Apr 30, 2007

Rasam

I tasted this wonderful dish at a family friend's house in Bangalore. They are staunch brahmins, needless to say all the dishes made at their place are lip-smacking! I've tasted many kinds of rasam but I'am hooked to this one in particular and it's my all time favourite. Thanks to Aunty for the recipe.


INGREDIENTS:
1. Tuvar Dal - 1/2 cup
2. Tomatoes - 2 (ripe)
3. Turmeric pd. - 1/4 tsp
4. Salt - as per taste
5. Tamarind pulp - 1 cup (extracted from a lime sized ball)

To make a dry paste: (raw)
1. Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
2. Methi (fenugreek) seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Mustard - a pinch
4. Garlic - 2 cloves
5. Black peppercorns - 3/4 tsp
6. Coriander leaves - a handful (with stem)
7. Curry leaves - a few
8. Hing - a pinch
9. Dry red chillis - 1
10. Cumin (jeera) - 1/4 tsp


For Seasoning:

1. Oil or Ghee - 2 tbsp
2. Mustard - 1 tsp
3. Curry leaves - a few


METHOD:
1. Pressure cook dal. In a vessel take 6 cups water. Add crushed tomatoes ( I ususally cook the tomatoes in microwave for 2 minutes with a little water and then add it to the water), turmeric powder, tamarind pulp and salt. Bring to a boil.


2. In a blender or dry grinder (coffee grinder) put in all the dry ingredients and grind to a rough powder. Then add the other ingredients (leaves and garlic) and blend. It has to be a rough grind. Blending for a few seconds till it all comes together would be fine.

3. In a kadai take some oil or ghee (you can also mix both). When hot put the mustard. When it splutters, put in all the other ingredients reqd for seasoning. Immediately add the roughly ground paste and saute for about 10 seconds or till the aroma comes.


4. Pour the tamarind-tomato extract which was boiled into the kadai or vice versa. Also add the cooked dal and boil for 1 minute. (At this stage if you prefer a little sweetness, add a small piece of jaggery). Turn the stove off. Garnish with coriander leaves.





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vini, A brahmin Rasam ought to taste good. The rasam looks mouthwatering. Thx for sharing it with us.

Latha said...

The rasam looks so yummy! Your vadas and now the rasam rice looks so good. I'm hungry!

Anonymous said...

Vini..thank you very much for the recipe..looks great too.
Suma

The Green heart! said...

Hi.. i tried this recipe and it came out well. a beginner in cooking i never knew how to make rasam and was planning to make it with store bought rasam powder. thanks to you, the powder remains unopened and i did relish this rasam!!