Menasu Saaru - Pepper Soup - A tonic for cold and cough

It has been a week of insistent cough and drippy noses at my home thanks to the drastic weather changes that abound. T needed something soothing for his throat and asked me to make Menasu saaru that his mom makes. I had never made it before but since a request for a particular dish comes rarely from him I decided that I had to take the plunge. 

With a jog down his memory lane to remember what aunty, as I call her, lovingly puts in it and some searching on the internet, we came to a conclusion on what needs to go into this soup. 

It had to have pepper because the soup is named after it and also because of the antioxidants which relieve cold symptoms, dry cough and congestion. Cumin had to be in it for all its antiseptic properties which would aid in fighting against the cold. Garlic for the nice taste it would imbue into the concoction and also for its expectorant like effects for cough. Curry leaves for its wonderful soothing nature and also anti-bacterial nature. Red chillies for taste and maybe it helps get the bad stuff out. 

My mother makes a different kind of rasam for such occasions. Its called Molaga Chatambd which also translates to Menasu saaru or Pepper soup. But the taste is completely different although the curative properties are similar. I even store the powder on hand to use readily. I will post about it later. The

Menasu Saaru

Serving : 3 cups
Prep Time : 15 mins     Cook Time : 30 mins

Ingredients

2-inch ball of Tamarind
1-inch cube of Jaggery (use more if you like it sweet)
3 cups Water
Salt to taste

For the Seasoning

2 tsp Black Peppercorns
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 cloves Garlic pods
Handful of Curry Leaves
2 Red Chillies
2 tsp Ghee

Instructions

1. Soak the tamarind in warm water for around 15 minutes. 
2. Once the tamarind softens, squeeze it further to get all the juice mixed up with the water. Do this for around 5 mins to extract all the juice. 
3. Filter the tamarind juice either with your hand (fingers acting as the sieve) or use a tea filter (needs a lot of patience. 
4. Place a heavy bottomed vessel on medium heat, add 3 cups of water and add the filtered tamaring juice to it. 
5. Add the jaggery into it and allow it to boil for around 20 - 25 minutes. 
6. As you boil, add more water if it becomes too tangy for your palate. 
7. Add salt to taste.

To make the Seasoning

1. Peel the skin of the garlic and crush it. I placed the garlic pod on a cutting board, placed the flat side of my knife on it and banged on it with my wrist. 
2. Coarsely crush the peppercorns. I used a heavy stone against the peppercorns on my cutting board for lack of pestle and mortar. 
3. Coarsely crush the cumin. Thank me for the heavenly smell in your kitchen after this. 
4. Break the red chillies in half.
5. Heat the ghee in a small wok on medium heat and add the pepper, cumin seeds, garlic, red chillies and curry leaves. Let it fry while you sti.
6. Pour the seasoning on top of the boiled soup.
7. This concoction can be had as soup or mixed with rice. In either case eat it while its eat. 

Majjige Huli (Morkolamb in Tamil)

I havent posted here in a very very long time and believe me I really havent done any much cooking in the past 4 months. Yes, you heard it right. I have been taking my time to adjust to a newcomer in my life who is currently rolling around in me!
Today though necessity overwhelmed lethargy and I got down to the brass knacks and turned up a dish dear to T.

Majjige Huli is a great mix of the tangy, spicy and sweet. Its a curd based dish in which curd is the last ingredient to be added :)

What you need to make Majjige Huli

• Many choice of Veggies including Pumpkin, Cucumber, Brinjal, Ladies Finger, Chayote(Seeme badnekayi in kannada), Ivy Gourd (Thondekayi in kannada), Beans etc
• Kadlebele (Split yellow chickpeas) - 1 cup
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
• Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Green/Red Chilly -3-4
• Salt to taste
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Curd - 2 tbsp

Preparation to make Majjige Huli

• Soak the kadlebele for atleast half an hour or till it becomes soft to the touch and breaks easily.
• Grate the coconut
• Grind soaked kadlebele, cumin seeds, turmeric, coconut and chilly to a paste with a little bit of water.

Method to make Majjige Huli

• In case you are using Pumpkin or cucumber then cook in a vessel with water till soft. Add 1/2 tsp of salt while it cooks.
• In case you are using Ladies Finger then fry it till the stickyness is gone. You could put a spoon of curd to fasten the process.
• In case you are using Brinjal then fry it till cooked.
• In case of other vegetables like you could pressure cook them

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground paste and allow it to boil. Add water as necessary to make it a thick gravy.

Add salt as required.

Allow it to cook till all the ingredients blend well.

Remove from flame.

To season, heat oil and add mustard seeds to it. Once it splutters remove from flame and add it into the gravy. Mix well.

Allow the gravy to cool completely and then add 2 tbsps of curd and mix thoroughly.

My fundas

• Majjige Huli tastes best with Pumpkin. Ladies finger also is very good in it.
• Makes for a soothing side dish with rice on a hot summer's day

Kadagpuli (Literally translates as Mustard-Tamarind from Tamil)

After a long hiatus I am back with a bang with cooking and posting recipes. Let's see how long this one lasts. The reason for the sudden splurge is that my m-i-l is out of town so all the boys have me as a fallback cook option.
Kadagpuli is something that seems to be very Iyengari in terms of dish only because no other community has heard of this. I dint get any relevant results when i googled it too. Till now it wasn't one of my favourite dishes but after I made it once am a fan! It tickles your taste buds. Again, Kadagpuli is something that you eat with rice (whaddaya expect am a south indian) :)

