Pepper rasam

Hot, peppery & aromatic - a lighter, south-Indian version of tomato soup! Pepper rasam uses fresh spices like cumin seeds & pepper and is a perfect comforting on cold weather & rainy days. When someone in our home is slightly under the weather, this is the most sought-after recipe - absolutely homey & heart-warming!!

You might see that this rasam also uses the same ingredients as that of Jeera rasam. But, the variation part is that the spices are ground into dry powder and not as a paste like how we do for Jeera rasam.

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple

Prep time - 5 mins

Cook time - 15 mins

Serves - about 2 cups

Ingredients

Chopped medium sized RIPE tomatoes - 3-4 nos
Tamarind - size of a gooseberry
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1/4 tablespoon
Pepper corn - 1/2 tablespoon
Raw Toor dal - 1/4 tablespoon
Red chillies (small) - 1-2 nos (optional)
Curry leaves - Few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - Few - spluttered in little oil
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1/2 tsp (to temper mustard seeds)

Method

Add hot water to tamarind & extract about 1.5 cups of tamarind juice from it.

Take tamarind juice in a pan/vessel and add tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt to it. Let it boil until the raw smell of tamarind is gone and the tomatoes are completely cooked. Grind cumin seeds, pepper corn, toor dal, red chillies into a fine powder.

Add this powder to the boiling rasam and about 1/2 cup of water. Let the rasam froth & remove from heat. Add spluttered mustard seeds & curry leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Notes:

Grind the spices just before you need the paste to be added to rasam. This way flavor of all the spices will be fresh & bold.