A Guru Says “Drink Rassam”

With the entire #world in COVID-19 lockdown mode, we get to listen to Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar speak on various topics as He advises the #world on how to deal with this unprecedented situation. As always, His insights are wonderful to hear and easy to assimilate into our day-to-day life. On one occasion He said,

Drink Rassam.

And the entire world of #slack, #twitter, #facebook, #instagram, #whateverelseplatformyouareon, went buzzing with #recipes.

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As an Engineer, wheels started turning in my head. Could I demystify Rassam? Here goes…

(Detailed Recipe(s) can be found at the end of this note.)

Rassam essentially is flavoring of water to different tastes with spices that boost the immune system. The immune booster function is what makes Rassam the go-to for boosting immunity and for fighting colds!

Rassam is a South-Indian drink for the Soul.

While the essential ingredients of Rassam are well defined, the Engineer runs into an issue:

Not everything is water soluble! Some things are oil soluble!

Therein lies the trick; the insight that makes Rassam recipe easy to understand.

What one can understand, one WILL Master!

These are the essential ingredients of Rassam:

1) Toor Dal (split yellow Pigeon Peas)… This is from the family of pulses. These are usually pressure cooked because steam softens the pulses and makes them easier to assimilate into our body. [As an aside, always pressure cook Toor Dal with Turmeric if you want Turmeric in the final product with the Dal.]

2) Tomato… this is nutritions and is water soluble.

2a) Lemon… sometimes lemon could be a substitute or an addition along with Tomato. Again, water soluble.

3) Various spices, like Hing (asafoetida), Jeera (cumin seeds), Mustard, Garlic, Curry Leaves, pre-mixed powders (Rassam, Samabar podi) are oil and/or water soluble.

Here is the Engineer’s Insight:

All Water Soluble ingredients, add to boiling water. All oil soluble ingredients, add to Ghee (clarified butter) (used in tempering).

And, that is it. There are no more complications. Here is what I pulled together this morning:

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We had run out of Tomatoes in this COVID-19 induced situation so I winged it…

1. Set water to boil
2. Add crushed black pepper to taste(water soluble)
3. Add Salt to taste(water soluble)
4. When water starts to simmer, add juice of fresh cut Lemon/Lime. Add in small quantities (like a half or even quarter Lemon/Lime at a time) because the taste is subtle. It will be tasteless and rapidly transition to too lemony. Addition in small quantities does the trick.
5. Bring to a boil. Add a little bit of Samabar Podi. Now you are a bit out of luck because the Podi that I used is home made. Not in our home but in my good friend Laki Yeleswaram’s home. I have been using Laki’s home podi for years now. Ya, can’t help you here!
6. Add MTR Rassam powder. This is the taste clincher step. Add this in small quantities and adjust the “kick level” that you are comfortable with.
7. Add the cooked Toor Dal. Keep boiling and periodically adding some water as it evaporates while the mixture is boiling.
8. Tempering… this is for all the ingredients which are oil soluble!
   In Ghee, add, Mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter,
   Add Hing. This will cool down the hot Ghee.
   Add Jeera seeds, stirring to prevent excessive browning of the Jeera seeds.
   Add Curry leaves. This will splutter.
   Never Add Turmeric to Rassam.
   [When you do add Turmeric to tempering, herein is the Engineer’s trick to a clean kitchen. Adding Turmeric after the Curry leaves prevents the entire kitchen from becoming yellow colored. You’re welcome.]
   Add crushed garlic (optional)
9. Pour the tempering over the boiling (water) mixture.
10. Adjust taste. Salt and/or Rassam powder.
11. Garnish with Dhania (Coriander leaves).
12. Serve HOT. Preferably in a steel tumbler.

In normal times, I would have added Tomatoes & Tamarind in Step 4. But these are not normal times. We are under COVID-19 lockdown and we were out of Tomatoes. And so, the Engineer improvises.

And, there you have it…

Rassam Deconstructed & Demystified!

Here are some alternate recipes:

Recipes…

The Simple Version from my friend, Laki Yeleswaram

In Tamarind water, add chopped tomato, two pods crushed garlic (Rassam for fighting colds), Hing, 1 tsp Samabar Podi… Boil until raw smells gone!

Add cooked Toor Dal, Black Pepper (crushed or whole), Jeera Powder.

For tempering, in Ghee, add Mustard Seeds, Curry Leaves, one more Crushed Garlic, Cumin Seeds.

