"अमसुलाचे सार" (Wild /red mangosteen Soup)

“थोडा खट्टा-मीठा तीखा और नमकीन,
स्वाद के रंग से लम्होंको बनालो हसीन
यह पल रहे न रहे,यादें सदा रहेंगी रंगीन!”

(Enjoy every Spice of sweetness & salt with colourful memories to cherish for a lifetime!)

I Ain’t (hangover of Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady,can’t help it guys!!)the one with the Sweet Tooth , eating sweet everyday is a little boring for me.Today,Vivek & Preity  are coming all the way from Colorado to celebrate Diwali with us for a week and I made this spicy,sweet & sour Soup of wild or raw mangosteen (अमसुल सार) over dinner.

Kokum-e-info

 

“कोकम/अमसुल” (wild/red mangosteen-available in powdered forms too,but its better to use the fruit) are one of the very popular ingredients in Indian food.The outer rind of the fruit is a very popular culinary ingredient in all Maharashtra and in particular Konkan. The fruits are beaten with sticks to separate the rind from seeds. The rind is repeatedly sun dried after soaking in the pulp juice.

People in the Kokan region (Maharashtra) and Southern India often add it in various delicacies (from cold-drinks to soups to vegetables & dips).Dried/Wet Kokum or Amsul is available at most Indian stores in the bay area.Sour in taste,it has medicinal qualities and is used as an anti-allergic.

Raw Mangosteen is called Murgala (Karnataka), Punampuli (Kerala), Murgal (Tamil Nadu) ,Kokum(Gujarat),Kokum/amsul/ratamba/birund (Maharashtra) & Tintali (Orissa).It is called Atyamala, Raktapurak, Vrikshamla,chukra or tintidika in Sanskrit.

Total Time=Cooking Time+Preparation Time

Ingredients

• 5-6 dried/wet Kokum-I used the wet ones.
• sugar or jaggery for sweetness
• salt to taste
• 1/4 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp pure ghee/veg oil-I used ghee,the taste & flavour of pure ghee is unbeatable.
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds,roasted & manually crushed.(my addition)
• freshly chopped coriander (my addition)
• 2 finely chopped green chilies (my addition)
• 1 muffin-full bowl of home-made or ready made  buttermilk (my addition).One could add coconut milk also.
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida (my addition)
• 2-3 curry leaves (my addition)
• 1 clove of garlic sliced finely
• 1/2 tsp of ginger,finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp of anardana powder

Boil It Up

Before going ahead,I took some warm water and crushed the kokum in it as Rasika Karve-Tilaye (my school senior & ardent obedient follower of CWM from Denver,Colorado)suggested for the “kairiche saar” recipe to soften the fruit.Then I added the softened kokum into the pot of   water.In sometime the colour of water changes to deep pink or red.I added jaggery and salt to the boiling water-kokum mixture.

I prepared a “tadka” using ghee ,asafoetida,green chilies when cumin seeds crackled.I added the coriander seed powder and curry leaves to this tadka.The book suggests that we must make the tadka,add water, kokum and other ingredients to it.I poured it over the boiled kokum mixture instead.I added the buttermilk & anardana powder into the “saar” for thickness and sourness.

In case,you guys follow the method mentioned in the book for tadka followed by kokum etc,then please do share the magnificent results  with me as well.

 

I let it boil for few seconds and piping hot Amsul Saar (garnished with coriander) was ready to get us intoxicated!

Hope,you guys enjoy this one as much as “Kairiche Saar”!

Kairiche Saar (Raw Mango Soup)

The best part of Indian Summers is feasting over  Mangoes, Raw Mangoes (kairi) and the wonderful delicacies made out of ripe or raw mangoes.The pickles, gulamba/moramba (mango jams) ,  panhe (home made soft drink made from raw mangoes) , aamras (mango purey) , amba barfi (sweet cake of mangoes) ..so on and so forth.Even though the mangoes in all forms vanish in India around first week of June,one finds mangoes (raw & ripe mexican ones) all throught the year in this part of the US. A visit to the grocer's answered my riddle regarding the recipe for next blog post.

