KALYANA RASAM

My daughter always insists me to make Rasam and Rice but never tried it. In January 2020, visited so many South Indian restaurants during our Pondicherry, Auroville trip and enjoyed the staple food served there. After returning I got tempted for rasam and rice and unexpectedly one of my friends share this KALYANA RASAM recipe in one of our WhatsApp group. So tried it immediately for dinner and it turned out super delicious. There are so many varieties of rasam in South India which I really love to try after this. Some are without tomato, some without tamarind, some with garlic and many more. Rasam recipes have become one of the popular and integral parts of south indian cuisine. This particular rasam is purely a tomato based with fresh spices. We don’t need rasam powder for this rasam recipe. This rasam is very sumptuous and flavourful that I couldn’t resist myself from trying another batch of it.  This is authentic and traditional spicy lentil based soup recipe made with authentic and traditional spices. It is specially prepared in Iyengar Tamil Brahmin wedding feast and is known for its flavour and taste. It is generally served as a side dish to steamed rice just before the sambar meal with poryal and pappadums.

INGREDIENTS:

1 small Lemon Size Tamarind

3 Tomatoes, medium size

2 tablespoon Tuwar Dal [pigeon pea]

1 teaspoon Salt [according to your taste]

1 sprig Curry Leaves

1 pinch Asafoetida

Chopped Coriander Leaves

Ingredients For Grinding:

1 teaspoon Ghee

2 teaspoon Coriander seeds

2 teaspoon Tuwar Dal

1 teaspoon Peppercorns

1 -2 Dry Red Chillies [adjust your spice level]

2 Kashmiri Red Chillies [optional for colour]

½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds

Ingredients for Tempering:

1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds

1 teaspoon Ghee

METHOD:

Let’s Make The Rasam Masala Powder:

STEP 1 – Heat a pan on low flame, add ghee and the grinding ingredients. Do not add cumin seeds.

STEP 2 – Roast it till the dal turns golden brown in colour.

STEP 3 – Transfer the roasted ingredients in a plate and let them cool. Add cumin seeds to it.

STEP 4 – After cooling completely, add the ingredients to mixer pot and grind to a fine powder. Keep it aside.

Preparation For Making Rasam:

STEP 1 – Soak the tamarind in water and extract the juice.

STEP 2 – Wash and soak the tuwar dal for 15-20 minutes.

STEP 3 - Then pressure cook the tuwar dal for 2 whistles.

STEP 4 – Cool completely and then mash dal nicely and keep it aside.

STEP 5 – Cut 1 tomato finely and puree remaining 2 tomatoes. Keep them aside.

How to Proceed:

STEP 1 – In a vessel, add tamarind juice/ pulp along with chopped tomato, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida and mix well.
STEP 2 – Add tomato puree to the mixture and mix it well. Keep it on the flame.

STEP 3 – Allow the rasam to boil for about 5 minutes on medium flame or till the raw smell of the tamarind goes off.

STEP 4 – Add smashed dal and mix well. Now mix 2 cups of water and allow the rasam to cook for about 5-6 minutes on a low to medium flame.

STEP 5 – Finally, add ground masala powder and mix well and when the rasam gets froth, remove from flame. No need to boil at this stage.

For Tempering:

STEP 1 – Heat small tempering pan with ghee. Then add mustard seeds and let them crackle.

STEP 2 – Add this tempering to the rasam and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander.

STEP 3 – Your rasam is ready,  serve hot.

Serve hot with plain steamed rice and enjoy.