Beetroot Rasam

When beetroot is pressure cooked most of the goodness in the vegetable is left in the water in which it is cooked. Beetroot rasam is one way of getting the nutrients that would otherwise be wasted.

Ingredients:

Beetroot - 2
Tomatoes - 1 or 2
Ginger - 1/4 inch
Garlic - 1 clove
Red Chili powder -  2ts
Coriander-cumin powder - 2ts
turmeric powder - 1/4ts
Coriander leaves - 1/4cup

Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1/2ts
Cumin seeds - 1/2ts
curry leaves - 3 or 4

Salt to taste

Prep Time: 5-10 mins
Servings - 4

Recipe:
Pressure cook the beets. Once well cooked, drain the beets and collect the water in a separate cup. (Or) Pressure cook the beets, once the beets are well cooked (very soft to touch), the blend the beets along with the water in which it was cooked. Blend it soft.

Add oil to vessel, add mustard and cumin seeds and wait untill they start to splutter and then add the ginger and garlic cloves along with curry leaves and fry until there is no longer any raw garlic smell. Now add cut tomatoes along with red chili, turmeric, coriander-cumin powder and cook until the tomatoes are well cooked. Now add the beetroot water to the mixture. Keep adding beetroot water until the consistency is very   runny. Add salt to taste and Bring it to boil and remove from stove. Then add some coriander leaves to give it a nice aroma.

Your Beetroot rasam is ready!!

PS: Beets has a slight sweet taste to it, which gives an excellent flavour to rasam, so avoid excess addition of red chili powder, as it will over power beets taste.

Garlic Rasam

Making Rasam without tamarind juice is an art. With only tomato to provide the tangy taste, the rasam takes an entirely different route through the taste buds.

Here is how the recipe goes:
1)Mid-sized tomatoes - 2
2)Red Chili powder - 4 teaspoons  or green chilies - 4 (thai)
3)Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
4)Cumin Powder - 1 Teaspoon
5)Ginger - 5 cm long
6)Garlic - 4
7)Cooking Oil - 2 teaspoons
Mustard,cumin seeds, turmeric powder and salt to taste

Add cooking oil to the vessel, add mustard and cumin seeds (jeera) and wait until they start to sputter, add cut tomatoes to this along with green chili/red chili powder, add turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and mix. Keep mixing until the tomatoes gets cooked. Now add the ginger & 2 garlic cut to pieces and keep mixing until a nice aroma starts to rise. Then, Add water until the consistency is very runny. Smash the 2 garlic cloves with mortar and pestle and add it to the liquid. Add salt to taste. Cover the vessel and let it come to boil and then switch off the stove.

Add curry leaves and coriander leaves to further enhance the aroma and taste.