Starfruit appehuli saaru/Starfruit rasam

I see star-fruits in almost all the veggie shops, supermarkets here. I always loved the looks of the beautiful fruit. I even got a couple of them home & ripped them apart. Aiyyo!, looks deceived me & my taste-buds said not a bite more!! That ended my love with this lovely fruit until I saw the recipe from Mangala. I love her blog because of the authentic Havyaka Brahmin (a community of Karnataka) dishes. I love her recipes & the drool worthy pictures.

Rough translation of appehuli, is a kind of rasam/soup that is sour, spicy & sweet. It is served as an appetizer in the Havyaka community. The vegetable/fruit used for making this soup needs to have a strong sourness factor. Most common vegetable/fruit used for making appehuli are mango (a different variety of mango grown in Malnad/coastal region of Karnataka is used), amtekayi (Sorry, I do not have much info about it) & lemon/lime.

When I first saw the recipe in her blog, I was not very convinced to try them. But knowing the fact that Mangala must have grown up eating them & also for my crazy love towards appehuli made me try it.  I loved them so much that I prepared them 2 times in the same week! I have been making them ever since for my lonely lunches. You can have it as a soup too. I bet you will serve yourself more rice to have this heavenly saaru. 

Serves 2-3 

Ingredients: 

Starfruit: 1 no, a greener one* (around 150gms)

Water: Around 2 cups

Salt: As needed

Jaggery: 1 tsp

Thai red chilies: 2 nos, more or less**

For tempering:

Coconut oil: 1 tsp

Curry leaves: 4-5 nos

Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp

Garlic: 2 cloves, crushed or finely chopped

*Star fruit is green when raw & as it ripens it turns yellow. Look for a greener starfruit for this dish as raw ones are comparatively sour than the ripened. Have a look below.

** Thai red chilies are very spicy, adjust accordingly. 

Method:

• Cut the starfruit into big chunks. Add water, salt, jaggery, Thai red chilies & starfruit to a saucepan/vessel.
• Boil until the starfruit is cooked properly. It would be perfect if you slightly overcook the fruit.
• Allow it to cool. Take out the cooked starfruit chunks from the cooked water. Mash the chunks, chili using a hand mixer or a masher. You could put it in the food processor too. Add the mashed fruit paste to the cooked water. Adjust the seasoning & mix well. 
• Prepare the tempering. Heat oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When seeds pop, add garlic & saute till nice golden brown. Add the curry leaves & turn off the heat.
• Pour the tempering over the appehuli. Mix well & serve warm/cold. 

Btw, you may also want to have a look at Mango appehuli recipe.