Mango Rasam

Mango season is not over yet. You may find raw and sour mango in the market. Do not hesitate to buy couple of raw mangoes, because you can prepare a tasty rasam (saaru or soup) out of raw mango.

The juice of raw mangoes which is little spicy is good for health. It helps in digestion, increases appetite, rich in vitamin C and it is known to retain water in the body and helps during dehydration.  In Karnataka, India there is a special variety of raw mango is available namely Appekaayi. Rasam prepared out of this has a very good flavor. In case, you don’t get the appekayi use regular but sour mango for this preparation.

Try this healthy and tasty recipe at home.

Ingredients:

1. ¾ cup grated sour raw mango (IF available use appekayi)
2. Salt as needed
3. ½ tsp cumin seeds
4. 2 green chillies
5. 3 to 4 cups water
6. ½ tsp ghee/clarified butter or oil
7. ¼ tsp mustard seeds
8. ½ tsp cumin seeds
9. Pinch of asafetida
10. Little turmeric
11. 1/4 tsp urad daal (split black gram)
12. 10 to 15 curry leaves

Preparation:

• Wash and remove mango outer skin, grate the mango.
• Grind the grated mango with cumin, green chillies and little water.
• Strain the juice to a container and regrind the extract for three to four times by adding little water. This is to remove the juice from the mango as much as possible.
• Once you extract all the juice from the pulp, discard the pulp.
• To the juice add some more water and salt mix.
• Taste the juice, if you feel that it is still lot more sour than you expected, then add some more water and salt.
• In a pan heat the ghee on medium heat. Add mustard seeds, followed by cumin seeds and urad daal and asafetida. Add curry leaves, turmeric and fry for few seconds and turn off the heat.
• Add this seasoning to the rasam/ saaru and mix it.
• Serve this saaru for lunch or as a drink during summer.

Recipe by: www.werindia.com