Red Radish Rasam...a healthy Hot n Sour soup Indian style !

Rasam is a very popular tangy-spicy soup like dish eaten with plain rice specially in sourthern parts of India. I know that at my husband's house, its a staple dish. I personally enjoy eating it with some rice and yogurt.

Very easy to prepare, with all healthy ingredients. You could just drink it as a simple soup. Its the best medicine when you have a sore throat , the tangy tamarind water and the heat from the corriander and peppercorns, really soothes your throat.

But inspite of saying all this, I've hardly ever made Rasam at home. No real reason why, I just never remember to :-)

These days the climate is obviously chilly and there's nothing better than something warm and spicy and tongue tickling right? There are so many different kinds of Rasam, like Tomato Rasam, Pineapple rasam, Moong dal rasam etc etc, its quite endless. I've just done a simple Tomato rasam the same way my MIL prepares but modified a little!

I included Red Radishes (something that I always have in my fridge). I love the mild peppery taste it provides and it becomes quite soft yet has a mild bite to it once cooked. Radishes are very healthy too and one of my favorite reason to eat them (raw or cooked)  are - they help in weight loss ;-) 

Here's some good info on health benefits of Radish.

This platter above was what we had for lunch the other day...it was hearty , healthy and filling! The rasam was very flavorful, tangy and mildly spicy and went really well with Kerala brown rice and some Turnip greens pachadi with some pickle and papad, lipsmacking good!! You might wanna stir the rasam before serving as all the peppery goodness will settle to the bottom :-)

Isn't it weird how some of my recipes turn up with these unique abbreviations like CCC for my Citrus Checkerboard Cake and now RRR for Red Radish Rasam...LOL! ;-) Now on to my recipe!

Red Radish Rasam Recipe
You'll need
Red Radishes - 5-6 (washed and thinly sliced)
Whole corriander seeds - 2 tblsp
Whole Peppercorns - 2 tblsp
Dry Red chillies  - 3-4
Garlic cloves - 3-4
Tomato - 2 medium (cut into small cubes)
Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Rasam powder - 1 tsp (optional for taste)
Tamarind water - 1 cup (If using Tamarind pulp - add 2-3 tblsp pulp to 1 cup water)
Water - 1 or 2 cups (use as required)
Oil - 1 or 2 tblsp
Chopped Corriander leaves - for garnish
Salt - to taste

Directions:
1. Using a mortar pestle , grind the corriander seeds and peppercorns coarsely.

2. Again using the mortal pestle, crush the garlic cloves.
3. Heat oil in a kadai and add the ground corriander seeds, peppercorns, dry Red Chillies and garlic cloves and saute on medium heat for few minutes. (Another method is to dry roast the whole corriander seeds, peppercorns and Dry red Chillies and then grind them to a paste with some water and then add this paste in the oil and saute with garlic.)
4. Add the tomato and cover and cook until the tomato has softened, then mash the tomato into a pulp.

5. Add the sliced Turnips, Tamarind water Turmeric powder , Rasam powder (optional), Salt  and some extra water if you prefer and let it come to a boil

6. Finally turn off the heat, garnish with some Corriander leaves and serve Hot!

I always prefer to just drink the Rasam as a soup :-) So I just kept aside a glass all for myself. The warmth from the corriander, peppercorns and chilly and the mild tang from the tomato & tamarind wa, the lovely flavor from the Garlic...mmmm, there's nothing that you won't like about this soup :-). 

I'm sure many of you prepare Rasam at home, why don't you share your preparation styles? It would be great for me as well as others to know. Either leave a comment here or else at my facebook page. Let's talk Rasam :-) Thanks in advance :-)

-Manju