Rasam — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A fiery South Indian tamarind and tomato broth seasoned with black pepper, cumin, and curry leaves. Served as a soup course or poured over rice, this thin lentil broth is both medicinal and deeply satisfying.

Ingredients

2 medium tomatoes, chopped
50g tamarind paste
1 tablespoon rasam powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground
50g toor dal, cooked and mashed
1 tablespoon ghee
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
10 curry leaves
2 dried red chilies
3 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
750ml water

Instructions

1 Soak the tamarind paste in warm water for fifteen minutes, then squeeze and strain it to extract a tangy liquid, discarding the pulp and fibers.
2 Combine the tamarind extract, chopped tomatoes, rasam powder, turmeric, black pepper, salt, and water in a pot and bring it to a rolling boil over medium heat.
3 Add the cooked and mashed toor dal to the boiling broth and simmer for ten minutes until the tomatoes are completely broken down and the flavors have melded together.
4 Prepare the tempering by heating ghee in a small pan, adding mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dried red chilies, and curry leaves, and frying until they crackle and pop.
5 Pour the sizzling tempering into the rasam, stir in the fresh coriander, and serve it steaming hot in small cups as a soup or ladled over a bowl of steamed rice.

Did You Know?

Rasam was the inspiration for mulligatawny soup, which British colonists created by asking their Indian cooks to make a pepper water they could eat with bread instead of rice.