Sunday, January 02, 2011

Pineapple Rasam


2010 has disappeared! As always I feel the year has shot past and every 31st. I wonder, how did it go by so fast?
My Mother, when I was chatting to her, said, " remember the world fretting about Y2K?, well, well, we have survived that and so much more!"
2010 was an action packed year for me, well sort of. We visited India, changed apartments, changed state, and are enjoying a family life again ( for 2 years and more, ever since little was 3 months old, M used to travel for work and was home only for the week end, which was the tough on me, but  there IS a silver lining, and I found it,  finally).
The hardest part last year was when my Grandmother passed away. It hurts even now.

On the blogging front, things were definitely slow, but I was happy that I could still manage  posting and trying many new things. Sadly, there are many drafts (pictures with 2010 mark) and I could not get those on the blog. Hopefully, I will pick up my pace this year.

This is my first winter in a state where it snows! I am still excited... really! I have enjoyed watching the snow fall, going out and playing in the snow, taking pictures like the one above, and drinking hot rasam (yes, rasam!) watching the ground getting covered in 'snuu', as my son calls it. 

Last week I was at Sams Club and they had the sweetest Pineapple on sale. I love pineapple but shy from buying it, I feel intimidated by the thought of cutting it and have visions of cutting off my fingers, ewww! 

The lady at the sample counter was very helpful and showed my how to go about slicing  the pineapple and I was happy to pick up a prickly one and happily trundle my cart to check out .

Pineapple Rasam was on my mind for a long time and I was just waiting to try it. The flavors are amazing and I particularly like biting into pineapple bits. if you are like me, try this.
This recipe makes 4 cups
Source: 660 curries


1/4 Cup Toovar Daal (pigeon peas) 
2 Cups Fresh Pineapple cubes ( 1/2 inch cubes)
1 medium Tomato cored and cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
2 tsp. Sambar Masala
11/2 tsp kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Asafetida
10-12 fresh Curry Leaves
4 Tbsp. Fresh Cilantro , chopped (leaves and tender stems)
2 Tbsp. Ghee or Canola oil( I recommend ghee) 
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp. Cumin seeds
4 Dry Red chilies- stems removed

Wash the daal thoroughly ( 3-4 changes of water) and cook the daal. I use a pressure cooker, you can cook the daal in a saucepan, it is time consuming and needs supervision.

While the daal is cooking, combine pineapple, tomato, sambar masala, salt, asafetida, curry leaves and 2 tbs. of the cilantro in a medium size saucepan. Add 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil over med-high heat. Lower the heat to medium and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally until the pineapple and tomato have softened but still firm looking ( 10-15 mins)

Once the daal is cooked, transfer the cooked daal to a blender and blend until smooth or if you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the daal.

Heat a small skillet and add ghee /oil. Add the mustard seeds. After the seeds have popped, remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle in the cumin seeds and chiles. Stir in this spiced ghee mixture into the sweet- tart pineapple-tomato broth and add the pureed daal.

Sprinkle the remaining cilantro and serve.

Notes: This makes a mild rasam, I added extra sambar powder to give it a kick. This may be entirely because of the  ready made  sambar mix ( Iyengar Hot-Hot)I am using, If your sambar masala is strong, go with the recipe and taste before you make any adjustments.
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13 comments:

Kitchen Boffin said...

lovely rasam.. sounds delicious.. don't we all think 2010 went in a blink of the eye..?we still have 2011, remember.. :)happy blogging!

Priya Suresh said...

Slurp, fingerlicking rasam, Happy 2011 to u and ur family..

Rajani said...

Great to see a recipe
I have been wanting to try out for so long,super.Rajani.

Cham said...

Happy New Year to u and ur family! First time snow is always exciting... Long back, i ven't made this pineapple rasam, looks perfect for the weather!

Anu said...

Nice yummy rasam..and a very happy new year to you..

Unknown said...

Looks delicious this Pineapple Rasam. I wish the technology advances so as to provide smell and taste to the viewer.

Tahemeem said...

Love the rasam.. never imagined we could make pineapple rasam... thats great :)
Hey thanks a lot for stopping by my blog and ur encouragement :)

aipi said...

Just what I need now! Looks really warm.

I hope that you have a wonderful 2011, full of lots of cooking and discovery and joy :)

US Masala

vandana rajesh said...

Delicious looking rasam...an anytime comfort food.

Vaishali said...

Yum, Manasi, another great excuse to buy pineapple! The rasam looks out of the world, and just perfect for the winter. Glad to hear you're all settled in. Wishing you and your family a wonderful 2011!

Siri said...

2010 has definitely shot past us Manasi. :-). One of my colleagues's husband too travels for work from Mon to Thurs and they are together only for the weekend. It is not fun, as you said. I am glad things have settled at your end and enjoying the family life. First time in Snow is always very thrilling. Enjoy while you can as I stayed in a place where we got frost bites becoz of snow, & I will tell you it is not fun. ;-)

Wishing you a very Happy and Healthy 2011 ahead.

Siri

Uj said...

Wish you and your family a very happy new year..I made this rasam when we were in Shanghai during winter and absolutely loved it.. I love pineapple in any form :)

Bagel Boss Catering said...

This recipe is homey and it looks so delicious. Thanks for sharing it.

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