About Rasam

So What is Rasam? Rasam is a South Indian traditional soup made with tamarind, tomatoes, warming spices and aromatic herbs. The word Rasam means “juice” in Tamil and Telugu. It may mean any juice. Here in this context, Rasam is a soup like dish where juices of tangy Tamarind or tomatoes are simmered with tempered whole spices like mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek & black pepper. These spices apart from adding flavor also aid in digestion. This humble and comforting soup is said to possess a lot of medicinal values as it is simmered with healing spices. Since it aids digestion it is great to have even during cold & stomach upsets. Rasam is a staple in many traditional South Indian homes. I make this when I have no pre-made rasam powder & in a hurry to make dinner.

My Rasam Recipe

The taste of this rasam comes very close to the one served with a South Indian meal in any good restaurant. It tastes slightly tangy, mildly sweet & flavorful from cumin, pepper powder and garlic. This is so simple that even beginners can make it. This rasam is also suitable to serve babies & toddlers. For babies skip the red chilli and black pepper. Pass the rasam through a strainer before mixing it with mashed rice. For toddlers skip red chili and reduce black pepper. You can also refrigerate and consume within 2 days. Bring it to a rolling boil before serving. Here are some vegetable stir fry dishes to serve with rice & rasam Potato stir frySweet potato stir fryBrinjal stir fryBhindi stir fryCarrot stir curry / fry

How To Make Rasam (stepwise photos)

  1. To a pan, add ¼ teaspoon methi seeds & one dried red chilli. On a low flame, dry roast them until methi turns slightly aromatic. Then add 1½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) and ¼ to ½ tsp pepper corn. Roast all of them until methi seeds turn slightly dark in color and aromatic. If making for baby or toddler skip red chili and use less pepper. Cool them and add to a grinder jar.
  2. You can also coarsely crush it in a mortar pestle. Set aside. You can also skip this roasting part & just powder the spices directly but the aroma is great when roasted.
  3. Add 1½ tablespoon oil to a hot pot. When the oil turns hot, add half broken red chili, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ½ teaspoon mustard seeds.
  4. Soon they begin to splutter, then add 3 to 4 crushed garlic, 1 sprig curry leaves and then a pinch of hing. Saute well until the leaves turn crisp.
  5. Add 1 to 1½ cups chopped or mashed tomatoes or pureed (about 2 to 3 medium tomatoes). Sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon turmeric.
  6. Cover and cook or saute until the tomatoes turn mushy.
  7. Add spice powder or rasam powder from step 1.
  8. Mix and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. The spice powder must smell good.
  9. Pour 2½ to 3 cups water. Add 1 teaspoon tamarind. Less is fine but don’t a lot.
  10. Add jaggery to taste. I use about 1 to 2 tablespoons to balance the flavors. So adjust to your taste.
  11. Bring it to a boil & let simmer for 5 minutes. Rasam boiled on a low flame tastes good. Stir well and take little rasam in a tablespoon. Cool it and taste test. Add more salt, tamarind and jaggery if needed.
  12. Add ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves with stalks. Cover and turn off the stove. Serve Rasam with steamed rice and some papad, stir fry veggies. You may like to check theseTomato rasamTamarind rasam – without tomatoLemon rasamRasam powder recipe.

Faqs

Basic Rasam vs Tomato Rasam

For a basic recipe, the spice powder is made without lentils and coriander seeds. Roasted cumin, pepper and fenugreek seeds are crushed or powdered and used. But the spice powder used to make tomato rasam has a small amount of lentils & coriander seeds added to it as a thicker. So both the versions taste completely different & even the consistency is different. Basic rasam is on the thinner side.

How to make Garlic Rasam?

Pour ½ cup water to a pot and heat it. Add a lemon sized ball of tamarind and let it soften. Then add another 1½ cups water and extract the juice. Discard the pulp. To the same bowl, add the spice powder we made in the recipe along with 8 well crushed medium garlic cloves. Add jaggery and salt to taste. Bring this to a boil and then reduce the flame to low. Simmer it for 5 minutes. Add coriander leaves and turn off. Make a tempering in 1 tsp hot ghee by adding ½ teaspoon mustard seeds, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1 red chilli & 1 sprig curry leaves. When the garlic cloves turn slightly golden, add 1/8 tsp hing. Pour this to the garlic rasam.

Recipe Card

Rasam recipe first published in December 2012. Updated & Republished in November 2022.

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