Jeera Rasam | Cumin Soup
Digestive Soup
Rasam is actually a South Indian soup, eaten with other dishes or had by itself. It is a spicy-sweet-sour stock traditionally prepared using kokum, kodam puli, tamarind, or dried green mango powder (amchur) as a base along with jaggery, black pepper, chili pepper, cumin, and other spices as seasonings.
Introduction
About this Recipe
Rasam, actually means juice and is referred to variously as charu pani, chaaru, saaru, sathamudhu, etc. in different languages. Rasam is actually a South Indian soup, eaten with other dishes or had by itself. It is a spicy-sweet-sour stock traditionally prepared using kokum, kodam puli, tamarind, or dried green mango powder (amchur) as a base along with jaggery, black pepper, chili pepper, cumin, and other spices as seasonings. Sometimes steamed lentils are added along with any preferred vegetables.
In general, the basic ingredients are ground into a powder and stored in airtight containers for frequent use. Nowadays, a variety of rasam powders, with local flavors, are available commercially and are generally store bought. Chilled prepared versions are also marketed commercially as well as rasam paste in bottles. Despite their easy availability, it is the freshly ground rasam powder that makes this ubiquitous soup tasty in everyday South Indian meals.
It is eaten with rice or consumed as a spicy soup. In a traditional South Indian meal, it can be part of a course that includes sambar rice and curd rice. Rasam has a distinct taste in comparison to the sambar due to its own seasoning ingredients and comparatively watery in consistency.
Health Benefits of Rasam
Rasam is a simple dish that has medicinal qualities as per Ayurveda and is prescribed for various kinds of health issues.
- First and foremost, it helps in handling digestive problems and stomach disorder, cold, cough, flu and the like.
- Rasam has been the go to recipe especially in the times of the covid pandemic which plagued the world in 2020-2021
Rasam is packed with essential vitamins and minerals which are great for our overall well being. This soup is rich in vitamin A, C, folic acid, niacin, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium. Rasam has essential vitamins, minerals, and proteins which make it a great food for pregnant women too. Having a bowl of rasam keeps expecting mothers healthy. - According to a lot of studies, rasam helps in fighting cancer. Black pepper is a key ingredient in the preparation of rasam which has a substance called piperine which kills the cancerous cells in your body.
- Having a bowl of rasam everyday helps in shedding weight too, especially in having a pepper based rasam at least once a day. This helps in increasing the metabolic rate of your body which helps weight loss.
- Rasam is packed with antioxidants that prevent free radical activity. This further helps in preventing premature ageing and makes the skin look young and beautiful. Rasam also has vitamin C which is believed to be great for skin health.
The above are some reasons why the rasam is an integral part of the daily meal of South Indians, especially in Tamil Nadu cuisine.
The rasam described here in the Bhaga Shastra has its primary ingredient as cumin, hence jeeraga or jeera rasam and especially prescribed for covid related health issues. As such there are a huge variety of rasam with distinct local flavors.
“I WILL GIVE YOU A FEW UNDERSTANDINGS:
ENJOY THROUGH THE TONGUE WHICH YOUR WHOLE
INTESTINE ENJOYS. YOU WILL BE ‘YOGI’.
DON’T FORCE YOUR WHOLE INTESTINE TO TOLERATE
WHAT YOUR TONGUE ENJOYS. THEN YOU WILL BE JUST
‘ROGI’ (SICK). YOGIS HAVE DEVELOPED A UNIQUE EATING STYLE WHICH
IS TASTY AND HEALTHY – THAT IS WHAT IS THE AGAMIC FOOD.
I WANTED THAT FOOD DESCRIBED IN THE BHAGA SHASTRA
TO BECOME THE LIFESTYLE, THE FOOD WHICH IS VERY HEALTHY AND TASTY.
I WANTED BHAGA SHASTRA TO BECOME A LIFESTYLE – CHAIN OF RESTAURANTS:
EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, DONATE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT.”
– SPH JGM Nithyananda Paramasivam
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Total time: 25 mins
Servings: 3-4 persons
Course: Starter, Side Dish
Cuisine: South Indian Cuisine
Ingredients
- Pure Water -1 padi -1.6 Ltrs
- Cumin Seed -½ palam -17.5 gms
- Pepper -⅛ palam -4.3 gms
- Red Chilli -⅛ palam -4.3 gms
- Coriander Seed -¼ palam -8.75 gms
- Salt -½ palam -17.5 gms
- Tamarind -¾ palam- 26.25 gms
For Tempering
- Ghee -½ palam- 17.5 gms
- Fenugreek Seed -⅛ palam -4.3 gms
- Cumin Seed -⅛ palam -4.3 gms
Bhaga Shastra gives ingredient measurements in measurement systems used in the olden days. Hence please use the conversion guidelines to convert it into modern measurement systems. When giving this recipe, we are not rounding any measurements in the modern units, so as to avoid any deviations from the Bhaga shastra. Go to this link for Bhaga Shastra Units Conversion to grams and kilograms:
Cooking Method
- Take water in a rust free vessel with a capacity of 1.5 padi holding capacity and soak cumin seeds in water.
- Fry pepper pods, red chillies and coriander seeds, separately in ghee.
- Then grind them with the soaked cumin seeds using the same water into a paste
- Mix this with the 1 padi wate kept aside.
- Boil this with salt.
- Dissolve the tamarind i water, remove the seeds and pour this into the rasam.
- Take a skillet or pan and add ghee.
- When the ghee gets heated up, add fenugreek and cumin seeds and fry a little
- Add this seasoning to the rasam and remove from the fire.
- The Rasam is ready to be served
Transfer it into a bowl and serve it to Swamiji as naivedyam
Step by step instructions
1
Take the Cumin seeds/Jeera and soak it in a rust-free utensil/bowl of water.
2
Place a kadai/skillet on the stove and heat the ghee in it. First roast the red chillies and remove it into a bowl.
3
Next, fry the pepper corn in the same ghee and remove it.
4
Next, fry the coriander leaves .
5
Now add the soaked cumin seeds to the fried ingredients in the bowl.
6
Grind them into a fine paste.
7
Add the ground paste to the rust free utensil containing the water.
8
Add salt to the paste added in the water.
9
Add the soaked and extracted tamarind juice.
10
Place the now completed Rasam water on the stove and allow it to boil.
11
Now for Seasoning:
Place the kadai/skillet on the stove and put ghee into it.
12
When the ghee gets heated, add cumin seeds/jeera and fenugreek seeds/methi to it and fry it a little.
13
Next, add the rasam water into it and boil it together.
14
Now add the chopped coriander to the rasam.
15
The Jeera Rasam is now ready to be served.
16
Offer the Jeeraga Rasam as naivedyam to Swamiji.
