Pineapple Rasam: Try this unique flavoursome Rasam before winter ends

There's one reason why Chennai's foodies look forward to the Annual Carnatic Music season that typically runs from mid-December to early January - the Sabha canteen.

Each year, vegetarian wedding caterers showcase their culinary repertoire. This year's music season was impacted by the pandemic but some of the popular caterers like Mountbatten Mani Iyer offered a 'full meals' experience on the traditional banana leaf. One of the more interesting dishes I tried was a watermelon rasam that reminded me of another fruit-based rasam that is also believed to have been introduced by wedding cooks decades ago.

While most rasams are mixed with rice, there are some like the pineapple rasam that work equally well as a 'drinking' rasam that is served before a meal like an aperitif.

Pineapple Rasam - recipePineapple Rasam and igredients:

Pineapple: half medium-sized (use well-ripened pineapple)

Tomatoes: 2 large (use juicy tomatoes)

Rasam powder: half teaspoon (optional)

Peppercorns: three-fourth teaspoon

Jeera: 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves: a few sprigs

Coriander: a few sprigs

Salt: to taste

Mustard seeds: three-fourth teaspoon

Asafoetida: a pinch

Red chilli: 1

Tur dal: 3 tablespoons

Method:

Blend the jeera and pepper to a fine powder.

Pressure cook the dal to a soft consistency with a pinch of turmeric.

Blend half the pineapple to a paste, chop the other half into small cubes.

Blend one tomato into a puree and finely chop the other one.

Bring the pineapple paste, tomato puree to boil on a low flame with salt, half of the jeera-pepper spice mix and add rasam powder (I don't use rasam powder for this recipe but some wedding cooks recommend it for the flavour). Add the mashed dal and bring to boil.

In a separate pan, temper mustard seeds, curry leaves, chopped red chillies (you can add more than 1 if you like it spicier) in ghee, and fry the tomato and pineapple for 2-3 minutes before you toss it into the rasam (above).