Coconut Milk Saaru/Rasam

I come from a coastal town which is abundant with coconut palms swinging to the cool breeze from Arabian Sea. I have grown eating almost everything cooked using coconut in its different forms like coconut milk, ground coconut, grated or desiccated, dry coconut, coconut milk, tender coconut, coconut malai, coconut water and ultimately cooked in coconut oil. Ah!!! Coconut oil always reminds me of the litres of coconut oil applied to my head with vengeance by my mother and her mother. The weekend session of oil massage is something which I never appreciated as a kid. But now, the way westerners paying thousands of dollars in the name of aroma therapy made me realise what was head ache session in childhood is one of the luxuries of the century. I guess that’s the problem with most of us. We start to appreciate things when it has some designer label attached to it.
Coconut is something I have in my pantry 24X7 through out the year. Canned, cream, desiccated, fresh or frozen, you will surely find at least in one of its Avtars in our kitchen. Today I am gonna share one of my favourite recipe of coconut which has been passed from my Amma who learnt it from her MIL. It is Coconut Milk Saaru/Rasam, which always makes me feel royal. Its creamy texture and rich flavour is something which I can never get tired of. But the best thing for me is I can make it in jiffy. You need very few ingredients and very little time to make this. First let me give you the detailed recipe of making traditional Coconut Milk Saaru and then I will also give my shortcut recipe using just 3 ingredients to make this delicious Saaru.

Coconut Milk Saaru

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Coconut Milk Saaru
Prep Time: 15-20 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Serves: 3-4

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Ingredients:
¾ tin Coconut Milk/ 1½ cups Freshly squeezed Coconut Milk
½ cup Masoor Dal/Toor Dal
1 marble sized Tamarind
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
¼ tsp Hing/Asafoetida
4-6 Dry Red Chilli
1-2 tbsp Jaggary
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
For Seasoning:
1 tsp Ghee/Oil
1 tsp Mustard
1 Dry Red Chilli
Few Curry Leaves

Coconut Milk Saaru

Method:
Cook Masoor Dal with 1½ cups of water with a pinch of turmeric powder and drop of oil which helps to cook it quick.
Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds and broken red chillies and sauté it for 1-2 minutes in medium flame.
Grind this mixture into a powder form without adding any water.
In a thick bottomed pan add cooked toor dal with its water, ground mixture, tamarind water, jaggary and salt to taste.
Add ½ cup of water and bring this to boil.
Now add coconut milk to this and mix well.
Cook this for further 4-5 minutes in medium flame till it starts to bubble.
In the end add chopped coriander leaves and season it with mustard, curry leaves and dry chilli.
Serve piping hot with rice and papadams and relish.

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Note:
Freshly sqeezed Coconut milk is the best while making this saaru. I didn't have fresh coconut so had to substitute it with canned ones. When using canned coconut milk I recommend you use the organic ones.

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Coconut Milk Saaru

Now coming to my short cut way of making equally delicious Coconut Milk Saaru.

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Coconut Milk Saaru
Prep Time: 5-10 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves: 3-4

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Ingredients:
1 cup cooked Masoor/Toor Dal
1½ tbsp Rasam Powder
¾ tin Coconut Milk/1½ cups Freshly squeezed Coconut Milk
1 tbsp Jaggary
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste
For Seasoning:
1 tsp Ghee/Oil
1 tsp Mustard
1 Dry Red Chilli
Few Curry Leaves

Method:
Mix cooked dal with 1 cup of water, rasam powder, jaggary and salt to taste.
Bring this to boil in a medium flame.
Now add coconut milk and cook it in a medium flame till it starts bubbling.
Add chopped coriander leaves and season it before serving.

Coconut Milk Saaru

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Did You Know?
The coconut most likely originated somewhere around New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, but long ago became distributed throughout the Pacific from Southeast Asia to Africa.
Coconut oil was the world's leading vegetable oil until soybean oil took over in the 1960s.
There are more than 20 billion coconuts produced each year.
Coconut juice or coconut water is the liquid inside a coconut. Coconut milk is produced by steeping grated coconut in hot water then straining; coconut cream is coconut milk cooked down until it thickens, or grated coconut steeped in hot milk instead of water.
One cup of unsweetened shredded coconut has about 25 grams fat and 280 calories.
(Source: www.foodreference.com)

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