Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Rasam

Rasam

This rasam recipe was invented by Nataraja Iyer. Long time ago he wrote a cookery column in a tamil magazine. At that time he gave this recipe to his readers. My mom used to prepare it often. It was a big hit in our household. Everyone liked it. I forgot this recipe for a long time and one fine day I  remembered about this rasam. I asked my mom for the recipe even she could not remember it. So I searched in internet and found a single post about this rasam.

This rasam preparation is very unique. We never boil tamarind juice when making rasam but this recipe calls for boiling the tamarind extract. Nataraja Iyer asked the readers to prepare this rasam in a brass vessel (pithalai sombu) for a better taste. I do not have any brass vessel. So I prepared it in a heavy-bottomed aluminium cooker. This is the most flavourful rasam I ever had. Anybody will get hooked to it,  because of  its nice aroma and excellent taste. Try this, you will love it.

Ingredients :

Cooked and mashed toor dhal- 1 cup
Tamarind- size of a lemon
Dried red chillies- 5 nos
Green chillies- 4 nos
Curry leaves- 20 leaflets
Jeera seeds- 2 tspns
Black whole pepper- 1 tspn
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tspn
Asafoetida powder- 1/4 tspn
Mustard, fenugreek and jeera seeds- 1/2 tspn
Jaggery (vellam)- a small piece
Garlic- 3 pods (crushed)
Salt to taste
Oil or ghee for tempering- 1 tbspn

Method :

Cook and mash toor dhal. Mix 2 cups of water to it and keep aside. Take tamarind and soak it in 3/4 cup of  warm water for 10 minutes. Extract the tamarind juice by squeezing it . Now add 3/4 cup of water again to the extracted tamarind juice. Once again add 3/4 cup of water. Take the tamarind juice in a brass or any heavy-bottomed vessel. To this add broken red chillies, crushed green chillies, curry leaves,  a small jaggery piece, salt, turmeric and asafoetida powder. Boil this mixture well until it becomes half of its original volume. Now add the cooked dhal and coarsely ground jeera and balck pepper seeds to the boiled tamarind mixture. Boil this mixture again until a froathy layer forms on the top. Remove from fire. Take a pan. Heat oil or ghee. When the oil gets heated add mustard, methi seeds (fenugreek) and jeera seeds. When they splutter add curry leaves and crushed garlic. Switch off the stove and transfer the tempered ingredients to the rasam. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. A very aromatic rasam will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Use brass vessel if possible or any heavy-bottomed vessel. Do not miss any ingredients. Ghee adds a lot of flavour. Use tamarind which is sour enough.

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