The Saga Of A Lemon Rasam

Lemons and Limes are two acidic citrus fruits and their acidity gives them their wonderful tangy taste. For quite some time I used to think that Lime and Lemon are one and the same - well - they aren't and you could tell a lime it’s a lime by its green color and the lemon by its telltale yellow color. Now you can identify in this picture nearby, who is who!

Summer in Chennai is worse than horrible and if want to beat the heat - sip that chilled sweet or salted lime juice that amma prepares - it is just heaven! The next door lemon tree is street famous for its high yield of delicious fruits and being the best neighbors, we tend to get a lions share of those garden fresh lemons. Garden fresh lemons - what could be better than that?

No wonder, lemon juice and lemon rasam were quite often residing in my house and I learned this wonderful easy lemon rasam from my mom and ofcourse I would have tweaked it here, in the US of A. Nevertheless, this rasam recipe is just the right healthy food that can be prepared even by a frustated bachelor who comes home late after long hours of work implementing his next release - tee hee...

Recipe

• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp of ginger - finely chopped
• 3 medium sized green chilies
• 1/2 tsp of hing
• 1 medium sized tomato
• salt to taste

• Parsley to decorate
• Lemon juice - add 1 tbsp and then increase to your sour taste level
• 3 Tbsp of pressure cooked Toor Dhall
• 2 - 3 cups of water

That looks like a whole lot of ingredients – ain’t it? But take a close look at them - hing, turmeric, salt, chilies - now which recipe will not have them and which house will not have these? So now start heating the water with first 6 ingredients. Once it boils, add the Dhall and let the rasam boil again. Switch the heat off and once the rasam has cooled a little bit, add the lemon juice and chopped corriander and serve with rice and papads - yum'o.

The beauty behind this rasam is that it has all the healthy ingredients. There is not a drop of oil. It has turmeric, hing - 2 good spices. It has Dhall for that dash of protein. Tomatoes - oh! We all know lycopene - one of nature's powerful antioxidants are in tomatoes. (That is what gives tomatoes its red pigment). Now you can have your variations by including garlic to it besides the above ingredients making it even healthier. Reduce salt - Lo and Behold - it’s just the health conscious dish. If you just don’t like the taste of ginger or hing - you can always make this rasam devoid of them too. I had tried this rasam with a variety of combinations - Thoor Dhall, Moong Dhall, Toor and Moong Dhall, excluding this and including that – well no matter what the rasam never lost its flavor!

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