Author Notes
A rasam is a thin spicy Indian lentil soup that is guaranteed to chase the chills. It is most commonly made with tomatoes, but fruits such as pineapple are also used. This recipe adapts the recipe with pineapple from the Spices and Seasons Cookbook, to add a sweet and tart taste to the soup that is robustly seasoned with black pepper and cumin.
Pigeon pea lentils are sold as toor dal, but if not available they can be substituted with red split lentils. —Rinku Bhattacharya /Spice Chronicles
Ingredients
- For the Rasam Soup
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1/2 cup
pigeon pea or red lentils
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1/2 teaspoon
turmeric
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2
tart apples, such as granny smith appled, peeled and diced
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1 cup
cubed pumpkin or winter squash
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1 teaspoon
salt or to taste
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4 cups
water or vegetable broth
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1 tablespoon
freshly ground black pepper
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11/2 teaspoon
freshly group cumin
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1 tablespoon
freshly ground ginger
- For the tempering
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1 tablespoon
oil
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1 teaspoon
black mustard seeds
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8 to 10
curry leaves (optional)
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2 tablespoons
fresh lime juice
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Finely chopped cilantro
Directions
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Place the lentils, turmeric, apples, winter squash, salt, water or vegetable broth, black pepper, cumin and ginger in a large cooking pot and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours.
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Stir the mixture occasionally, to break down the ingredients. At the end of 2 hours, you should have a relatively smooth, fairly thin soup.
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Heat the oil in a small pan, add in the mustard seeds and let the seeds crackle. Add in the curry leaves if using and pour the seasoned oil over the soup.
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Sprinkle with lime juice and garnish with cilantro and serve piping hot!
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