Vepampoo Rasam | Dried Neem Flower Rasam

 Vepampoo or Dried neem flowers are known for their health benefits. This is a very mild rasam and prepared similar to goddu rasam and tempered with dried neem leaves in the end. It is a mix between paruppu rasam and goddu rasam; this rasam uses cooked toor dal water instead of mashed toor dal itself. This is a mild soup and great a rice accompaniment too.

I have already explained about the benefits of neem in my vepampoo sadam post. Neem tree is genuinely an Akshaya Patra (inexhaustible vessel err tree) of medicines. Also, I have mentioned this many times on my blog. My favorite recipe is rasam, and I can drink gallons of rasam any time.:-) In my TN cuisine journey how can I skip rasam? In the letter V, there were zillion options, but I made up my mind to prepare this Vepampoo rasam for sure. Here is the rasam served traditionally in the eiyachombu or eeya sombu or eiya patram. I never knew these vessels were so costly. Mom sold hers and my grandma’s (Even then we had to pay a lot) and got it from Kumbakonam. :-) I don’t cook directly in these but transfer the hot rasam to this vessel, and that enhances the flavor.

This rasam can be prepared without rasam podi also, and there are many ways to make this rasam. The “cook and see” book by Meenakshi Ammal has three variations to this rasam. But today I am posting our family recipe that I got from my mom. It is not too bitter, and at the same time, you can taste the dried neem flowers also. A perfect soup during winters and of course this is one of the quick home remedies for stomach ailments.

Here is V for Vepampoo Rasam,

Ingredients:

• Vepampoo / Dried Neem Flowers – 2 tsps
• Salt – 1.5 tsps
• Red Chilly – 2
• Cooked Toor Dal water – 1.5 cups 
• Water – 1.5 cups (1 cup for tamarind extract)
• Rasam powder – 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 strand
• Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
• Tamarind Paste – 2 tsps (1 cup of tamarind juice extracted by soaked a small gooseberry sized tamarind)
• For tempering
• Toor Dal – 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
• Ghee or Oil – 2 tsps

Prep Work:  Cooked Toor Dal Water

• I pressure cooked 1/2 cup of toor dal with 4 cups of water and with a pinch of turmeric powder. Before mashing the dal, I drained and saved about 1.5 cups of dal water for this rasam. The mashed dal, of course, went for sambar :-) 
• Mix the tamarind paste in 1 cup of water and set aside. If using tamarind, soak in water and extract the juice.

Method:

• Take a heavy bottomed vessel or pan in which you are going to prepare the rasam and add the tamarind water + 1/2  cup of water.
• Add salt, turmeric powder, rasam powder, salt, curry leaves and red chilies and mix well.

• Now heat this in medium flame and let it simmer.
• Once it starts to boil, add the dal water and mix well. 
• Let it simmer again till forms the froth on top.
• Once the froth forms, turn off the heat.

• In a separate tadka pan, add ghee.
• Once the ghee is hot, add the toor dal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and the dried neem flowers.
• Roast them for a couple of minutes. The neem flowers should brown a bit.

• Now add this to the rasam and mix well. Here is the rasam in the eeya patram/sombu. 

Notes:

• Adjust the rasam powder according to your taste. This is comparatively mild rasam.
• You can add more neem flowers and also add about 1/4 tsp while adding the rasam powder.
• You can also add red chilly while tempering. 
• As toor dal plays a significant role in providing the protein, you can add mashed dal also. In that case, increase the rasam powder and even dried neem flowers to 3 tsps.

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Vepampoo Rasam | Dried Neem Flower Rasam

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

Vepampoo Rasam is a very mild rasam and prepared similar to goddu rasam and tempered with dried neem leaves in the end. It is a mix between paruppu rasam and goddu rasam; this uses cooked toor dal water instead of mashed toor dal itself.

Course: Main Course, rice accompaniment

Cuisine: South Indian

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• Vepampoo / Dried Neem Flowers - 2 tsps
• Salt – 1.5 tsps
• Red Chilly - 2
• Cooked Toor Dal water - 1.5 cups
• Water - 1.5 cups 1 cup for tamarind extract
• Rasam powder - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 strand
• Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
• Tamarind Paste - 2 tsps 1 cup of tamarind juice extracted by soaked a small gooseberry sized tamarind
• For tempering
• Toor Dal – 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
• Ghee or Oil – 2 tsps

Instructions

1. Prep Work: Cooked Toor Dal Water
2. I pressure cooked 1/2 cup of toor dal with 4 cups of water and with a pinch of turmeric powder. Before mashing the dal, I drained and saved about 1.5 cups of dal water for this rasam. The mashed dal, of course, went for sambar :-)
3. Mix the tamarind paste in 1 cup of water and set aside. If using tamarind, soak in water and extract the juice.

Method

1. Take a heavy bottomed vessel or pan in which you are going to prepare the rasam and add the tamarind water + 1/2 cup of water.

2. Add salt, turmeric powder, rasam powder, salt, curry leaves and red chilies and mix well.

3. Now heat this over medium heat.

4. Once it starts to boil, add the dal water and mix well.
5. Let it simmer again till forms the froth on top.

6. Once the froth forms, turn off the heat.

7. In a separate tadka pan, add ghee.
8. Once the ghee is hot, add the toor dal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and the dried neem flowers.
9. Roast them for couple of minutes. The neem flowers should brown a bit.
10. Now add this to the rasam and mix well.

Recipe Notes

• Adjust the rasam powder according to your taste. This is comparatively mild rasam.
• You can add more neem flowers and also add about 1/4 tsp while adding the rasam powder.
• You can also add red chilly while tempering.
• As toor dal plays a major role in providing the protein, you can add mashed dal also. In that case, increase the rasam powder and also dried neem flowers to 3 tsps.

That’s it. Yummy and healthy dried neem flower rasam is ready. Serve hot with rice and curry.

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