Milagu jeera Rasam / Pepper Cumin Rasam

 Jeera Milagu Rasam is a comforting meal which is a soothing Indian style soup flavored with fresh ground pepper and cumin enhanced with the aroma of fresh curry leaves and ghee tempering.

There are many recipes with mild variations to make this aromatic and tasty milagu jeera Rasam, but today I shall share with you my amma's recipe which has been my childhood favorite. 

Growing up, I used to come down with cold and cough with every single weather change and this yummy rasam mixed with soft rice and ghee used to be a staple . It used to be so soothing and calming to the sore throat and would also give the dull taste buds a quick rejuvenation. 

Even to this day,I make jeera milagu rasam (saathamudhu) when even one person in the family is under the weather. 

Having said that , the last couple of days one after another,  people at home are coming down with sore throat , cold ,cough due to the sudden change in weather in my city. Jeera milagu rasam has been on the menu ever since and hubby loves to sip on hot rasam with fresh ghee  tempering which smells of fried asafoetida and crackled jeera . 

To make jeera milagu rasam, we donot use the regular rasam powder instead we make a fresh spice mix by roasting pepper corns , jeera ,red chilly and pigeon peas (thoor dhall). 

I use tomato as well as tamarind in this recipe, but you can skip the tomatoes and make it just with tamarind and spice mix .

Preparation Time - 5 mins
Cooking Time - 15 mins
Complexity - simple 
Serves - 2 to 3

Ingredients 

For the spice mix

1.5 tsp pepper corns /milagu
1 tsp cumin /jeera
1/2 tsp thoor dhall
2 dry red chillies
Pinch of asafoetida 

For the rasam

1 medium sized tomato
Small lemon sized tamarind 
3 cups water 
Salt as needed 

Tempering 

2 tsp ghee  (use cooking oil for Vegan version) 
1/4 tsp jeera
1/4 tsp mustard 
1/2 tsp pepper powder 
Pinch of asafoetida /hing
Fresh curry leaves and corriander 

Method 

• Dry roast the ingredients mentioned under the spice mix and blend it to a fine powder . Set aside . 
• Blanch the tomatoes along with the tamarind for 5 to 6 mins .
• Once it cools down, squeeze out the puree from the tamarind and tomato.  Pass it through a sieve and collect it in a thick bottom vessel.
• Add 2 cups of water to the tamarind tomato puree with some salt and boil it till the raw flavor of tamarind is lost. This will take about 8 to 10 mins.
• Make a paste of the spice mix with little water and add this to the boiling tamarind water and cook on low flame till you see the rasam frothing . Turn it off at this stage and garnish with fresh corriander leaves. 
• Heat ghee in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds, followed by jeera and curry leaves.  Turn off the stove , add asafoetida and pepper powder .pour this tempering over the rasam.
• Sip on the hot rasam as is or mix it with steamed rice and enjoy with some roasted papads and simple potato stir fry /urulai kaara curry.

Some more rasam varieties to enjoy 

Lemon Rasam

Tomato Rasam

Kalyana Rasam

Mor Rasam 

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Carrot Pumpkin Soup - Gluten Free & Vegan

 A warm soup on a chill winter's night is what we all crave for . This carrot pumpkin soup is  inspired by the Fall season where Pumpkins are available in plenty and used in a wide range of sweet as well as savory recipes in the USA and Canada. 

During my brief stay in the US , I was amazed to see how the sweet pumpkin is used in cooking various recipes and best part would be the beautifully decorated Pumpkins on Halloween suppsoedly to give the Spooky effect 💀 but I always admired the artist who carves it with patience. 

 I was also cleared of the misconception that it is only we Indians who use a lot of Pumpkins in our day to day cooking. If you have observed, Indian cooking makes use of even the seeds , the inner flesh , the skin in our recipes without letting anything go waste . 

Musical instruments like the Veena, Tanpura , Sitar are  made using dried pumpkin shells .

This soup came in just around the time when one of the food groups that I am a part off announced a throw back Thursday event on Instagram with pumpkin 🎃  as the main theme . I am happy to link it to #instapumpkinplus on Instagram hosted by Foodies + group

Well , coming to today's recipe, my part of the country has been experiencing a dull and gloomy weather for almost a fortnight due to a severe depression around the coastal regions . Needless to say we indulged into fried snacks a lot in the last 3 -  4 days and I dint want to give into the craving . Hence , I decided on making this warm soup along with our supper . 

Carrot Pumpkin soup is mildly spiced and even kids can have it. Absolutely very easy to put together and gets done in about 20 mins . You may add some fresh cream if you like or skip it if you want to keep it the vegan way .

This warm pumpkin carrot soup is a perfect appetiser for any kind of parties.  You may serve them with some croutons , bread sticks or  roasted bread cubes for the added crunch .

Listing some more delicious and healthy soups by my blogger friends which have intrigued me to venture into making soups more often than before .I insist you all must also try them and enjoy with your family . 

