Thippili Rasam / Long Pepper Soup

At home kids been suffering from cold and cough.. My mom used to make milagu(pepper corn) rasam to help liquefy mucus. And she also send me this thippili(long pepper) from India to use as a medicine for cold.  I saw it here in Houston, in some of the Indian stores. Here is the recipe to make thippili rasam.

Ingredients:

• Toor Dhal  - 2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
• Black pepper corns - 1 tsp
• Long pepper(Arisi Thippili) - 1 tsp
• Dry Red Chillies - 2 nos
• Tamarind - small lemon size
• Salt - to taste
• Curry leaf - 1 stem
• Ghee - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp (to saute)
• Water - 2 cup

Procedure

• Heat a small pan, add a tsp of ghee and saute toor dhal, cumin seeds, black pepper, long pepper, red chillies, till a nice aroma comes (till toor dhal becomes golden brown).

•  Mean while make tamarind extract from the soaked tamarind, add curry leaves and bring it to boil

• Coarse grind the saute toordhal mixture and add it to the boiling tamarind.

• Bring it to boil. And add necessary water to make rasam. Also add salt to taste.

• Let it boil for a minute. Sputter little mustard seeds, in a tsp of ghee and pour into it.

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.