I made the rasam recently with the beets I had in the fridge. Grinding cooked beets with tomatoes gives this rasam a thick consistency and the beets give a very subtle sweetness. Only the color of this rasam gives away the presence of beets, otherwise it is pretty inconspicuous. This is a great way to feed beets to kids.
Ingredients: Beets - 1cup, cubed Canned diced Tomato - 1cup (or use 2 ripe tomatoes) Tamarind - 2tsp Rasam powder - 1tsp Mustard seeds - 1tsp Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Dry red chilies - 2 Curry leaves - 8~10 Cilantro - 1tbsp, finely chopped Salt - to taste
Method:
- Boil or steam beets until tender. Set aside to cool.
- If using fresh tomatoes, then blanch them briefly in boiling water and dunk them in cold water. Peel the skin and coarsely chop them. Canned tomatoes can be used as is.
- Grind beets and tomatoes until smooth.
- Heat 2tsp oil in a saucepan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry chilies and curry leaves. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the beet-tomato puree along with tamarind paste, rasam powder and salt.
- Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the rasam for 6~8 minutes.
Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: November -- Week 1'.