Instant Pot Rice and Rasam | Easy Pepper Garlic Rasam


For people looking for weight loss, rasam promotes the removal of toxins by making the body sweat, produce more urine and speed up the metabolism. It is also loaded with antioxidants that prevent free radical activity. It facilitates digestion.

Rasam is a spicy soup made in south India using tamarind juice, pepper, tomato, garlic, cumin and other spices. Lentils are also added to it for extra nutrition. It is either eaten along with rice or drunk after a meal. Its distinct taste is sourness, contributed by the tamarind base. It is usually difficult to find a healthy dish that is also appetizing, but rasam is one of those dishes.  I keep it minimally spiced for my kids, they love to it with bowl of rice.

INGREDIENTS:
    RICE:
    • 2 cups sona masoori rice
    • 4 cups water
    • Salt (little)
    RASAM:
    Pressure cook:
    • 2 tbsp toor dal / split pigeon peas
    • 2 tomatoes chopped
    • 1 cup of water
    • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
    • 1/4 tsp hing/ asafotida
    • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

    • 1/2 cup tamarind juice
    • 3 cups of water
    • Cilantro (roughly chopped)
    • Salt per taste
    Tempering:
    • 1 tbsp oil
    • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
    • 1 tsp cumin seeds
    • 1 tsp urud dal
    • 1/2 tsp fenugreek
    • Hing / Asafotida
    • Curry leaves
    To make Rasam Powder:
    • 2 tsp pepper
    • 4 tsp cumin seeds
    • 1 red chili
    • 1 green chili
    • 8 garlic
    • Curry leaves


 INSTRUCTIONS:
    Pressure cook:
    • In a bowl, add sona masoori rice - wash the rice and add water.  (For 1 cup of rice: 2 cups of water)
    • Take another bowl, add toor dal (washed), roughly chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, cumin seeds and hing.  Add 1 cup of water to these.
    • Take instant pot, add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the instant pot, and place trivet.
    • Keep these 2 vessels inside Pot In Pot method.
    • Close the lid, set high pressure for 8 minutes.  When it is done, cancel instant pot.  Open the lid after natural pressure release.
    • Take these 2 vessels outside, Fluff the rice with fork.  Mash the dal and tomato mixture.
    Rasam Powder:
    • In a blender, add pepper, cumin seeds, red chili, green chili, garlic and curry leaves.  
    • Blend it to make the coarse powder.
    Rasam preparation:
    • Clean the instant pot, turn on saute mode.  When it is hot, add oil.
    • Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urud dal, fenugreek, hing and curry leaves. 
    • When it is splutter, add coarse powder from the blendar, and saute for 30 seconds.
    • Add toordal/tomato mixture, tamarind juice, salt, cilantro and water.  Mix them.
    • Let it boil for 2 minutes, and turn off the instant pot.
    • Spicy and healthy Rasam is Ready, it can be served with rice or it can be eaten like soup.


NOTE:
    Here I use 6QT DUO instant pot.
    It can be served with rice.
    You can reduce the spice level by reducing chilies and pepper.