Hunase Saru - Tamarind Rasam

Summer is long gone here and the days are generally cool and pleasant with some days gloomier. And there are some really gloomy days in between, with no trace of sun, esp a few days back. Such weather generally demands some thing hot to sip on, something that tickles the tongue.

On one such gloomy weekend, my FIL had this desire to sip a glass of hot, tangy tamarind rasam. He fondly complained that it has been ages since it was made at home. I remembered my mom making it on such days and we all sipping it in glasses.

So made this to fulfill my FIL’s demand and also to go back to those childhood days of having it.... it tuned out great and FIL was happy. Very simple to make, with not much of preparation required, it also tastes good with rice also.

Here’s how to make it....

Hunase Saru / Tamarind Rasam

Preparation time : 5 min
Cooking time : 10 min
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
Tamarind - 1 big lime sized ball, soaked in water till soft
Salt - 1- 1 ½ tsp or as per taste
Jaggery - 1 big marble sized ball / about 1 Tbsp powder
Coriander - A few sprigs
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

For tadka / Tempering / Oggarane:
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Dry red chilies - 4-5, as per taste
Asafetida - a small pinch
Turmeric - a pinch

Method:
• Squeeze the soaked tamarind pulp and collect a thin tamarind juice in a vessel
• Add salt and jaggery and bring to boil
• Adjust the consistency by adding enough water - it should be quite runny
• Add the coriander and curry leaves and boil for a couple of minutes

For tadka / Oggarane
• Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow to splutter
• Add dry red chili pieces
• Add asafetida
• Garnish the rasam with tadka
• Serve hot, with piping hot rice or in a small glass to just drink

Notes:
• This is a very a light rasam, but the right combination of sour-salt-and sweetness makes it a wonderful tongue tickler
• Tastes good to drink as is too

Hesaru kalu Saru, Usli (Sprouted Greengram Rasam and Sundal)

When it comes to everyday food, a lot of consideration has to go in so as to make the menu interesting, non monotonous as well as healthy. Making the same repetitive stuff everyday makes people to just boycott it. And there should be some change in the menu and in the taste. That does not mean we can ignore the nutrition part as well.

This is one recipe which is totally different from the usual rasam and filled with protein and is loved by everyone. A rasam with whole moong and better, with sprouted ones! Keeping some sprouted moong really helps to quickly dish up these two - a rasam and a palya/usli/sundal. Make s great combo for a simple wholesome meal.

Hesaru kalu Saru / Sprouted Green gram Rasam

Preparation time : 10 min (apart from the soaking and sprouting time)
Cooking time : 30 min
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
Green gram / Whole Moong / Hesaru kalu - 2 cups
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Coconut - 1 Tbsp, grated
Onion - 1 small, chopped into chunks
Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste
Jaggery - 1 inch cube
Tamarind pulp - 2 tsp
Coriander - A few sprigs

For spice powder:
Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp
Dry red chilies - 8-10 (byadagi or guntur variety based on your taste buds)
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Fenugreek /Methi seeds - ¾ tsp
Cinnamon - one small stick
Maratha Moggu - 2

For tadka / Oggarane
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Asafetida - a small pinch

Method:
• Sprout the whole moong - soak it in water overnight, drain, cover loosely and keep aside for one day till it sprouts
• Cook it in pressure cooker along with the tomatoes with sufficient water till tender - it usually takes less than a whistle - switch off just as it starts to blow the first whistle or even earlier
• Meanwhile in a skillet, roast the spices under ‘Spice powder’ till aromatic
• Allow to cool slightly and grind to a smooth paste along with cooked tomatoes, raw onion and coconut. Add water to facilitate the mixie/blender
• Drain the cooked green gram and separate the liquid. Keep the gram aside for usli
• To the liquid, add tamarind pulp, jaggery, salt, ground paste, coriander and bring to boil.
• Adjust consistency by adding water if required. Let it boil for at least 10 minutes.
For tadka / Oggarane
• Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow to splutter
• Add asafetida
• Garnish the rasam with tadka and a few coriander leaves
• Serve hot, with piping hot rice and ghee.
• It tastes great when cold too

