Rasakalan - A yogurt based sauce for rice

           Rasakalan is a popular dish of Kerala especially in Palakkad. I learnt the recipe  recently from my mother-in law.Though this is similar to Mor Kuzhambu, it has slight variation from the former. Rasakalan is slightly thinner in consistency than Mor Kuzhambu and does not include jeera in the ingredient list. I personally started liking rasakalan more than Mor Kuzhambu after I learnt this recipe. I am happy to share yet another specialty dish of Kerala which is not known to many.

Ingredients:         

Raw Banana	1 No
Tamarind Extract	½ lemon size
Tara root/Cheppankizhangu	1 No
Yogurt	1 cup
Turmeric	½ tbsp
Salt	According to taste
Asofoetida/ Hing	A pinch
Jaggery	A small piece

For Tadka:

 

Mustard Seeds

Curry Leaves

Fenugreek seeds

Red Chilli

Urad Dal

Channa Dal

To Grind:

Mendhigam/Fenugreek	2 tbsp
Red chillies	2 No
Channa dal	1 tbsp
Ginger	few julienne
Grated Coconut	½ cup

Method:

 

1) Boil the vegetable of your choice - here I added raw banana and cheppankizangu, to 90 %  in the pressure cooker with adequate number of whistles.

2) Heat the pan with a table spoon of oil. Add the boiled vegetable and stir fry for a min till the raw smell goes away.

3) Add the tamarind extract and bring to boil. Add a pinch of turmeric, a small piece of jaggery and a pinch of hing.

4) In meantime, dry roast the fenugreek, red chilli and Channa dal separately. Grind this to a paste along with the grated coconut, turmeric and hing.

5) Beat the yogurt and add the ground mixture to this.

6) Add this curd-coconut mixture to the boiling tamarind extract and simmer the stove.

7) Once the rasakalan starts to froth, switch of the flame and garnish  it with tadka.

 

 Notes: 

1) The yogurt was not sour enough so I added tamarind extract to compensate for that. You can add more or less or even avoid the tamarind extract according to the sourness of the curd you have.

2) You can use any vegetable of your choice like cheppankizangu, lady’s finger, drumstick, potato, raw banana, raw mango etc.-basically whatever vegetable you add to a moor kuzhambu/mor kootan can be added to rasakalan as well. I would suggest avoiding pumpkin and similar watery vegetables which in turn will make the rasakalan watery.