Rasam
Rasam is a soothing dish, a sort of comfort food for the South Indian. It can soothe one's nerves and relax the digestive system. There are various kinds of rasams, tomato rasam, milagu rasam, lemon rasam, mysore rasam and so on. Again methods of preparing rasam vary from region to region.
Here I shall give you the method I learnt from my mother in my early cooking days. It is quick, easy and really tasty!! Nothing like Mom's cooking......
Ingredients
- 1 small lemon size ball of tamarind soaked in warm water
- 2-3 tomatoes medium size...not over-ripe.
- 2 green chillies (split into halves)
- A few scrapping of ginger
- A small bit of asafoetida (hing) or 1/2 tsp. of asafoetida (hing) powder
- 1/2 cup of tuvar dal (thuvaram paruppu)
- A small bunch of coriander leaves (chopped fine)
- A few twigs of curry leaves
- 1 1/2 tsps. salt
- 2 tsps. rasam powder (rasa podi) ( https://radhascooking.blogspot.com/2019/09/rasam-powder.html)
For tempering
- 1 tsp. ghee
- 1 tsp. mustard seeds
- 1 red chilli broken into bits
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
- 1/4 tsp. jeera
Method of preparation
- Wash the tuvar dal (thuvaram paruppu) and pressure cook it alongwith tomatoes, green chillies, ginger and asafoetida.
- After 2 whistles, simmer the pressure cooker for 5-6 minutes.
- On cooling, mash the dal well and keep aside.
- Extract the tamarind juice. Make up the tamarind extract to about 2 cups. Add the rasam powder, curry leaves and salt and cook on medium flame for about 8-10 minutes, till the smell of tamarind has gone.
- Now add the mashed dal mixture to the tamarind extract and cook on low flame till it boils and bubbles appear on the surface. Simmer for a few more minutes.
- Switch off the flame.
- Add the chopped coriander leaves and cover.
- Take ghee in a kadai and heat it.
- When hot, add the mustard seeds, broken chilli, asafoetida. When the mustard seeds sputter, add the jeera and temper the rasam.
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| Rasam ready to be served in bowls |
