.

• Open the cooled cooker and sieve the cooked contents through a sieve.

• Take all cooked solid and add 200 ml. water stir and sieve the liquid again.

• Repeat the process again. Mix all the three filtrates and put it in a big Iron wok.

Liquid Filtered from Boiled Dal Mixture

Boiled Dal Mixture After Sieving the Liquid

• Keep the iron wok with stock (Filtrate) on high heat till it starts boiling. Lower the heat and let it simmer till it reduces to half. The soup color will turn from brown to black. 

Filtrate (Liquid after filtering the boiled dal Mixture Boiling

• Add garam masala and cook for 5 minutes.

Garam masala Added to Black thick filterate

•  Add salt according to the taste.

•  In a Pan take 20-25 ml. ghee and heat it. When the ghee is smoking hot lower the flame and In the order written below add

• Cumin seeds

• Red Chilies

• Jambu

• Hing

Tadka (Seasoning for Ras)

• The seeds will become brown and splutter and wonderful odor of spices will start coming with in 30 second of cooking. Immediately add the seasoning to the contents in the wok.

Ras ready to be served

• Cover and let the flavor of seasoning seep to the Ras.

Ras

Directions For Mkaing Gude:

• The boiled dal mixture is used to make Gude.

• In a cooking vessel take mustard oil and heat it.

• When the oil is hot add 

• 1Tea spoon Cumin seeds

• 1Tea spoon Mustard Seeds

• 4-5 Whole Red Chilies

• Pinch of Asefoetida

• The seeds will splutter and chilies will become dark in color , lower the flame and add the boiled dal mixture and mix nicely.
• Add 
• Salt to taste

• 1 Tea spoon Amchur

• 1Tea spoon Red chili powder and mix nicely.

• Cover and cook for 10-15 min. with occasional stirring.

• Gude are ready.

• Serve Gude with Ras-Bhat (Rice) as side dish with a wedge of lemon.

• Gude can be had as chat/snack with some finely cut onion,cilantro and lemon juice mixed with it.

Gude

• Serve piping hot Ras with Rice, And any green vegetable, Gude, Slices of Mooli (radish) or it can be had as soup also.

• A dollop of Ghee on the top of Ras does wonder.

Tips:

• Gahat should always be more than Bhatt. You can increase the ratio of Gahat: Bhatt to 2:1.

• While serving 1 teaspoon of ghee can be added to Ras. It does wonders to taste and flavor.

• If your wok is small then you can boil some amount of filtrate from boiled whole first and when its volume reduces then keep adding more till all is cooked in wok and reduced to half.

• Garnishing of Ras with finely cut cilantro enhances the flavor of Ras.

• Many people add rice/wheat/flour to thicken Ras I prefer taking more dal mixture and boiling it to absolute softness then boiling the extract of the boiled dal till it comes to the thick consistency of my requirement.

• Adding flour changes the taste the idea is to have good Ras not to save Dal (Whole pulses mixture).

• Do not add Tur/Masoor/Moong/Chana dal to Ras.

Suggested Variations:

• Now a day’s most of the people do not have Iron wok. Even if the Extract of boiled dal mixture is cooked in any other wok than iron wok the color will become blackish-brown and taste will not be too different than the original taste.

• If you do not have iron wok then to bring the taste of Ras as near to original as possible you can put two three big iron (Not steal nails or pins) nails after washing them well and packing them in a piece of cloth to dal extract while it is boiling in wok then removing them before seasoning (Tadka). (Big nails will be removed without difficulty. Never put small nails).

• Finely cut onion and garlic can be sauteed till light brown and this seasoning can be added to Ras. My experience is that Ras should be given Tadaka of the spices I have mentioned in the recipe even if you do not have Jambu it does not matter. 
• Gude can be had without tempering or seasoning. 2 teaspoon of mustard oil and some amchur (Dry raw mango powder), green chilies, cilantro added to the boiled dal left after the extract is removed tastes classic.

Sweet Corn Soup

Sweet Corn Soup

Sweet Corn Soup with Vegetables and Celery

Fresh sweet corn can be added to the diet in different form. Roasted corn on the cob has that smoky sweet flavor which tickles the taste buds, Sprinkle some lemon juice, salt, pepper just after roasting it on fire and you have a wonderful healthy snack ready. Boiled sweet corn / Corn on cob with a dash of lemon juice, salt tastes superb so does the vegetable made from sweet corn. Corn soup accompanied with stir fried vegetables/ chicken / pan fried fish and crisp toast, become full meal having all nutrient and variety of taste to satiate the taste buds. Corn soup becomes a weekly guest on the dining table in my house once the fresh corn starts makes appearance in the market. Children love it for the sweetness of the soup.

Sweet corn usually comes in two varieties having white and yellow corn both are suitable for making soup.

Preparation Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 20 min

Servings: 5 Large servings (1 Lt. Soup)

Ingredients For making Corn Soup:

• 2 Medium size fresh sweet corn on cob / 2 teacups full fresh sweet corn

Fresh Sweet Corn  on Cob (White and Yellow Variety)

• Water 750 ml.

• Salt to taste

• Black / white pepper powder

• Fruit base vinegar2-3 Stalks of Celery / Parsley/Mint

Direction For Making Sweet Corn Soup:

• Remove the corn from the cob and give them a good wash with flowing water.

Fresh Sweet Corn

• Keep 1/4Tea cup corn aside.

• Grind rest of the  fresh sweet corn from the cob to fine paste using as little water as possible.

Paste of Fresh Sweet Corn

• Take the paste of fresh corn in a thick bottom pan / cooking vessel and add 500 ml. water.

• Stir nicely to mix water and corn paste.

• Add the corn which was kept aside (Not made to paste)

• Cook the mixture of sweet corn paste and water on high flame with continuous stirring.

• When the soup come to boil lower the flame and cook for 4-5 minutes with occasional stirring.

Cooked Paste of sweet Corn

• Add 100
  ml. milk. Cook on medium flame with continuous stirring give just one boil.

Corn Soup Ready for Salt, Pepper,Vinegar to be added

• Remove from heat and add salt to taste.

• Pour the soup in a glass / soup bowl add 1 ml. vinegar mix.

• Sprinkle little pepper powder and mix.

• Remove tender leaf of parsley/celery place it on hot soup and serve this hot sweet corn soup with bread croutons.

Sweet Corn Soup from Corn of White color

Sweet Corn Soup from Fresh Sweet Corn of Yellow Color

Tips:

• Washing after the corn has been removed from the cob is must to remove all flaky material and corn hair.

• Making fine paste will make the soup smooth and nice.

• Make sure that the sweet corn is soft and tender otherwise the soup will not taste good at all.

• If the sweet corn is of white color then soup will be of white color, if the sweet corn is yellowish in color then the soup will be yellowish in color. Taste will not change.

Suggested Variations:

• Finely cut beans and carrots 3-4 teaspoon each can be added along with milk, and cooked. This will make the corn soup not only more tasty but healthy and nutritious also.

Sweet corn Soup with Vegetables and Celery

• Instead of talking 500 ml. pure water 500 ml. vegetable stock can be taken this will make the soup healthier and variation in the taste can be made by taking different combination of vegetables for making stock. ( Bean /Beans+ carrots/ carrots can be taken for making vegetable stock.)

• Mushroom can be made to paste and added to the soup along with milk, and then the corn-mushroom mixture can be cooked for 2-3 minutes more.

• Fresh cream can be added to the soup just before serving.