What you need to make Kadagpuli

• 1 medium sized ball of tamarind (you have to remove the seeds ofcourse, the ball should fit into your fist, some people like the tanginess of tamarind so the quantity is according to your tastes)
• Any vegetable
• 3 cups water
• 3 tsps of rice
• 4 red chillies
• 1 tsp full of mustard
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1/2 coconut
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• Salt to taste
• Sugar (for emergency corrections)

Preparation for making Kadagpuli

• Wash and cut the vegetables .
• Put the vegetables into a container, add the water to this.
• Pressure cook this.
• Grate the coconut
• Soak the rice in water for around 10 minutes till it feels soft to the touch (breakable)
• Grind the soaked rice, red chillies, mustard, tamarind (do not soak) , coconut and asafoetida into a fine paste

Method to make Kadagpuli

• Put the pressure cooked vegetables into a vessel and place it on a stove. Yes it has to be lighted and if you have seen my earlier posts it will tell you when exactly a cooker will oblige by opening after it has finished whistling :)
• Allow it to boil a little
• Add turmeric into this.
• Add the ground paste to this and allow it to boil thoroughly.
• Add some more water if you want it to be liquidy but not too much
• Add water in small quantities between boils when you know the content is moving towards solidity :)
• Add salt and allow it to boil more.
• Please taste it at this point so that you will know if its too hot or has more/less salt.
• If the salt is more I dont know what you can do about it. Maybe adding more water helps to balance.
• If its very hot then adding sugar will balance it.
• It will take nearly 20-25 minutes of boiling to be ready to eat.

My fundas

• Cucumber is the best vegetable to make this with. I have heard carrots are ok too.

I forgot to take a picture of this dish but it will turn out yellowish brown because of the presence of turmeric and tamarind.

Nalagri (Sambar)

This is a very simple recipe for Nalagri.
Just do everything that you would do for making Rasam.

Plus

What you need to make Nalagri

• 3-4 tsps Rice
• 3 tsp Dhania (Coriander seeds)
• 1/2 Coconut

Preparation for making Nalagri

• Soak the rice for around 30 minutes or till the rice grains become soft to the touch (they should break easily).
• Grate the coconut.
• Put the rice (without water) , coriander seeds and grated coconut into a mixer and make a smooth paste of this. It will not be dry because of the coconut but you could add a little more water to this while grinding so that you get a smooth paste.

Method to make Nalagri

• Do everything exactly that you would do for Rasam but right after adding the tomato and tamarind water, add the paste to it. Do the rest of the stuff as described in the Rasam recipe
• Voila you have Nalagri

My fundas

• I love to use pumpkin (kaddu?) in this along with black chana (chickpea) as vegetables. It really gels well with the taste.
• Ladies finger (Bhindi/Bendekayi) also tastes very well in Nalagri.

Rasam (South Indian Soup?)

This is the most favoured companion to rice on most South Indian plates and palates. It easily mixes with rice and also can be accompanied by various dry curries of southern india thus lending a variety for the meal. It can be done with or without vegetables too.
There are many variations to the Rasam but I will describe here the one I make usually. I think it serves 3-4.

What you need to make Rasam

• 1 cup Thur Dal (type of lentil) (cup you would use for serving in a thali)
• 1 medium sized ball of tamarind (you have to remove the seeds ofcourse, the ball should fit into your fist, some people like the tanginess of tamarind so the quantity is according to your tastes)
• 2 cups water (+1 cup if you will add vegetables to rasam)
• Any Vegetable (optional)
• 2 Red Tomatoes
• 2 spoons of Rasam powder (then again if you want it hotter add more)
• 2 strands of coriander leaves
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• 2 tsp Mustard seeds for seasoning
• 2 tsp Oil for seasoning
• Salt to taste
• Sugar (for emergency removal of over-hotness/over-spicyness)

Preparation for making Rasam

• Wash the Thur dal thouroughly (I usually wash it three times, everytime with fresh water)
• Wash and cut the vegetables (except tomatoes).
• Soak the tamarind ball in water. Leave it in till actual use.
• Put the thur dal into a container, add the water to this, add in the vegetables if any, place the uncut tomatoes on top of this heap.
• Pressure cook this whole thing.
• Wash the coriander leaves and cut into small pieces.

Method to make Rasam

• Open the cooker only after it has fully cooled down (I have tried being a rebel and the cooker doesnt really care)
• Remove the tomatoes from the container and keep separately in a shallow vessel.
• Place the container with the rest of the stuff on a lighted stove. Keep the flame medium
• Add a pinch of turmeric to this and allow it to boil.
• In the meanwhile mash the cooked tomatoes. Take care not to burn your fingers. Use a ladle or something like that.
• Some people dont like the seeds of tomatoes in the rasam (they say it gives a little sourness, I dont think so), some dont like the outer skin of the tomatoes.
• The skin can be removed very easily after a tomato is cooked before mashing.
• If you have to remove the seeds then tough luck because you will need to mash thoroughly and filter carefully.
• Add the mashed tomato into the container on the stove. Allow it to boil a little.
• In the meanwhile squeeze the soaking tamarind in the same water so that its juices get mixed with the water. Do it for a few minutes.
• Now pour the tamarind water (none of the solids) into the container and allow it to boil.
• Add the rasam powder and allow it to boil
• Add salt and yes, boil!
• Add coriander leaves and keep it boiling.
• Taste the rasam now and you will know if there is anything less (salt or rasam powder etc). Add whatever is required.
• Make sure you boil the whole thing thoroughly.
• You know its done when you taste it and you taste rasam and not spicy or tangy water.
• Remove from flame.
• Place a small kadai (you get special ladles for this in India) on the flame and add the oil to it. After it heats, add the mustard seeds and let it sputter.
• Remove the kadai from the flame and pour its contents on the rasam. Mix.
• Your rasam is now seasoned too.

My fundas

• Eat hot with hot rice.