Friday, July 10, 2020

GARLIC RASAM

GARLIC RASAM

Rasam is basically an aromatic spicy-sweet soup-like preparation used as an accompaniment for rice in a South Indian meal. It is generally made with lentils, tamarind, and spices and seasoned using ghee.

Today's recipe is for a spicy South Indian rasam made with garlic. It goes great with hot steamed rice and ghee.

We use garlic, which is called Lahsun in Hindi, Poondu in Tamil and Bellulli in Kannada, in many dishes in our Indian cooking.

To clarify a doubt once asked by a young lady new to Indian cuisine, the garlic itself is in the form of a pod or bulb as you see in the picture below. This is usually made up of 10-15 cloves, which we peel and use for cooking. You will find garlic commonly used for seasoning in many of our Konkani dishes.

Elsewhere in this blog, you will find recipes using garlic such as :

As was well-known to our forefathers, garlic traditionally was famous for its many health benefits. Even to this day, many home made remedies even in rural areas make use of garlic for its healing powers.

I have adapted this from Garlic Rasam by Padhu's Kitchen.

We enjoyed this very much and I am sure you will like it too!




Ingredients:-
  • Garlic Cloves, peeled 6 + crushed, 1 
  • Tamarind, the size of a small gooseberry 
  • Medium-sized Tomatoes, 2
  • Salt, to taste
  • Coriander Leaves, finely chopped, 1 tbsp - for garnish 
Grind To A Coarse Powder :-
  • Black Peppercorns , 1 tsp
  • Cumin Seeds, 1 tsp
  • Tur Dal, 1 tsp
  • Garlic Clove, peeled, 1
For Seasoning:-
  • Ghee, 2 tsp
  • Mustard Seeds, 1/2 tsp
  • Cumin Seeds, 1/2 tsp
  • Curry Leaves, a few 
Method:-

Peel 7 garlic cloves and in addition lightly crush 1 unpeeled garlic clove. Keep aside
Wash and chop the tomatoes
Prepare tamarind extract by soaking the tamarind in 1 cup of warm water for about 15 minutes, then  extracting the juice and discarding the seed and pulp. Keep aside

In a small mixer jar, dry grind the peppercorns, cumin seeds, tur dal, and 1 peeled garlic clove to a coarse powder. Keep aside
In a vessel, take the tamarind extract and to this add the chopped tomatoes, salt, the remaining 6 peeled garlic cloves, 1 lightly crushed garlic clove and the coarsely ground spice powder
Mix well and heat on medium flame
Lower the flame and let it cook till the raw smell goes and the volume of the mixture reduces
Now add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and cook till it forms a froth
Switch off the gas
Seasoning:  In a small pan, heat 1 tsp of ghee and on medium heat add the mustard seeds and when they splutter add the cumin seeds and when this sizzles, add the curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds
Pour this seasoning on to the garlic rasam
Lastly, garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves
Serve hot with steamed rice and ghee



No comments:

Post a Comment

If you have liked this recipe, I would appreciate your leaving a comment. Thank you !