Mint Rasam

It was one potluck day. Friends, all have planned to prepare non-veg dishes, which I won't touch at all. So they asked me to prepare a good super rasam to digest all the food, along with one another dish. Then I though of adding mint in the rasam and make a flavored delight for everyone. That was a season of cold too.. Mint Rasam helps digest food, how much heavy it is. Relieves gassy stomach. The mint rasam was the top hit at the get together party. Much on mint herb is given in growing mint at home.

Ingredients:

Mint - one stem
Tomato -1 medium size
Tamarind - 1/2 lemon size. Extract tamarind juice.
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Hinge - a pinch
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp (substitute for dry red chilli)
Dry ginger - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Black pepper corn - 1 tsp (Crush cumin seeds and pepper corn)
Garlic pod - 3 nos
Salt - to taste
Water - 2 cups
Onion -  a tsp (chopped finely, preferably pearl onion 1 no.)
Curry leaves - 1 stem
Cilantro/Coriander leaves - for garnish
Ghee - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Boil tomato cut it into half in tamarind extract juice with turmeric powder.

• Cool down and smash tomato and remove the outer skin.
• Add hinge, salt, sambar powder, crushed cumin seeds, black pepper corns and garlic.

• Also add necessary water.
• Bring it to boil. Add a pinch of dry ginger powder.

• In a separate small pan heat ghee. I used ghee to alleviate ginger pepper taste and to reduce the spiciness. It also adds good aroma.
• Sputter mustard seeds, and saute onion, curry leaves.

• Pour it in the boiling rasam. Since sambar powder is used just let it boil for a minute so that the raw sambar powder smell goes away. Add fresh chopped mint leaves in it.

• Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Drink a cup of hot mint rasam to get rid of nasal congestion.
• Serve rasam with rice.