Bele Thilisaaru or Dal Rasam

Bele thilisaaru has a soupy consistency. Thili means clear. This recipe is made with split pigeon peas/ tur dal/ ತೊಗರಿಬೇಳೆ in Kannada  . It's mainly served towards the end of the meal or when you want to have something very light with hot rice.  It tastes especially good when we are sick. The lightness of this rasam, along with the goodness of the spices added, is easy to digest.  It's made in many ways, like tomato rasam, tamarind rasam, tur dal rasam etc in many regions of Karnataka but here I am sharing the way we prepare in our home. So now, let's move to the recipe.

Ingredients:
To pressure cook :

Tur dal - 1/4 cup
Garlic pods - 3-4
Tomato (Medium sized) - 1/2 ( chopped finely)
Curry leaves - 4 to 5
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Other ingredients:
Tamarind - grape sized, soaked in water
Powdered jaggery - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt- to taste
Black pepper - 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon, crushed coarsely
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon, crushed coarsely
Coriander leaves - chopped finely

For tempering:

Oil- 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - 1 string
Red chillies - 2, broken

Method of preparing :
1.Wash the tur dal well until the water runs clear. Then add 1 cup of water to it Put it in a vessel / pressure cooker along with the ingredients mentioned under "to pressure cook". Hear 2-3 whistles.

2. After the pressure releases, blend the dal well and add more water ( around 1 and half to 2 cups), tamarind juice, jaggery and salt . 

Let it come to a boil. Now check the taste and adjust salt, as per your taste.

3. As the mixture is boiling, we can prepare the tempering. Heat a small pan and add Oil. once it's hot, add the ingredients mentioned under "Tempering" one after another and mix.

4. Now the tempering is ready. Switch off the saaru and add tempering to it, along with coarsely crushed black pepper and cumin seeds.
5. Finish it off by adding chopped coriander leaves and close the lid. It allows the spices to blend together well and the flavors are well infused in the saaru.. It's not good to boil after tempering , as it loses it's taste.
Bele thilisaaru is now ready to serve. It can be served with hot rice or you can just enjoy a cup of it, after a meal, as it enhances  the digestion process.

Note:
If you don't have a pressure cooker, it can be cooked in a normal vessel. It takes longer for the dal to cook this way. In such case, you can soak the dal 1 hour before and then cook.
So this was today's recipe. It seems too much of elaborate procedure to prepare. But believe me, once the dal mixture is pressure cooked and ready, this rasam really takes just 10 minutes to cook.

So, please give this recipe a try and share your views in the comments. Please do follow me on Google + and Pinterest to receive updates on the newest recipes.. Catch you all with next recipe.. bye