Scope

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.

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.

Ingredient and Process of Cooking

Pure Water – 1 padi

Red Chilly – palam

Pepper – ¼ palam

Cumin Seed – palam

Black Gram – ¼ palam

Grated Coconut – ½ palam

Salt – ½ palam

Curry Leaves – palam

Tamarind – 1½ palam

Ghee – ½ palam

Pepper – palam

Mustard Seed – palam

Asafoetida – 2 ku.a

1. Fry red chillies, pepper, cumin seeds, black gram and grated coconut separately in ghee and grind to a fine paste using little water.

2. Take 1 padi pure water and mix this paste in that water. Boil this dish by adding salt to it. Fry curry leaves in slow fire and add it to the rasam.

3. Make tamarind as a ball and put it into the rasam. When the rasam boils well, season it by referring to the seasoning method given in recipe no. 22 (seasoning recipe). Add ghee, pepper and mustard for seasoning.

4. Dissolve asafoetida in water and pour this also into the rasam.

References

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