This Raw Mango Mint Rasam is perfect for summer. Cooling and so refreshing and tastes so yum with rice or when drunk by itself!
Raw Mango Mint Rasam is a recipe I learnt from N’s grandmother. Rasam is a staple in a South Indian household and 11 years ago, when I married into a south Indian household, I was most amazed by the whole cycle of eating. Dal, Sambhar, poriyal, rasam and then curd rice. It was almost like a sacred ritual and slowly over time, I warmed up to it. The days I eat a south Indian lunch, I find myself following the same sequence and a difference or a missing item tends to upset me. Strange how we become creatures of habit!
I got married in November, in the middle of Bangalore’s almost winter and the tamarind and garlic pepper rasam felt honestly good. Then came along summer and I visited hubby’s ancestral village in Chittor, which is typically hot and hotter and that had me wondering on how do they eat rasam in that heat! Until, I was served with this beauty. The first time I had this, I drank two glasses of it after I finished eating it with rice.
Made with raw mangoes and mint, this rasam is perfect for summer. Cooling and so refreshing. N’s granny owns a mango orchard in the village and he tells me that every summer they would walk to the orchard to pluck the raw mangoes and those would be used to make the rasam after the mint would be plucked from the kitchen garden. A lifestyle we all aspire for and which was so common even till sometime ago?
This summer, I got the Raw mango mint summer rasam recipe from N’s granny. She is 85 and speaks only Telugu and we had to have a lot of translation involved with N. I was worried if the results would be as good but they were stellar and granny had it herself and smiled wide.
So here the recipe of N’s granny’s summer rasam, the raw mango mint rasam. I promise try this and it will be the only rasam you will be making this summer.
Oh, before the rasam, do try out these summer coolers as well!
Raw Mango Mint Rasam (My granny's summer rasam recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 raw mango
- 1 tbsp toor dal
- 1 green chilli
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- to taste salt
- 2 tsps ghee
- 1/4 tsp heeng
- 2 - 3 pods garlic
- 1/3 cup mint leaves
- 4 Dry red chilies
- 1/2 tsp pepper powder powder
- handful curry leaves
- 1/4 tsp jaggery powder
- 1 tsp Rasam Powder (optional, if not using increase the pepper powder and add some cumin powder)
Instructions
- Peel and chop raw mangoes in small cubes.
- Boil raw mango, toor dal, green chilly, salt and turmeric powder with 4 glasses of water for one whistle and then 5 minutes on low flame. Allow the steam to escape.
- In a small pan, heat ghee and add heeng, saute for 1 minute. Add curry leaves, smashed garlic pods, dry red chillies and saute further for 2 minutes till the garlic turns slightly brown
- Add the boiled raw mango and dal, along with pepper powder, rasam powder, jaggery powder and mint leaves. Boil for 5-6 minutes.
- Serve warm with rice and chilled as a soup.
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