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.

Fenugreek Kottu Rasam

Ingredients :

Pure Water – 2 padi

Tamarind – 6 palam

Salt – ¾ palam

Fenugreek – ¼ palam

Pigeonpea – 1 palam

Red Chilli – ⅜ palam

Pepper -⅛ palam

Grated Coconut – 1½ palam

Curry Leaves – 1 palam

Coriander Leaves – ⅛ palam

Ghee – ½ palam

Red Chillies – ⅛ palam

Mustard – ⅛ palam

Asafoetida – 2 ku.a

Method :

1. Soak tamarind in water for half an hour and remove the seeds. Take out 1 and ¼ clear water from the tamarind juice and boil it in a coated vessel.

2. Add salt to this. Fry fenugreek, pigeon pea, red chillies and pepper in ghee or oil separately.

3. Add coconut, sprinkle water and grind all the ingredients together. Mix this with the tamarind pulp. Fry curry leaves in slow fire and add it along with the coriander leaves to the rasam.

4. Refer to the seasoning method given in receipe no. 22 (seasoning recipe) and add ghee, red chillies and mustard seeds to the rasam.

5. Dissolve asafoetida in water and pour it into the rasam.