Rasam / ரசம்

Rasam is a south Indian soup.Traditional preparation involves tamarind juice as base in addition to tomato, Pepper, Cumin and other spices as seasonings.This is my mom’s way of making rasam  where she used to grind all the spices freshly instead of using readymade rasam powder from store.

Ingredients:

• 1 no – Tamarind (gooseberry size)
• 2 no – Tomato(ripe and medium sized)
• 3 no – Garlic (crushed)
• 1 no – Green chilli (crushed)
• 1/4 tsp – Turmeric powder
• 2 pinch – Sugar
• 2 stalk – Coriander leaves(malli thalai)
• Salt – as needed
• 3 cups – water

Rasam powder:

• 1 tsp – Coriander seeds
• 2 tsp – Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp – Peppercorns

Seasonings:

• 1 tsp – Oil
• 3/4 tsp – Mustard seeds(kaduku)
• 1 pinch – Fenugreek seeds (venthayam)
• 1 pinch – Asafoetida (perungayam/hing)
• 4 nos – Curry leaves

Preparation Method:

1. Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup of water and squeeze out the pulp.Take a vessel add this tamarind juice, squeezed tomatoes and then add crushed garlic and green chili.
2. Coarsely grind coriander seeds,cumin and peppercorns.Mix this ground powder to the tamarind juice mixture.
3. Now time to add salt,pinch sugar along with remaining water(2 1/2 cup) and bring it to boil. You should see froth forming on the top layer. Do not over boil (you shouldn’t leave until bubble bursts). This is important as if you over boil we will lose the real flavor of rasam.
4. Sprinkle coriander leaves and temper it with mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds,curry leaves and a pinch asafoetida.

Notes:

• Use nicely ripped tangy tomatoes and you can reduce the tomatoes if you feel they are too tangy.
• You can either use your hands to squeeze tomatoes or you can also grind tomatoes in a mixer grinder along with rasam powder.