Rasam

South Indian meals, particularly lunch, is never complete without some tangy, sour, digestives such as the moru (curd) rice and another soupy dish called rasam. Rasam means “juice”. Rasam commonly refers to soup prepared with sweet-sour stock made from either kokum or tamarind, along with tomato and lentil, added spices and garnish. The Karnataka and Andhra varieties are called saaru in Kannada and chaaru in Telugu, respectively. The spices used include chili pepper, black pepper, cumin etc.

It is eaten with rice or separately as a spicy soup and can be consumed hot or cold. Rasam has a distinct taste in comparison to the sambar due to its own seasoning ingredients. Given its usage as a regular dish in daily meals, Rasam Powder is prepared and stored in airtight containers beforehand.

Ingredients

Rasam is prepared mainly with kokum, kadampuli/kachampuli (malabar tamarind) or tamarind stock depending on the region, along with tomato stock. Lentils are optional but are used in several rasams recipes. Other ingredients used are jaggery, garlic, cumin, black pepper, chilli powder, turmeric, curry leaves, coriander as flavoring ingredients and garnish.

The below series covers pretty much the whole gamut of rasams one can savour in South Indian households.

Pepper Rasam- Different Variety

Ingredients :

Ghee – 1 palam

Red Chillies – ⅛ palam

Mustard Seed – ⅛ palam

Black Gram – ⅛ palam

Bengal Gram -¼ palam

Pure Water – ½ padi

Curry Leaves – 1 palam

Ghee – ½ palam

Pepper -½ palam

Grated Coconut – 1½palam

Salt – ¼ palam

Milk – ¼ padi

Method :

1. Heat ghee in a 1 and ½ padi water holding capacity lead coated vessel and season it using the seasoning method in receipe no. 22 (seasoning recipe). Use red chillies, mustard, black gram and Bengal gram.

2. Pour pure water into the seasoning. Add curry leaves after frying them and cook on slow fire.

3. Heat ghee in another vessel and add pepper pods after frying and crushing the pods. Grind grated coconut, mix it with water and pour it into the rasam. Add salt and milk and boil the rasam.

4. Remove from fire and set aside.