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