Vepampoo Rasam [Neem flower Rasam]

Third in a set of neem flower posts this summer: after the verkadalai-vepampoo [peanut+neem flower] chutney podi balls and the vempampoo vatthal [soured and spiced neem flowers], the neem flower rasam comes almost as an afterthought, but really it’s a classic, seasonal and medicinal delicacy.

A whole medicine chest in a single tree

The neem tree is known in both Indian systems and locally in Auroville as producing a “spiritual atmosphere”; merely sitting in the company of neem trees, it is believed, is salubrious. Few spend time distinguishing the specific medicinal virtues of all parts of the neem–bark, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits. We tend to lump them all together as “good-for-you-bitters” though they’re all used in particular ways, many of which will be familiar to us in India:

• Twigs and bark: Most will recall the use of neem twigs and small sticks for oral care and the prevention of gum disease; I’ve used the bark as part of my tooth powder recipe, for their anti-septic, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties.
• Fresh tender neem leaves are a common addition to kashayams for those with fevers or during the monsoon months when mosquito infestations bring their share of ailments–all drawing on the neem’s anti-viral and anti-malarial properties. Other prescribed medicinal uses are to treat biliary afflictions and blood morbidity.
• Mature neem leaves find all sorts of uses.
  • Neem leaf juice can be applied to wounds and carbuncles to promote healing. The fresh leaves themselves are placed under bedsheets to heal sores, such as those caused by chicken pox and measles–many of us will remember convalescences with neem and kuppaimeni!
  • I add them in dried form to my face scrubs, body scrubs, hair wash powder, and hair oils (nourishing here and scalp-cleansing here)–they’re invaluable for skin and scalp care.
  • We’ve used them in large quantities to rid outside water bodies of algal growth. They ferment and putrefy and smell awful, but once their work is done the water is clear, the fish are happy and water lilies grow with vigor.
  • As such, they’re also a common additive to natural pesticide sprays.
• The ripe fruits with their yellow jackets and juicy pulp were a wild childhood treat: pick and pop! Mildly sweet, not at all unpleasant.
• The neem seeds or vepam-kottai are a source of neem oil which cannot be expressed at home, but the seeds can be roasted in wide pans at dusk to keep mosquitoes at bay.

And the neem flowers?

• while the rest of the neem plant has potentially some anti-fertility properties, neem flowers seem (fittingly) less potent in this regard. They’re said to improve metabolism, liver function, and “may have chemopreventive potential” in both breast and liver [Source].
• the hot “agni nakshatram” period of the summer is a stressing time which many an opportunistic virus will take full advantage of. Regular intake of neem flowers in quotidian amounts, whether in seasonings for buttermilk or other curd-salads or curd-based preparations like mango pulisseri, or even just in other tangy dals and rasams (such as Mysuru rasam), is considered to be fortifying–a sort of summer immunity booster.

And this is all really only listing home-uses, not to speak of the neem’s place in Ayurveda, panchagavya formulations, the use of neem oil (expressed from seeds), neem cake and the like in agricultural/organic farming use.

Collecting neem flowers

The hardest work of making vepampoo rasam is collecting, cleaning, drying and storing the neem flowers when they fall each summer. Old saris spread to catch the blossoms, or the blossoms picked from neighborhood trees, there still remains the work of separating each flower from the twiggy stems that hold them together.

Planting pumpkin patches underneath neem trees works like a charm, too: the broad pumpkin leaves catch the falling blossoms on their furry surfaces, and hold them much like Velcro, as burdock once stuck on the socks of the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral, who got the idea of a sticky fastener called from them. Our butternut patch, planted by complete coincidence under the neems, has taught me this. [You can catch a glimpse of this squash-leaf collection in the video below].

If you’re gathering flowers this way though, be vigilant. Flowers are easily contaminated by birds, insects, spiders and others what-whats going about their business in the garden.

A floral rasam series!

I’ve now something of a series of floral-medicinal rasams on the blog: pavazhamalli, aavaram, now vepampoo, with murungyapoo or drumstick flower rasam coming soon!

Vepampoo rasam

A special, seasonal, medicinal rasam that’s a classic in the Tamil repertoire, made with neem flowers in April and May each year. This rasam is a clear or thelivu rasam, suitable for drinking as much as eating with rice and rich with liver-cleansing, digestive, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties.

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Ingredients

  

• A lime-sized ball of tamarind, deseeded
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 handful toor dal
• 3-4 dry red chillies
• 1 piece katti perungayam or whole dry hing/asafoetida
• 1 and ½ teaspoons rasam podi
• 1 tablespoon jaggery
• 1½ tablespoons ghee, or sesame oil
• 3-4 tablespoons dried neem flowers

To temper (but see the notes–tempering neem flower rasam is optional)

• A teaspoon of ghee or sesame oil
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon jeera seeds
• a sprig of fresh curry leaves

Instructions

 

To make the rasam:

• Extract tamarind water by soaking the dry tamarind in a cup or so of warm water, leaving it to soak, and then working it with your fingers to release the pulp. Remove the seeds/pulp/fibres and place the tamarind water in a pan to boil.
• Add turmeric powder and salt and enough water to make about ¾ to 1 liter
• While that’s going, roast the dal, chillies, and hing in 1 tablespoon sesame oil until the dal turns fragrant and golden-brown. Take care not to burn it.
• Tip this into the simmering tamarind water
• Add the rasam powder and jaggery
• Simmer this mixture until the dals have cooked, the raw tamarind smell has dissipated, and the rasam is deepening in color.
• In 2 tablespoons ghee (or sesame oil), fry the dried neem flowers gently until they darken several shades—a minute or so. Take care not to let them burn.
• Pour this into the simmering rasam.

To temper (see notes; tempering neem flower rasam is optional)

• Heat the ghee or sesame oil in a tempering pan until it is almost smoking. Add the mustard seeds and jeera—watch those crackle and splutter—and then follow with the curry leaves.
• Once these crisp just lightly, pour over the rasam.
• Serve hot with a nice soft table rice like thooyamalli, khichli samba, or jeeraga samba.

Video

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Notes

• I prefer to temper my vepampoo rasam, but some don’t, preferring to end with the fried neem flower addition. Leave out the tempering step if you like! It gives you a far more distinctive neem flower taste. 
• If you have extra dried flowers, save these and have them with plain hot rice and a little salt!
• The rasavandi or heavier dal-chilli-flowers that settle at the bottom are great as accompaniments to curd-rice.
• The almost twin of this preparation is the pavazhamalli rasam of a season or two ago–both neem and coral jasmine flowers are medicinal bitters.