Orange Rind Soup/Kittale Sippe Saaru

Season of clementine here and I wish not it ends, I love eating them. Unique and traditional recipes do make use of each and every part of a fruit and vegetable unless and until it is not edible. A recipe which I learnt as a part of Havyaka traditional cooking from one of my closest sister Shri Kripa is Orange Rind Soup//Kittale Sippe Saaru. It is actually called kittale sippe gojju too, but as the consistency is watery I preferred calling it as saaru. It is a perfect combination for rice along with ghee, also tastes best when rice is eaten with this soup and curd. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
Orange rind/peel-1/2 portion
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp.
Asafoetida-a pinch
Rasam powder-1 tsp.
Tamarind-gooseberry shaped
Jaggery-1 '' cube or little more (be generous, it tastes best when little sweet, spicy and tangy)
Turmeric powder-1/4tsp.
Ghee-1 tsp.
Water-2 cups
Salt to taste


Recipe:
In a pan heat ghee, when hot add mustard seeds.
As they crackle, add chopped orange peel/rind, asafoetida.
Fry well on a low flame.
Fry till they are almost brown and well fried so as to remove all bitterness.
Now add water, followed by turmeric powder.
Then add tamarind.
Followed by that rasam powder.
Then pop in jaggery.
Add salt as per taste and bring the contents to rolling boil. Then simmer for 5 minutes and you are done. Relish with steamed rice.

 

 

Notes:

1. Be careful with the usage of orange peel, do not use too much, it will turn bitter.
2. Also do fry well in ghee else the bitterness will remain.
3. Add good amount of jaggery, atleast as much as I mentioned
4. Preferably try using previous day's peel, fresh one may tend to be bitter, I didn't face any problem but heard from one of my friend that it turned bitter, so based on her feedback I decided to add this note, i.e better to use very less when using fresh, may be less than quarter or preferably a day old peel will be best.

Enjoy the dish! n don't forget Eat and Eat little MORE.. :)