Found some fresh and appealing raw mangoes at Wolfe India Bazaar @ Sunnyvale and decided to pick up the recipe for "Kairiche Saar" (raw mango soup). Its a sweet & sour soup,extremely appetizing on the lines of "Rassam" served at most of the South Indian joints.A typical maharashtrian would have a piping hot bowl of Kairiche saar with hot steam rice and papad by the side.

So let's gear up for this one. T.T=20-30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 muffin full bowl of square cut pieces of raw mango (@ one raw mango excluding the seed)
• 1/2 muffin full bowl of jaggery (sugar could be used instead but jaggery adds an authentic flavour to the soup,hence preferable)
• Salt to taste
• Red chili powder (as per taste)
• 1/2 tspn full of fenugreek seeds. I used "kasuri methi"-dried fenugreek leaves since the fenugreek seeds often add a bitter flavour within a bite.Everest or other masala brands sell dried kasuri methi and its easily available at any indian stores)
• 2 tbsp of besan (chick pea flour)
• 3-4 Curry leaves , i had to skip them since the grocery store was out of stock :(
• dry red chilies/usual green chilies , i prefer fresh green chilies.
• Coriander (my addition)
• 2 tbsp of vegetable cooking oil .I opted for cooking spray for the "tadka" or to sautee.
• 1 tsp of mustard seeds/cumin seeds.The book did not mention any thing in particular so I opted for 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds and 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds.
• 1 pinch of Asafoetida (hing)
• 1 tsp of turmeric powder (haldi/halad)
• 1-2 tsp of amchur powder (dried mango powder-optional)
• 4-6 muffin full bowls of boiling hot water

I used a small,open faced deep saucepan to prepare the Saar.After chopping the raw mango into square chunks, I put the pan on medium flame.I used cooking spray instead of oil to minimize the calorie score.The cumin and mustard seeds were dashed in and crackled in no time. Asafoetida ,turmeric powder , curry leaves (if you add them) ,kasuri methi and chilies were queued one after the other to the saucepan.The raw mango chunks need to be cooked thoroughly.The "kairi" looked amazing and i pushed them into the "tadka" prepared in the pan.I wanted a thicker version of soup,so added only 4 muffin full bowls of boiling water to it.The mangoes took the heat for about 5-7 minutes.Just after the mangoes were cooked,I added jaggery,salt,red chili powder.We prefer it really spicy,so added a little extra red chili powder.I used few tsps of hot water to make paste of cheakpea flour (emulsion).I added it to the Saar .Besan/chick pea flour helps thickening the soup and could be replaced with corn flour.

The aroma was tantalizing, unable to control the want to sip it , I hastily put a soup spoon into it and enjoyed the first burns of soup on my tongue! It turned out pretty well though.I personally feel that the raw mangoes in US aren't very sour.So added some amchur powder to it (instead a fresh lemon could be squeezed in too ; but the lemons are merely juicy and not very sour) .However,its about taste and choices.My mother never can gulp down this soup without being tamed by excess of jaggery or sugar.But,i can eat even the sourest of Indian raw mangoes with pleasure.

The final touches just before dinner time is announced,garnish with freshly chopped coriander or cilantro.

Steam Rice & Kairiche Saar are wholesome feast in themselves,so enjoy!!

Diwali is celebrated all over India majorly for 3 days.In Maharashtra,it spans over larger period starting from "Vasu Baras" to "Tulshi che lagna".Its a joy ride all the way and people shop,eat and burst crackers to the fullest during this festival of lights."Kairiche saar" could be a good American input for celebrating divali here.Most of my fellow NRI's would agree that there's something to envy our homeland folks too!

Seize the sweet & sour feast!

Btw,tomorrow's a special day,so it would be Samosas on the Tray! :)