KOKUM/ BINDA/ PUNARPULI RASAM great to health

KOKUM/ BINDA/ PUNARPULI RASAM great to health

Kokum rasam (or soup if you prefer it that way) can be had before meals. Warm kokum rasam is really tasty to sip. It is said that Kokum aids weight loss, relieves indigestion, constipation, acidity and flatulence. This rasam goes well when we serve chicken/mutton etc.

Kokum juice is very popular in South India all through the year especially during summer. As tempting as it looks, it cools the body. It helps in preventing dehydration and sunstroke in hot summer. In South India many herbal stores (granthike shops) sell dried skins of kokum. Please see  KOKUM/ BINDA/ PUNARPULI JUICE  for pictures.

You Need

6-8 pieces of dried kokum skins

Red chilly powder – 1/4 tsp

Onion – 1 small, sliced

Garlic – 3 crushed

Red chilly -1 broken into pieces

Curry leaves

Oil – 1 tsp

Jiggery – ½ tsp (optional)

2 glasses of water

Sugar as per your taste

Salt – a pinch (black salt tastes better

¼ tsp cardamom powder (optional)

1.    Wash the dried skins of kokum and soak in water for a minimum of half an hour or more in half a glass of water.

2.    Squeeze out the juice out of soaked skins changing the water twice. Sieve the squeezed juice to get rid of small pieces of skin. Keep aside.

3.    Heat the oil in a nonstick pan, when hot, add crushed garlic, leave for two minutes stirring once or twice, add curry leaves.

4.    Add the onions, fry for 2-3 minutes, till they are translucent, but not browned. Add broken red chilly. Give a stir.

5.    Now add the squeezed out Kokum water (step 2), add salt and chilly powder. let the rasam boil, check the taste, add jiggery if you like.

6.    Leave the lid ajar and boil for 3 minutes in slow fire. Turn off heat.

Tip:

·        You can soak the skins and squeeze out the juice whenever you are free. Store the juice in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator.

·        You can cook more rasam doubling the quantity of ingredients given above. Transfer the excess rasam to another vessel immediately after cooking, cool it and refrigerate.

If you have dried kokum skins, you may also like to try this thirst quencher  KOKUM/ BINDA/ PUNARPULI JUICE