Orange Rasam: A Recipe

It is orange season now, and we have a lot of oranges in our fruit basket, all thanks to the OH. Being the big fan of oranges that he is, a bag of the fruits comes home with the OH from work almost every day. Most get eaten by him but recently, some went into the making of orange rasam – something that I have been thinking I will make since years, but that I finally made only last week.

I read up a bit about making orange rasam on the internet, and came up with the way I would make it – a mix of different recipes plus some personal preferences. It turned out delicious! I am sure it is going to made a couple more times before the season comes to an end.

Here is how I made it..

Ingredients (for 2 people):

A small cup of toor dal, boiled

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder to taste

A small bunch of coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 dry red chillies

Turmeric powder to taste

A few curry leaves

Juice of 3-4 medium sized oranges

Juice of 1 medium-sized lemon

4 medium-sized tomatoes, finely chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

A pinch of asafoetida

For the rasam powder:

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

3-4 dry red chillies

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

8-10 black peppercorns

1 tablespoon chana dal

Method:

For the rasam powder:

1. Dry roast all the ingredients for the rasam powder in a pan. Let everything cool down completely.

2. Grind all the ingredients together in a mixer, coarsely.

For the rasam:

1. Take a little water in a pan and add the finely chopped tomatoes. Add the salt and curry leaves. Let cook till the tomatoes turn mushy.

2. Add the boiled toor dal, asafoetida, turmeric powder and red chilli powder to taste, as well as the dry red chillies, broken into two. Add the required quantity of water, to get the consistency that you desire.

3. Add the rasam powder and let everything cook together for about 5 minutes.

4. Add the finely chopped coriander leaves and crushed garlic. Let the rasam come to a boil and switch off the gas.

5. Add the orange juice and the lemon juice. Mix well. Check the taste and add more lemon juice if you require the rasam to be more sour.

6. In a small pan, heat a bit of oil and add the mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Add the mustard seed garnish to the rasam and mix well.

Serve hot. Apparently, this rasam should not be heated too much after the orange and lemon juices have been added, as they have the tendency to turn bitter when done so.

Have you ever tried orange rasam? How do you make it?