Pineapple Rasam to Tantalise your Taste Buds...

Pineapple Rasam

Rasams rule our dinner menu’s in winters and for that matter, even in summers. Gently steamed bowl of rice and a ladleful of spicy and tangy Rasam with crunchy Papadams top my comfort food category. This is a type of food which can lift your mood and sooth your spirit. This is a type of food that warms your heart and takes you down the wonderful memory lane.

Talking of Rasams or Saaru as we call in Kannada, you will be amazed to find hundreds of recipes of making it with different ingredients. While Tomato Rasam is my favourite one, Lemon, Coconut, Horse gram, Kokum etc are few more varieties of Rasams I enjoy quite often. Apart from these, there is one more Rasam that my Amma used to cook for us when she was short of time and ingredients. And that one is Pineapple Rasam which my mother had learnt from her sister.

My Chikkamma’s recipe of Pineapple Rasam is very simple, uses very few ingredients and quick to make. It is one of the best examples of using fruits in savoury recipes. I make it quite often when I am feeling bit too lazy to cook lentils and chop vegetables. Few cups of fresh or canned Pineapple cubes cooked along ginger and green chillies for spiciness, tamarind pulp for tingling sourness and jaggery or palm sugar for sweet note is a tingling sensation of three flavours to your taste buds. Addition of Rasam Powder makes this simple Rasam more flavoursome and redefines the simplicity in cooking. Yes, you don’t need basketful of ingredients and cup full of spices to cook something exciting and exotic. Just handful of ingredients and pinches of spices is enough to tantalise your senses and touch your soul.

Pineapple and Rasam Powder for Pineapple Rasam

Print This Recipe

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Pineapple Rasam (Sweet, Sour and Spicy Pineapple Soup)

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Serves: 3-4
Recipe Source: Chikkamma, my Aunt
Recipe Level: Easy/Beginner
Spice Level: Low to Medium
Serving Suggestion: With steam cooked rice and papad

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Ingredients:
2-3 cups Pineapple, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1-2 Green Chilli, slit (Adjust acc to taste)
½ tsp Ginger, crushed and finely chopped
½ - 1 tbsp Rasam Powder, homemade or store bought (Adjust acc to taste)
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Tamarind Paste or 1 small marble sized Tamarind Pulp
½-1 tbsp Jaggery or Palm Sugar (Adjust acc to taste)
5 Black Pepper Corns, crushed (Optional)
1 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

For Tadka/Tempering:
½ tbsp Ghee or Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Hing/Asafoetida
1 Dry Red Chilli, halved
Few Curry Leaves

Pineapple Rasam

Method:

Take 4 cups of water in a pan and add rasam powder, jaggery and tamarind extract to it. Bring this to gentle boil over medium heat.
Now add cubed pineapple pieces along with slit green chillies, ginger, turmeric powder, crushed peppercorns and salt to taste. Simmer the heat and cook it covered for 10 mins. Remove the lid and bring this rasam to a boil and cook it for another 2-3 mins.
Mean while heat ghee/oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When it starts to pop and splutter, add cumin seeds, halved red chillies, hing and curry leaves. Roast the spices till they are fragrant, for about 1 minute.
Transfer the tadka/tempering to the rasam.
Add finely chopped coriander leaves and cover the pan and let it rest for 5 more minute for all the flavours to blend well. Serve hot with steam cooked white rice and Papadams and enjoy.

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Notes:

• Sometimes I add a cup of cooked dal water while making this Rasam.
• Puree a cupful of Pineapple cubes and add this juice while making the Rasam to get distinct pineapple flavour in gravy.
• Use Sambar Powder if you are out of Rasam Powder or skip using the Rasam Powder and add chilli powder, coriander powder and jeera powder in it's place.

On other note, my office work has kept me away from replying to your comments, mails and blog-hopping. Hopefully I should be able to post recipes and blog-hop regularly from next month. So friends, please bear with me for a while.
And do hop to dear Sailu's blog for my article on Exploring Udupi-Mangalorean Street Foods, part of her wonderful series of Indian Food Trail.