Pour tempering over the boiling tamarind water with tomatoes etc. and garnish with chopped Cilantro

The complicate version from Shubha Natarajan (on #slack)

Rasam Recipe.
Guruji mentioned Rasam as an immunity booster.
Here’s an easy method to make it.
Most of us have a pre made rasan powder at home. Many versions of Rasam are also made. This one uses the immunity boosting spices.
Ingredients
1 Pigeon peas/Tuvar daal/Arhar ki dal.( three names for the same lentil)
2 Tomatoes and Tamarind.( you can use both or either one)
3 Corriander seeds or Dhania.
4 Cumin seeds or Jeera
5 Black peper corns or Kali Miri.
6 Turmeric fresh root or powder
7 Curry leaves if you have them.
8 Asfoetida or Hing powder.
9 Fenugreek seeds or Methi Dana
10 dried Red chilies ( Byadagi variety from India is good for flavour but has less heat. In our present lockdown use any you have or even paprika powder will do.)
11 Ghee
12 Water
13 Salt
14 Jaggery optional if it’s too spicy.
15 Fresh Corriander leaves to garnish.
In our home we would tie up a small amount of stems from corriander leaves and boil them in the Rasam. Take them out before you eat ,ofcourse !
16 Black Mustard seeds.

HERE ARE THE QUANTITIES.
1 Pigeon peas Dal 1/2 cupSPICE BLEND ..HERE RATIOS MATTER so I have put it in cup measures .. you could do tablespoons as well. For example use 1 tablespoon coriander seeds and 1/4 tablespoon Cumin seeds.
2 Coriander seeds 1 cup
3 Cumin seeds 1/4 cup
4 Black pepper 1/6 cup.
5 Fenugreek seeds 1/ 10 cup ( if you are using tablespoon measures add 6 seeds )
6 Turmeric dry powder 1/ 10 cup ( 4 pinches for tablespoon measures)
10 Red chilies 1/5 cup ( 3 to 4 for tablespoon measure) Here you can be flexible in your measurements .You can also omit red chillies if it’s going to be too hot for your palate.
11 Asfoetida 5 pinches of 1/4 teaspoon for the cup measure ( 1 pinch for table spoons measure).
12 Ghee as much as needed.
13 Tamarind 1/5 cup soaked if dry is used or 1 to 2 tablespoon if you are using the paste .
14 Tomatoes chopped up 1/2 cup for one pit of Rasam which serves 4.
15 Black Mustard seeds 1/2 Teaspoon.MAKING the spice powder
Dry roast (I use my oven set to 325 deg F)
Coriander seeds , Cumin seeds , Black pepper, Fenugreek seeds , till they are a light golden brown tinge. Some seeds will splutter too. You can do this in a heaven bottom skillet in the stove , Make sure to stir frequently to get even roast and prevent burning.
Separately add a few drops of Ghee and roast the red chillies. Omit this step if you are using Paprika powder.
Cool and grind ( I use my vitamix blender) all the above with Asfoetida and Turmeric powder.
The mixture will be a little coarse not fine like a white flour.
Your spice blend is ready !!

Step 2
Pressure cook the pigeon Pigeon peas ( Wash and rinse like you do for rice) till it’s very soft and mushy .
Use plenty of water to do this. A little turmeric is often added to the dal before cooking here. This is optional.Step 3 Soak Tamarind Take any fibers out.

Step 3
Boil the tomatoes in water with a pinch of turmeric, when they turn soft add Tamarind extract ( If you are using both )
Allow it to boil , add more water if needed.
Add 1 heaped teaspoon of Rasam powder Mix allow to boil.
Add Coriander leaves Or dunk the stems like mentioned above.
Allow it to simmer
Add the mushy boiled dal ( if your dal is not mushy run it through the blender or e hand held blender stick )
Definitely add the Daal water from boiling the dal . This makes the Magic happen.
Rasam should be thin in quality.

Last Step
In another skillet add Ghee heat on a low flame.
Add Black Mustard seeds Allow them to cook and Splutter .
Add Asfoetida
Curry leaves
Allow these to splutter and cook.
Pour it over the Rasam..
You will hear a wonderful sizzle.
Add salt
Taste and add Jaggery if needed.
Simmer for 3 to 5 mins.Enjoy .

Let me know if you have any questions
314 604 8813.