Cherry Rasam (South Indian Soup)

I made this rasam over 2 months ago when i blogged my Cherry Pie and Cherry Kachal. Believe it or not, I have over 20 recipes I need to blog and I keep falling back more and more - with the kids at home and a dozen other distractions, it seems hard to get on with blogging - esp since I have been also undergoing acupuncture  for what I have dubbed "computeritis" It hits you right where the nexk meet the back and shoulder and it feels often like a hundred pins are being jabbed on a particular spot, relentlessly - I risk that pain each time I get online, but writing and blogging have become necessities and in many ways define what I do other than being a caring mom - My Chinese Medical doc has advised me to cut back on the computer hours and stop to do some neck rolls, and other stretches - no more than 2 hours a day is her recommendation for computer use. It is past midnight, one of those insomniac and restless nights when I got up so as to not disturb anybody else to do my thing - this I hope will also help me sleep.

If you have not had a cherry rasam yet, you must certainly put it on the list of things to make, try sooner than later - It is incredibly tasty - seriously - the sweet& tart flavors of the cherry combined with the aromatic flavors of our rasam powder, freshly ground coriander and black peppers, slightly roasted coconut sends this rasam to a whole new level as rasams go. 

The recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of cherries

2 tsp of Rasam powder

5 cups of water

1tso each of coriander seeds, grated coconut,  cumin, black pepper 

2 red chilies (optional) 

salt to taste

butter/mustard seeds/ cumin seeds/ cilantro/curry leaves to temper

Preparation

Bring the cherries to boil in the water -

In the meantime, roast the dry condiments, grind with a tad bit of water 

Add the rasam powder along with the condiments and spin it too

Now add this to the boiling cherries

Add salt

At this point I just filtered most of the cherries, ground them up and added them back to the rasam -leaving a few to bite into like we do tomatoes

Taste to see if it has the tartness you desire or if it is too sweet --Either ways a tsp of lemon after it has been removed from the stove is an option - i had no need to do that.

Pour rasam into serving dish

Temper the mustards cumin and the curry leaves and add to the rasam - 

add finely chopped cilantro for garnish

Serve HOT as a soup or with rice and pappad and a delicious veggie on the side :)

Check out my other Rasams
Cucumber Rasam
Mysore Rasam
Clementine Rasam
Blood Orange Rasam
Garlic Rasam
Beetroot Rasam

Blue Ridge Cherry Pie

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy boy Billy boy,
Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy
She can bake a cherry pie
Quick as a cat can blink her eye.....

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!! Have you, composer of this song, ever made a pie crust from scratch??? You would not make such flippant claims, even in jest, if you have. A blink of a cat's eye eh? Yes if it is blinking in slow-mo for about 24 hours -lol!

The biggest challenge of making a pie is without doubt the crust - if you nail that, then the rest is a breeze - And to master my pie-making skills, I once again turn to my lovely patient Canadian friend Stephanie of Joys of Baking. I followed her like the Lamb did Mary (ah- there is another rhyme I've inadvertently alluded to) you cannot but make a perfect pie crust. So my advice - follow this link for pie crust lessons.

What I claim to be mine is the filling -

In my Cherry kachal post, I told you about our wonderful cherry picking adventure, right? This was the first recipe I made with them - I have another very informative post on how to freeze cherries properly coming up soon.

What sets a pie apart from any other, other than a deliciously flaky crust? The filling, of course.
What a turn on it is to pick your own fruits, clean them, pit them and use them in a recipe - I made it my own by adding two ingredients that all my Indian friends would approve of and applaud :) Ginger and Cardamom. I ditched the same old Cinnamon and went for the exotic, the tingling spicy and what was pronounced a fabulous pie - I had taken this to a friends home and there was this gent there who was not a big cherry anything fan - I think he just got converted that evening :) I quote loosely "best pie ever" and went for seconds. That mes amies is a good compliment, n'est pas?

Here is the recipe for the pie filling
3lbs or 5-6 cups of pitted fresh cherries
3/4 cup of sugar
2tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1tbsp powdered cardamom
1 tbsp ginger powser

Preparation

In a heavy bottomed pan, throw in all the ingredients and cook for about 3minutes only until the ingredients come together.
Allow to cool down completely
Pour into the pie crust spreading evenly
Oven set to 350 and baked for 34-45 minutes

Follow Stephanie's baking directions please - Link here

Here is my pie crust, pie filling and finished pie pictorial - enjoy y'all. Sorry I did not have the time to take pictures from the start - too preoccupied trying to get the ingredients right :)

Dough is made

cut into 2 halves if making a covered pie

Roll out flat and wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate 

They can be in the fridge for up to a week and in the freezer a lot longer

here are my two wrapped pie halves ready for refrigeration

The pie lady :)

Rolled and transferred on to the greased pan

Note little fingers have poked the pie!!

Following Stephanie's instructions to design the corners

Fixing poke marks

Look at that!

cut the excess crust from the rim

keep refrigerated until ready to roll out and bake

The stars are coming along

My little one helps press the stars

There she is in her Rapunzel outfit :)

The pie is filled

arranging the stars

The oozing that indicates a fully cooked pie :)

The color is off - not enough light :(

This is a good one!

Get your forks and dig in folks

CherryKachal/ Thokku (Spicy Cherry Preserve)

When first tasted it after making this rather incredible thokku, almost in unison, my hubby and I declared it was cherry kachal - let it be known he said pulikachal  and gave me the idea to call it a cherry kachal.
Memorial weekend and nothing to do - WRONG - we went to a beautiful orchard set in a very scenic place about 45 minutes from where we live - the weather was perfect and there we were, six of us, my little one leading the pack, all armed with plastic bags. Long story short, we got SO carried away, we ended up with 20 lbs of cherries- Since they expect you to buy all of the cherries you pick, we ended up buying $80 worth of cherries :) !!! Not an issue since my head was immediately buzzing with the different things I can make with them - The pie was the first of course. When we came home, we got busy washing and sorting them into grades of ripeness. Before we made our way to the actual trees with the dark fully ripened cherries, our enthusiasm had led us to pick not so ripe ones - My three year old went about it with clear intent and picked a bunch of red, pink and semi-rotten ones - all part of the deal folks.
My kids, hubby and mother-in-law (who is visiting) took the lead role in washing, sorting, pitting process. While I got busy listening keenly to my good friend Stephanie from Joy of Baking, refreshing my pie-crust recipe.

That will be a post to follow. The semi ripe ones are the ones that I decided to make this thokku with.  I decided on a really simple recipe and let the cherries take on the spices and do what they will with it. And we ended up with a tangy, tongue-tickling thokku, perfect as a side for bondas, doasi and idli, or to mix with freshly prepared fluffy white rice :)

here is my recipe

ingredients
2lbs pitted semi-ripe cherries
5 green chilies
5 red dry chilies
1tbsp whole black peppers
2 tsp urad dal
2 tsp crushed rosemary
a small pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup of gingely oil (sesame oil) (approx 6 tbsp)
salt

Preparation

Dry fry the green chilies, red chilies, peppers, urad dal and rosemary and dry grind into a powder.
Take 1/3 of the cherries (aprrox) and grind them coarse -
Add 2 tbsp of oil and and add the powder and roast for a minute.
Add the ground up cherries and the remaining pitted cherries into the pan
Add salt (about 3 tsp) and all it all to simmer and simmer and simmer in a low flame
in intervals of 5-7 minutes, keep adding a tbsp of oil until you've exhausted the oil
You will have a finely simmered thokku in about 45 minutes.

Allow it to cool down. Transfer into a mason jar. Refrigerate and use as needed.