Summer calls for all things cool and refreshing, and adding some tangy goodness to your meal helps beat the heat instantly. Besides, it is good for your health too. Citrus fruits are packed with vitamin C, antioxidants and other essential enzymes that promote digestion, detoxification and comfort the gut by producing healthy bacteria. Hence, you would find experts recommending lemon juice in your everyday diet, especially during the summers - be it in the form of food or drinks. You have nimbu paani, shikanji, nimbu achar and other delicious options to relish during the summer and we are sure you have had most of them. But have you tried lemon rasam yet? Rasam is soul-soothing and adding a hint of lemon to it enhances the goodness of this South Indian delicacy.
Also Read: Rasam Recipe: A Step-By-Step Guide To Making The Perfect One At Home
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Why Lemon Rasam Is Considered Good For Summer Season?
Rasam has long been considered a healthy dish for your overall nourishment. It is a South Indian soup, traditionally made with tamarind pulp, pepper, tomato and various other spices. All these ingredients come together to cleanse our palate and nourish us from within. Adding the nutrients of lemon to this already healthy dish makes lemon rasam perfect for the summer season. Let's look into some of the major health benefits of lemon rasam.
Here're 5 Major Health Benefits Of Lemon Rasam:
1. Keeps you hydrated:
Lemon juice is known to promote detoxification and keep up the water balance in the body. This helps prevent dehydration and excessive sweating during the summertime.
2. Aid digestion:
The spices like hing, black pepper, jeera etc, and lemon, help prevent acidity and bloating during the summers, further promoting digestion, metabolism and overall gut health.
3. Increase appetite:
We often feel don't feel hungry during the summer months. Wonder why? It is because of the discomfort we experience in our gut. The ingredients used in lemon rasam may help cool your overall body, stimulating enzymes in the gut, and further making you feel hungry.
4. Fight seasonal diseases:
This vitamin C-enriched South Indian soup is packed with anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. These factors may help prevent several seasonal diseases including allergies, and the common flu among others.
5. Boost immunity:
The antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties in this rasam may also help prevent the body from inflammation and oxidative stress, further promoting proper blood and oxygen flow in flow. These factors come together to nourish us from within and strengthen our immune health.
Also Read: 5 Interesting Ways You Can Use Lemon In Cooking
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Should We Add Tamarind (Imli) To Lemon Rasam?
As mentioned earlier, a traditional rasam includes tamarind for that added zing on your palate. But when you are making lemon rasam, try to avoid adding imli to it. Why? It is because tamarind too is tangy in nature and includes a good amount of vitamin C and adding too much sourness to your meal ruins the taste completely. Besides, excess vitamin C, due to its acidic nature, may erode the enamel of your teeth and nails. That's not all. Excess citrus fruit consumption also leads to acidity, nausea, upset stomach and more.
How To Make Lemon Rasam:
To lemon rasam, boil arhar dal in a pressure cooker and in another saucepan, boil tomato, ginger, curry leaves, chilli and coriander. Now, mix them together, adjust salt and sugar, and water as per your preference. Boil everything for a while, lower the flame and add some lemon juice to it. Finally, prepare a classic South Indian tadka of mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chilli and ghee and drizzle.
And you have a delicious bowl of lemon rasam ready to be served with steamed rice and papadam. Click here for the recipe.
Add this soulful meal to your summer diet and relish! For more such rasam recipes, click here.