Spicy Carrot Tomato Soup (Thick Rasam)

I bought a huge bunch of carrots from Costco few days back thinking that I will use one or two everyday for juicing. Its been 5 days now, and I still haven't juiced them. So, last night, I thought of making soup from some of the carrot.

I wanted to add some spices to the soup to complement the natural natural sweetness of the carrots. That is when I thought of adding rasam masala to the soup. To add a bit tanginess, I added tomatoes and lemon juice. The end result was a mouthwatering sweet, spicy and tangy soup. The following recipe will make about 4 cups of soup.

Ingredients:

For the Rasam Powder:
1 Tablespoon Coriander Seeds,
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds,
1/2 Tablespoon Toor Daal (Split Pigeon Peas)
1/2 Tablespoon Chana Daal, (Split Bengal Gram)
4-5 Pepper Corns,
4 Long Dried Red Chilies (use less if you want to make it less spicy)


For the Soup:
2 Big Carrots, Thinly Sliced in Rounds (or Shredded)
1/4 Cup Onion, Chopped,
1-1/2 Tomatoes, Chopped (About 1 Cup)
Salt to Taste,
2 Teaspoon Vegetable Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Asafoetida
2.5 to 3 Cups Water

Method:

For the Rasam Powder
Dry Roast all the ingredients at very low flame for 5 minutes or until the lentils just start to change the color. Make sure not to burn the lentils. We just want them to turn light golden brown. Take off the stove. Let it cool completely. Grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.

For the Soup
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add the asafoetida. Then immediately add the onions, carrots and salt. Cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes, stirring once. Now add the tomatoes, rasam powder and 2.5 cups of water. Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Turn off the stove. With a hand blender, blend the ingredients to a thick soup. Add the remaining 1/2 cup water if you want the soup to be a bit more watery. Cook for 2-3 more minutes. Take off the stove and serve.

Notes: If you are not using the hand blender, then let the soup cool completely before transferring to the mixer/grinder. Grind to a thick puree. As mentioned above, add the remaining water if needed. Return to the stove and cook for 2-3 minutes.


Thank you for visiting my blog. I would love to hear from you. I appreciate your time to leave feedback and help me improve this blog.