This rasam made with Persian sour plums taste lip smacking delicious, an easy one to prepare too but with top notch flavors. For a vegan rasam, use oil for tempering.
If you are wondering what are these sour plums, then these are green unripe plums that are available only during spring for a short period of time. These are green plums that are unripe and have a sour taste at this stage. These are widely used in Persian cooking. These are known as Gojeh Sabz. Just sour and delicious! I buy these in a Mediterranean market during the season. I incorporate these sour tasting plums in our traditional recipes and this rasam is a lip-smacking delicious comfort food.
Sour plum base as well as ground sour plum spice mixture gives a perfect balance in flavor . Adjust the salt and spice as per requirements. The sour tasting plums are great in chutney as well as in curries and rasam. Rasam, a traditional south Indian broth is made with a atamrind base. Sour fruits can be used to make rasam and these Lemon Rasam, Apple Rasam, CranberryRasam.
A steaming bowl of this with a curry like Potato or simple bhendi fry or Podi Stuffed Kathrikai Curry pair prefectly well. This is one of our favorites to make when these sour plums are in season. I use it to make a launji with apples and mangoes and use it in appetizers like this Labne Launji Crostini.
I am sharing this as a part of A-Z series “Rasam” for Blogging Marathon. Rasam is one of our favorites and a steaming of Rasam rice is always comforting and lip smacking delicious. Here are the quick links to the Rasam recipes I have shared for the theme.
O - Oma Rasam
Ingredients
Persian sour plum - 12-14, deseeded, chopped
Water - 2 cups
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Green chili- 2-4, slit
Ginger - 1-in piece, chopped
Parsley and mint - 1 tbsp, chopped
To dry roast
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Coriander - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper- 1/4 tsp
To grind
spice mix - The above
Persian sour plum -8 to 10, deseeded, chopped
Persian sour plum -8 to 10, deseeded, chopped
Tempering
Ghee - 1 tsp
Dried red chili - 1 torn
Mustard seeeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - 1.2 tsp
Asafetida - 1/8 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Method
Chop the plums and discard the seeds. Add water, ginger slices and green chili. Add the turmeric and black pepper. Simmer till the plums are cooked.
Dry roast the cumin, coriander, and black pepper. Add it to the spice grinder and make a snooth powder.
Add the ground mixture to the rasam pot, add a cup of water.
Heat ghee in a pan and add the ingredients listed under tempering. Pour it onto the rasam. Garnish with parsley and mint.
Serve with any cooked grain.
Harini R says
Wow! Rasam with these sour plums is a great idea. I had made chutney with these and we loved it.