Notes:
• Cooking in open vessel takes a lot of time and gas; I prefer doing it in pressure cooker, and carefully watching over and switching off in time
• You can use the usual rasam powder instead of roasting and grinding the spices, I generally do so which is faster too
• You can use un-sprouted moong too, in which case the time required to cook would be about 3 whistles

Usli / Sundal

Ingredients:

Cooked Green gram / Sprouted Moong - 1 1/2 cups
Coconut - 1 Tbsp, grated
Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste
Coriander - A few sprigs

For tadka / Oggarane
Cooking oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp
Black gram dal - 1 tsp
Green chilies - 4-5 (based on your taste buds)
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Method:
• Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter
• Add the dals and stir till golden brown
• Add slit green chilies, curry leaves and sauté
• Mix in the cooked gram, add salt, grated coconut and stir well
• Garnish with a few coriander leaves chopped
• Serve with rice and rasam.

Hurali Saru, Usli (Horsegram Rasam and Palya)

When it is raining and cold outside, and you’re craving for some simple food here’s the best thing that can pep you up! A simple rasam made out of horse gram stock and an accompaniment of usli/palya (a stir fry of cooked horse gram). This tastes good when hot and tastes better even when cold. An ideal combination to beat the cold!

HuraLi Saru

Preparation time : 10 min Cooking time : 20 min Serves : 4 Ingredients: Horse gram / HuraLi - 1 cup Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp Dry red chilies - 8-10 (byadagi or guntur variety based on your taste buds) Cumin seeds - 2 tsp Fenugreek /Methi seeds - ¾ tsp Cinnamon - one small stick Maratha Moggu - 2 Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Coconut - 1 Tbsp, grated Onion - 1 small, chopped into chunks Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste Jaggery - 1 inch cube Tamarind pulp - 2 tsp Coriander - A few sprigs For tadka / Oggarane Cooking oil - 1 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Asafetida - a small pinch Method: • Cook horse gram in pressure cooker with sufficient water till tender and cool it • Meanwhile in a skillet, roast the spices - coriander seeds to curry leaves till aromatic • Allow to cool slightly and grind to a smooth paste along with onion and coconut. Add water to facilitate the mixie/blender • Drain the cooked horse gram and separate the liquid. Keep the gram aside for usli • To the liquid, add tamarind pulp, jaggery, salt, ground paste, coriander and bring to boil. • Adjust consistency by adding water if required. Let it boil for at least 10 minutes. For tadka / Oggarane • Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter • Add asafetida • Garnish the rasam with tadka and a few coriander leaves • Serve hot, with piping hot rice and ghee. • It tastes great when cold too Tips n Tricks: • Check the horsegram at least twice for little stones. Generally, even the cleaned variety will contain a few stones.

Usli

Ingredients: Cooked Horse gram / HuraLi - 1 cup Coconut - 1 Tbsp, grated Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste Coriander - A few sprigs For tadka / Oggarane Cooking oil - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp Black gram dal - 1 tsp Green chilies - 4-5 (based on your taste buds) Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Method: • Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter • Add the dals and stir till golden brown • Add slit green chilies, curry leaves and sauté • Mix in the cooked horsegram, add salt, grated coconut and stir well • Garnish with a few coriander leaves chopped • Serve with rice and huraLi saru.

Kattina Saru - Plain Lentil Rasam

When it comes to simple comfort food, kattina saru / simple lentil rasam tops the list. A very mild spiced, yet tasty and very healthy, this one is a preferred choice for us for lunch on days we’ve had a heavy breakfast. Being very simple to make, it is a good choice for us to cook too. The spices give a subtle flavor and taste, while a correct blend of salt and jaggery and pepper make it tasty.

