Rasams: Golden Beet Rasam/Saaru

Golden Beetroot Saaru with Fried Garlic and Chillies

Ever since my food blog obsession kicked in its a mad house during dinner time at our place. Imagine the husband comes home, I have already started my crazy picture taking of veggies and chopping, in between all this, I am chasing cranky tots around, away from the kitchen. Then kids are seated, food is sometimes being thrown in their trays (or at them if we are not too careful!) and then I start to make the dinner, the babes take a while to eat all their courses and I can if I am fast enough serve what we are about to have for dinner the same time but tonight we had my parents over and on top of me making this rasam, my amma making dosas for all of us and the kids eating, screaming, whining, eating, laughing, giggling, screaming, eating... , it was true mayhem. So my mom kept asking me why I had chosen to start this beetroot rasam now and I didn't admit my secret that I need to get it done in time for photos in good light etc. She would think I was crazy... which is also true but more importantly I wanted to get it done when she was there so I could get the proper proportions from her for one of my all time favorite rasams. The beautiful, sweet and tangy beetroot rasam. Because I am lucky enough to have my mom living in the same town, I got to escape to a local farmers market this afternoon and I found the most glorious looking golden beets! I thought it would be great to try out my treasured rasam with the new variety that I haven't tried before. So here we go:

The star ingredient: Beautiful, Bright, Golden Beet Root

Recipe:

• 4 small to medium Beets (I used golden in this recipe but you can use the regular red variety)
• 1/2 Cup Grated or Shredded Fresh or Frozen Coconut (I used frozen but thawed to room temp)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Whole Coriander Seeds
• 3/4 Tablespoon Whole Cumin (Jeera)
• 1/4 Teaspoon Whole Fenugreek (Methi)
• 1/4 teaspoon Urad Dhal
• 2 Green Chillies
• 1 to 3 Red Chillies (per your preferred heat level)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Concentrated Tamarind Paste
• Salt to taste
• 2 Cups Water
• 2 Cloves Garlic Chopped
• 2 tablespoons Olive or Vegetable Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Ghee (Clarified Butter)

Method:
Clean, peel and chop beets. Pressure cook beets with enough water submerging all the cubes for about 2 whistles. Set aside to cool. In a small pan, heat up the oil on medium and add coriander seeds, cumin, methi, urad dhal and red chillies. Stir and brown the spices till the urad dhal turns golden brown and you can smell all the flavors of the spices. Put the sauteed spices, shredded coconut with a little water in a blender and blend till smooth and pureed (I used the water from the cooked beets in the pressure cooker). Once spices and coconut are ground, add cooked beets and rest of the water from pressure cooker and blend till all the bits are in a smooth paste. In a cooking pot add the green chillies, tamarind paste and water and let it come to a gentle boil. Add the blended mixture of spices, coconut and beets to the tamarind water. Let it boil for 2 more minutes, salt to taste and turn off. In a small frying pan, heat up ghee on medium and add chopped garlic to the pan. Brown the garlic to desired darkness (golden to dark brown). Add the garlic to the beet rasam and serve with rice, fresh onions, green chillies and a side of yogurt like I did or with papads or sendige (south indian version of papads, wafers)

Rasam served with yogurt, jasmine rice, green chillies and fresh sweet walla walla onions.
The verdict? The golden beet is distinctly milder and less "beet rooty" than my usual red beetroot. I found that although I liked the taste of it, its not the same intensity as my regular stuff and I am not entirely convinced to always make with golden. Its perfect if you are not into strong beet flavor and want to taste more of the tangy tamarind or sweet coconut flavors too.

Source: My amma