My kids love a good noodle soup. But, the Vietnamese restaurant we love is far away and by the time we place an order and get it back, my younger one would have said atleast 50 times: “I’m dying of hunger.”
So, anyway, I thought to myself – “Pho, enna periya pho – I will make Rasam Pho!!” So, I decided to make a not-so-spicy rasam and serve it with our very own South Indian rice vermicelli and top it with sprouts. Pretty delish I must say and healthy too!! I hope you try this at home too…
Step by Step Pics
Sprout any whole bean/lentil combination that you have at home. I used green gram, whole masoor, whole urad and desi chana.
Steam the sprouts for about 7 minutes. This step is optional depending on whether you like your sprouts raw or cooked. Also the bigger the bean, the harder to digest without steaming.
Cook 1/2 cup toor dal and keep it ready.
Take 1 cup tomato puree, add 3 cups of water, the cooked toor dal and grind it together. Add this mix to a container and place to boil.
For the spice mix, lightly roast 1/2 tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp pepper and powder in a spice blender.
Get tadka ready. In a small pan, heat 2 tsp oil; add mustard seeds and allow it to pop. Add curry leaves and hing. Take it off the heat and add it to the boiling soup.
Add salt, jeera-pepper spice mix. Turn off the heat for the rasam soup. Add chopped coriander leaves and mix.
In a seperate pan, add boiling water to vermicelli and close for 5 minutes.
When it is time to serve, assemble the soup, noodles and steamed sprout in a bowl. Serve it hot with sliced lemon, additional salt and pepper by the side.
Recipe
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Rasam Pho (A South Indian Rice Noodle Soup)
Course: RecipesCuisine: South Indian, VietnameseDifficulty: Medium4
servings15
minutes20
minutesThis is a spicy, vegan south indian noodle soup loaded with vegan protein – in the form of mashed lentils (toor dal) and sprouted bean/lentils for crunch. Healthy and filling!!
Ingredients
Sprout mix like: Green gram, whole masoor, whole urad, Desi Chana
Rice Noodles – 4 servings
- Soup Ingredients
1/2 cup Toor/Tuvar/Arhar Dal
1 cup Tomato Puree
1 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
1/2-1 tsp Black Pepper
Chopped Coriander Leaves
- Tadka
2 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
Hing/Aesofatida – 2 pinches
Curry Leaves – Few
Directions
- Sprouts Prep
- About 2 days before: Start the process for sprouting any whole bean/lentil combination that you have at home. I used green gram, whole masoor, whole urad and desi chana.
Or just buy sprouts from your local market. - Steam the sprouts for about 7 minutes if you have large bean sprouts or keep them raw. Optional: You can flavor the sprouts with salt and lemon juice for additional flavor.
- Soup Section
- Pressure cook 1/2 cup toor dal until soft (Instant Pot – 10 minutes of pressure cooking)
- Take 1 cup tomato puree, add 3 cups of water, the cooked toor dal and grind it together. Add this mix to a container and place to boil.
- Spices to add:
- For the spice mix, lightly roast 1/2 tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp pepper and powder in a spice blender.
- Get tadka ready. In a small pan, heat 2 tsp oil; add mustard seeds and allow it to pop. Add curry leaves and hing. Take it off the heat and add it to the boiling soup.
- Add the jeera-pepper spice mix. Turn off the heat for the rasam soup. Add chopped coriander leaves and mix.
- Noodle Prep
- In a separate pan, add boiling water to vermicelli and close for 5 minutes.
- Assemble
- When it is time to serve, assemble the soup, noodles and steamed sprouts in a bowl. Serve it hot with sliced lemon, additional salt and pepper by the side.
Notes
- 1 tip for Indians who like it spicy: add a tsp of sambar powder to tadka for the additional hit of chili. I kept it mild for the kids, but you adjust the recipe to your liking.
Conclusion
On a cold winter night, this hot and light rasam pho is the perfect meal for your family. It is fairly easy to make, and also light on the stomach. This recipe is vegan too, although if you use ghee for tadka it will not be vegan.
This is just a template I made. You can make lemon rasam, garlic rasam, ginger rasam – you name it – any rasam and try different variations with idiyappam or other noodle varieties.
I like to serve the noodle soup with lemon slices, salt, and pepper on the side so that folks can adjust the spiciness based on their comfort level. I hope you enjoy this Rasam Pho Vegan Lentil Noodle Soup recipe!!
Staying Hopeful
Ok, recipe time over. Side Note: How are you all doing? I know folks are getting a little tired of the pandemic – Seniors who are tied inside the house all day long, folks with little, restless children, etc. I recently called up my local dog shelter to see if they needed volunteers to walk some of the dogs, but even they are not accepting anyone new until the pandemic is over. I feel bad, for the poor animals stuck inside, suffering alongside the humans.
One tool that has been really helpful for me to get through the evenings (after all, how much Netflix and Prime can one watch?) is edx.org. I don’t know how many of you know this already, but they offer so many college-level courses free – offered by Harvard, Berkeley, etc professors. Isn’t that amazing?? Of late, I have been interested in learning about Law (Go figure!!) Something to keep the brain busy…What creative ways do you use to stay occupied? Share your ideas and inspire others. Please post in the comments below. I love hearing from you all!!
Anyway, news of vaccines keep coming. Fingers crossed. Sending my love and good wishes to all!! Stay positive, stay creative and stay hopeful!!
Sounds delicious…Did your younger one like it? How did he/she rate it?
Hi Bhuvana, yes she loved it, slurped it all up!! I did not get a rating this time, but empty bowls are a good rating too, I suppose 🙂