Kattina Saru

Preparation time : None Cooking time : 15 min Serves : 4 Ingredients: Tur Dal - 1 cup Green chili - 1 or 2 Turmeric - a big pinch Coconut milk - 1 Tbsp Jaggery - 1 small pinch Salt - ¾ tsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig Coriander leaves - 1 sprig For tempering: Ghee - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Black pepper - ½ tsp Asafetida/hing - 1 pinch Method: • Cook tur dal with 2-3 cups of water, one green chili and turmeric in pressure cooker for 1-2 whistles • Once the pressure releases, bring it to boil again • Add salt, coconut milk, and jaggery. • Add curry leaves and coriander leaves for flavor. Let it boil for 5-10 minutes. • Adjust water to get a thin, rasam-like consistency For tempering: • Make a coarse powder of black pepper and cumin seeds • Heat ghee in a small skillet • Add mustard seeds and allow to splutter • Add cumin, pepper, hing • Mix it to the rasam just before serving • Serve piping hot with hot rice and ghee Variations: • Juice of a lemon can be if you like a sour taste

Menasina Saru / Black Pepper Rasam

A very simple and easy to make variety of rasam, made with pepper as a main ingredient. It is best suited for a cold and rainy day, with a bowl of piping hot rice. Nothing else can beat this rasam. Also makes a great meal if you’re just about recovering from cold, cough or fever, adding the health benefit of pepper and cumin seeds, and soothing the throat.

Menasina Saru / Black Pepper Rasam

Preparation time : 5 min Cooking time : 10 min Serves : 5-6 Ingredients: Black pepper - 2 Tsp Cumin seeds - 3 Tsp Urad dal - 3 Tsp Channa dal - 1 Tsp Red Chili - 1 Curry leaves - 10-12 Coconut - 2 Tbsp, grated Salt - ½ Tsp or as per taste Water - 4 Cups, change acc to consistency Milk - ½ Cup For tempering: Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp Ghee - 1 Tsp Method: • In a skillet / kadai, roast pepper, Cumin seeds, Urad dal, Channa dal, Red Chili and Curry leaves till the lentils turn golden brown • Let it cool slightly • Grind the roasted mixture with coconut and water if needed to make a very fine paste • Transfer the ground paste to a larger vessel, add enough water to get rasam-like consistency • Add salt and allow to boil for 5-8 minutes • Add milk and put off the heat Tempering: • Heat ghee in a small skillet • Add cumin seeds and allow it to sputter • Add this crispy garnishing to the menasina saru just before serving • Serve hot with piping hot rice and a spoon of ghee Tips n Tricks: • Make sure to grind the ingredients into a very smooth paste, which will add to the taste Variations: • Dry coconut can be added instead of fresh coconut, but nothing can beat the taste of fresh coconut

Methi Malai Dal

There’ll be times when you don’t feel like cooking or eating anything complicated or spicy and just wish for something very simple – but yet tasty. The routine Rasam and Sambhar are just too boring to give them even a thought. Cutting vegetables, grinding spices are just out of question. But then the appetite? And your wish to eat good food?

It was one such weekend, when only both of us were home. (Well, that’s when I can be so lazy as well as try any new thing without getting worried how it’ll turn out!). And I wanted to cook something very quick and get back to my relaxing mode :P. At the same time, didn’t want to disappoint Dee with boring stuff either!

I remembered a dish which I had had at a restaurant the week before – ‘Methi Malai Matar’. And there was a bowl of methi leaves left over; I didn’t want to waste it either. But I didn’t feel like using any matar that day. So, I decided to make a variant of Dee’s favorite – Dal in that style!

So I started out cooking the dal and in parallel worked on the Methi combination. And in 15-20 minutes was ready a cool new variety of dal, yummy with hot rice or chapathis. The addition of cream gives it a totally different taste.

Methi -Malai- Dal

Preparation time : 5 min Cooking time : 10 min with cooked dal Serves : 4 Ingredients: Tur dal - 1 cup Methi leaves - 1 cup, chopped Cooking oil - 1 Tsp Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp Water - 1 cup Turmeric - a pinch Salt - ½ Tsp or as per taste Green chilies - 4-5, depending on taste, chopped/slit Ginger - 1Tsp, grated Curry leaves - 10-12 Milk cream - 1 Tbsp, optional Method: • Pressure cook Tur dal with water and turmeric for one whistle and keep aside • Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, chilies, grated ginger • After half a minute, add the chopped methi leaves and sauté for 2-3 minutes • Add cooked lentils and salt and bring to boil • Turn off the heat and add milk cream and mix thoroughly • Serve hot with hot rice or chapathis Tips n Tricks: • Don’t add methi in excess as it gives the dal a bitter taste. Variations: • Onion can also be added to give a different taste