Pineapple Rasam

A spicy, soupy Indian dish made from a fruit? That too, a pineapple? It starts off sounding odd, but I just need to bring to attention the surprisingly lovely taste of a cheesy pizza topped with pineapple and jalapeno. Who would have ever thought that pineapples could be eaten on top of bread, tomato sauce, herbs, and cheese? And sweet and tart next to hot and spicy? As ludicrous as it sounds, we all know that the marriage between sweet, tart, and spicy is beautiful and unique.

So why not Pineapple rasam? It is actually prepared during very special occasions such as weddings, but it rarely features as an everyday dish. I think we should remedy this, for this is one tasty rasam that shouldn’t be relegated to just a few days a year.

The process is pretty much the same as preparing Tomato Rasam. Since pineapples are even more tarter than tomatoes, the quantity of tamarind used is decreased, and no jaggery/brown sugar is added. I also added an extra spoon of coriander powder, because I wanted to turn up the spice level a notch so that the sweetness of the pineapple shines through better. Everything else remains the same. But I’m copy-pasting and updating the recipe on this page to minimize one extra click.

Ingredients:

1. ½ cup of cooked, mashed Thoor Dhal (cooked lentils)
2. Half a lime-sized ball of tamarind (approximately ½ - 3/4 inch in diameter)
3. ¾ - 1 cup of diced pineapple (the quantity depends on how tart the fruit is and how much you would like to add; If it’s too tart, reduce the tamarind even more)
4. Two teaspoons of Rasam powder (Ah, that is another post by itself; The powder is a finely ground mixture of dry roasted red chillies, turmeric, coriander seeds, thoor dhal, and channa dhal; variations abound; but these days they are available aplenty in stores - MTR and Shakthi Masala are tried and tested brands)
5. One teaspoon of coriander powder
6. A teaspoon of turmeric
7. A teaspoon or two of salt
8. A teaspoon of ghee (or vegetable oil)
9. A teaspoon of mustard seeds
10. 1/4 teaspoon of Hing
11. A few curry leaves, and coriander leaves (cilantro) for garnish

Preparation:

1. Boil the tamarind ball with enough water to cover it (in the microwave, heat for 2 minutes). Let it cool/seep. When the tamarind is warm enough to be touched, squeeze the pulp to get the extract, and add the extract into a vessel (a medium sauce-pan). Dilute the pulp again with lukewarm water and extract as much “juice” as possible. Discard the pulp.
2. Add the pineapples to the tamarind extract and add 2 cups of water.
3. Add salt, turmeric, rasam powder, coriander powder and turn on the heat.
4. Heat the tangy liquid on medium-heat till the raw taste of tamarind is mellowed and the pineapples are cooked. (Rule of thumb - this step usually takes about 20-25 mins.)
5. Mash the cooked thoor dhal and add it to the Rasam. Continue heating/boiling on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes.
6. Wait till the raw taste of dhal is gone, and the rasam froths and bubbles (as my grandmother adorably says - “wait for multicolored bubbles to come around the edges of the rasam”). Note: do not over-boil the rasam at this stage. Turn off the heat.
7. Heat some ghee (highly recommended), or vegetable oil in a small pan. When hot, add mustard seeds, and let it splutter. Then add curry leaves and Hing powder.
8. Add this seasoning to the Rasam and watch its lovely sizzle. In addition, throw in some washed and cut coriander leaves (cilantro).

This rasam is tangy, sweet, and spicy. The pineapples become sweeter and they taste so good after absorbing all the tamarind and spices. 

This is a good rasam to turn to when the regular tomato becomes a bit redundant.