Sunday, September 19, 2010

Thili Saaru (Udupi rasam/soup)

Did I mention before that we shifted to a new place? We moved to a different locality here. This is our first high floor house (yippee.., we are in 16th floor!). The beautiful & quiet view of the sunrise, orange-ish red evenings & the lights at night is awesome. Greenery, sun & sea is what I see from my balcony. I wake up happily to see the beautiful sun rising. My son enjoys seeing the flights landing & taking off. He sometimes gets overjoyed to see 4-5 flights at a time. (Yes, we are near the Airport). I am really happy with the move we made (though we had to sacrifice the distance from the city!). This is what we see, the moment we open our eyes.
I eagerly wait for the sunrise these days :)


Back from the trance to reality.


Here is the recipe that was waiting for the longest time in my drafts. Every time I wanted to publish this recipe, I would postpone it, just because of the pictures. I wanted to make complete justice for this exquisite dish. I donno how successful I am, in this...


Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins (including the time to pressure cook) 
Recipe source: mom-in-law and sis-in-law.

Ingredients:


1. Tomatoes: 2 nos
2. Green chillies: 2 nos
3. Curry leaves: 4-5
4. Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
5. Pigeon peas/toor dal/togari bele: a fistful
6. Thick tamarind extract: 1.5 tsp 
          or
    Tamarind: medium lemon sized ball (soak it in water & extract the juice)
7. Rasam powder: 1 tbsp
8. Thick coconut milk: 1.5 tbsp 
        or
    Thin coconut milk: 1/2 cup
       or 
    Milk: 3 tbsp (low fat or full cream milk)
9. Jaggery: 1 tsp (powdered)
10. Salt: According to taste
11. Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp (for garnishing)
12. Water: 3 cups


Ingredients for tempering:
Coconut oil: 1 tsp (Other cooking oils could be used too)
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: a string (6-8 nos)
Asafoetida: a big pinch


Method:

  • Wash the tomatoes, green chillies, curry leaves & chop them into finely.
  • Wash the pigeon peas/toor dal. 
  • Add the tomatoes, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves to the pigeon peas. Add a cup of water & pressure cook for 3 whistles. Allow the pressure cooker to cool a bit.
  • Meantime, in a broad vessel add a cup of water. To that add tamarind extract, salt, jaggery & heat it on a medium flame. When the mixture starts boiling, add the cooked pigeon peas mixture & boil it again. 
  • When the mixture just starts to boil again, add the rasam powder, coconut milk or normal milk & boil it on a medium-high heat (Turn off the heat when the rasam reaches the rolling boil state).
  • Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a small pan. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter add curry leaves & asafoetida. Turn off the heat & pour the tempering over the rasam prepared.
  • Garnish it with coriander leaves & serve it hot with steaming hot rice, palya, pickle or papad/fritters.


Notes:

  • Addition of jaggery makes this dish very unique. For authentic taste, do not skip the jaggery.
  • I have made this rasam with coconut milk & with normal milk (full cream or low fat milk). Both taste equally good. However, the actual recipe calls for the freshly extracted thin coconut milk.
  • In case you do not have home made rasam powder, use MTR rasam powder. I have tried with MTR rasam powder too. Tastes good too...

13 comments:

  1. saaru tumba chennagide :) cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks for the quick comment paaka shaale :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nammellara favorite...Now hubby's too who is from Bihar..... He savors it piping hot... Healthy & simple...... :)

    Ash....
    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely rasam - perfect for a cool autumn evening!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Enjoy the high rise Sush! Rasam looks and sounds good to me,nice recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice view sush 4m ur house....lovely n comforting rasam dear...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats on ur new home..!!The rasam looks spicy, hot n tangy..exactly how its supposed to be!

    ReplyDelete
  8. comforting rasam...our fav!!! looks soo good!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome... this is exactly the same what my mom does and thanks for the info which is very clear. Thili saaru is the tastiest food in the world, nothing can match to this ( simple and best)...

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is exactly the same done by my mom too. Thanks for the info which is very clear. Thili saaru with ghee is the tatstiest food in the world, nothing can match to this (simple and best)......

    ReplyDelete
  11. i love saru, i usually do it atleast twice a week, love your version too sush...

    ReplyDelete

Hi,

Thanks for visiting 'Savi-Ruchi'. I would try my best to update the blog with new & interesting recipes.
Hope you had nice time in my blog & feel free to share your comments.
Visit Again!!

Featured Post

Noodles and Vegetables with Honey Ginger Sauce

Am I the only one who crave for noodles when sick with cold and sore throat? I love this noodles with honey-ginger sauce and it is perfe...