Tovve/Kattu Saaru/Toor Dal Rasam Recipe
Ingredients
- Toor dal or Moong dal - 1/2 cup
- Tomato- 1 no.
- Green chillies- 2 no.
- Ginger- 2" piece
- Coriander leaves- handful
- Tamarind- small gooseberry size
- Lemon- 1/2
- Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
- Ghee- 2 tsp
- Asafoetida- A chickpea size
Seasoning ingredients
- Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Red chilly - 1 no.
- Curry leaves- 2 strand
Instructions
Preparation
- Pressure cook toor dal till mushy and mash well.
- Chop tomato and coriander leaves finely.Peel the skin of ginger and crush it using mortar and pestle.Slit green chillies in to two.
- Soak tamarind in hot water and extract 4 tea spoon of juice.
Method
- Heat a pan/vessel, add ghee, cumin seeds, broken red chilly and curry leaves.
- Saute for a while and when cumin seeds splutter add chopped tomatoes, crushed ginger, green chillies, turmeric powder and tamarind juice. Add some more water and let it boil for 5 mins.
- Add mashed toor dal, salt and dissolved asafoetida. Add water as per the consistency required. Bring it to boil and switch off the flame.
- Finally add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Check the taste for sourness and accordingly add lemon juice. Tovve/Kattu saaru is ready to be served with hot steamed rice or idly.
Note:
- Lemon juice is mandatory for this recipe. Tamarind is optional. I have used tamarind+lemon according to the sourness required for the rasam. Tamarind gives a different taste.
- Instead of toor dal one can use moong dal as well. Toor dal+ moong dal can also be used.
- Ghee can be replaced by coconut oil. But I recommend to use ghee, which gives nice aroma.