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
Pepper Pod – palam
Pigeonpea ` – palam
Red Chilli – palam
Curry Leaves – palam
Pure Water – 2 padi
Tender Leaves of Shikakai – 2 palam
Salt – ¾ palam
Ghee – ¾ palam
Mustard Seed – palam
Cumin Seed – palam
Fenugreek Seed – veesam 1/16 palam
1. Fry separately pepper pods, pigeonpea, red chillies, curry leaves in ghee and grind it together. This can be ground without frying also.
2. Take 2 padi pure water and dissolve the masala in the water and boil it. Add tender shikakai leaves in the boiling water and after it boils, add salt to it.
3. Refer to the seasoning method in recipe no. 22 (seasoning recipe) for seasoning. Fry mustard, cumin seeds and fenugreek in ghee and pour the seasoning into the rasam. This rasam is good to cure acidity.
References
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