Archana's  golden colored Pumpkin soup is what I would like to try soon . She has added some potato which will give a nice volume to the soup.

Mayuri ji shared a vitamin rich Roasted  Pumpkin soup topped with some spicy salsa which balances the sweetness of the pumpkin and makes the soup flavorful and mildly spiced . 

Narmadha has a kid friendly Creamy Carrot soup to feed your little ones who make a fuss to eat their share of veggies . Cheat feed them with some French fries or chips and I am sure they will polish the bowl clean while Kalyani's rich Carrot Almond Soup  is an absolute treat on a winter night and a crowd puller if served at parties.

How can we forget the Rustic Tomato Soup and Rasam - the Desi Soup of India when we are talking of soups? 

Priya Iyer shares her classic Italian Tomato Soup with us while Swaty shares a lipsmacking Carrot Rasam .

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Preparation Time - 10 mins
Cooking Time - 20 mins
Serves  - 2 to 3
Complexity  - Simple

Ingredients 

100 gms pumpkin

2 carrots peeled 

1 medium tomato 

1 green chilly 

Small piece of ginger

Handful of fresh corriander

pepper powder as needed

Salt as needed 

3 cups water (1 cup = 150 ml )

1 tsp fresh cream (skip for vegan) 

Method 

• Wash and peel the skin from the pumpkin and carrots. 
• Roughly chop the ginger, carrots ,pumpkin and tomatoes, slit the green chilly . 
• Add all these in a pressure cooker, 1 glass water along with roughly chopped corriander and pressure cook for 3 whistles and let the pressure cool down.
• Blend it finely in a blender and pass it through a sieve .
• Add some water depending on how thick you want your soup along with salt and bring it to a boil .
• Serve warm with topped with some cream and freshly ground pepper .

Notes 

• You can use vegetable broth instead of water .
• A little butter can also be used while serving. 
• You can add some roughly chopped onions and 1 or 2 cloves of garlic along with other vegetables. 

Lemon Coriander Soup - Vegan/ No onion No garlic

A bowl of hot soup with some vegetables added is definitely a comfort meal on a chill rainy evening.  As many of you may know , I am not much of a soup loving person and I hardly make it at home , but there are certain soups which I love to have while dining out . With the present scenario where eating out is a distant dream, we were craving for the hot lemon coriander soup which we would relish at our favorite restaurant Mainland China . 

Lemon coriander soup is a basically a clear soup which very midly spiced with a refreshing flavor of lemon juice and freshly chopped coriander.  The after taste of lemon keeps lingering in your mouth for a long time and it feels so fresh and warm to sip on this on a cold evening. 

There is no specific list of  vegetables that go into it , you can  add whatever you like . Today I  just added few French beans , carrots, frozen corn . You can add some cabbage , celery , bellpepper as well . But personally I don't like to add too much veggies and prefer to keep it clean and easy to sip on.  Homemade vegetable stock can be used if you have it ready or if it is an impromptu call like how I did today, normal water can be used .

How to prepare vegetable stock ?

• Take chopped  vegetables like cabbage , celery, few cauliflower florets, carrots , onions and boil in 4 cups of water with a little salt until it reduces to 3 cups.  Skip the onions if you don't eat them.
• Strain  this mixture through a juice filter and your veg stock is ready .
• Best is when used fresh else you can store in a food grade bottle for 2 to 3 days in the fridge and use it as and when you please .

Preparation Time - 10 mins

Cooking Time - 7 to 8 mins

Complexity- simple 

Serves - 2 to 3 

Ingredients 

8 to 10 French beans chopped finely

1 small carrot finely chopped (skip if preparing jain version) 

Handful of chopped cabbage 

Handful of frozen corn

1 green chilli finely chopped 

1 tsp  corn flour or maida (use rice flour  for GF )

1 tsp oil 

Lots of fresh coriander 

1 or 2 lemons 

3 cups water or vegetable stock 

Method 

• In a deep pan or kadai, heat the oil and fry the chillies and add in the chopped veggies and saute for 1 - 2 mins. You can also saute about 1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic.
• Slowly add in the vegetable stock or water with required amount of salt and let it boil for about 5 to 6 mins or until the veggies are cooked. I used plain water today as I was not having the stock ready on hand .
• Mix the corn flour or maida in 2 tablespoon water and make a paste without lump and add it to the boiling soup . This will give a little thickness to the soup . You can skip this if you want to have a pure clear soup .
• After adding the flour paste, make sure you stir it continuously till the raw flavor is lost and then turn off the stove . Stirring is important because there is a tendency for the flour mixture to settle down and stick to the pan and the taste of the soup will be bad and all the effort will be wasted.
• Finally , squeeze in the lemon juice and add freshly chopped coriander and serve it hot . 
• Remember to add the coriander just before serving else it will wilt and turn black in the heat of the soup .

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