Rasam, Good for Colds, Great on Rice

I hadn't planned to do a post on Rasam yet, but as my husband came down with a sore throat and sniffles last night, it was rasam time in the Dath household yesterday, and I thought that I would share this tasty (and therapeutic) recipe. My pictures were taken at night, so they’re not lit as well as I would like.

Rasam can be thought of as a soup, but it is often served as a beverage in a tumbler or eaten poured on rice with yogurt. The spicy, yogurty rice makes a nice light meal, with the yogurt helping cut the heat of the rasam.

There are many types of rasam. One of my south Indian cookbooks has an entire chapter devoted to different types of rasam. The recipe that follows is my Amma’s recipe. It’s fairly standard, and has the benefit of being very quick and easy to make as well as delicious.

Rasam
This makes enough for about two people

Ingredients


1 Tbl black peppercorns
3 Tbl coriander seeds
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
<.25 tsp asafetida
1 tsp salt
.5 – 1 tsp mustard seeds (brown)
10-20 curry leaves, thinly sliced so that they can be eaten
4-5 red chilies
1 Tbl oil
Tamarind liquid or concentrate*
1 large tomato or 3-4 small tomato, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced
3 cups water

Instructions
You can make this recipe starting with whole or pre-ground spices. If using whole, grind the black pepper, coriander, cumin, and half of the red chilies into a powder. Put this mixture into the pot and toast over medium heat until fragrant. When the spice mixture is toasted, add the three cups of water (I usually add boiling water from the kettle), turmeric, asafetida, tomatoes, garlic, salt, tamarind, and about three-quarters of the curry leaves. Let this mixture simmer/boil for several minutes to cook the garlic, tomatoes, and tamarind and to extract the flavors from the spices and curry leaves.

While the rasam is simmering, in a separate pan put the oil and mustard seeds together over medium heat until the seeds pop. When the seeds have popped, add the remaining curry leaves and red chilies and fry for a minute or so. Add the oil/ spice mixture to the rasam pot. A trick to keep the mustard seeds from flying all over the place is to make sure that the seeds are submerged under the oil. Tilt the pan to fry, and the thick layer of oil on top of the seeds usually can keep them from flying out.

Once the oil mixture is added to the pot and stirred in, the rasam is done.

Cup of Rasam


*The amount of tamarind added depends on what form of tamarind you’re adding. For example, in this recipe I used Thai tamarind concentrate which is like slightly thickened tamarind water (picture follows). I ended up adding three soup spoonfuls to the pot. A common tamarind concentrate sold in Indian stores is Tamicon. It has the consistency and appearance of molasses and is much more concentrated. I would probably use one teaspoonful of that for this recipe. If using straight tamarind pods (for example those bricks of pressed tamarind pods that you can get at Indian grocery stores), I would probably tear off a piece slightly smaller than the size of a tennis ball. The pods should be softened in hot water for about a half an hour. After the half hour, rub the pods to release all the pulp and separate out the seeds and rough bits. Strain the liquid and add it to the pot. The tamarind liquid should have the pulp in it, but the seeds and tough parts should be kept out. When using this tamarind water, modify the total amount of water added to the pot to make sure that it’s about three cups to keep things in proportion.

Thai Tamarind Concentrate


Notes
The black pepper and red chilies make this pretty spicy. However, you can reduce both these things to your preferred heat level without affecting the taste of the rasam too much. Also, the amounts of all the spices can be modified to reflect your personal taste.

Enjoy and Happy 4th!
Jen

It's telling of the incidental nature of life that the first day your previous chutney post appeared was also the day I picked up Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" for the first time.
Please keep the posts coming--you're illuminating a sector of cuisine of which I'm sorely lacking in knowledge!
Thanks,
Parker

Postscript--
(I'm having difficulty imagining the Rasam as a beverage--I believe I'd enjoy it much more over rice, or framed as a soup--but, then again, I'd probably have a problem picturing a Worcester-and-horseradish-laden Bloody Mary as a beverage if I'd never before heard of such a thing.)

ParkerS wrote:I'm having difficulty imagining the Rasam as a beverage--I believe I'd enjoy it much more over rice, or framed as a soup--but, then again, I'd probably have a problem picturing a Worcester-and-horseradish-laden Bloody Mary as a beverage if I'd never before heard of such a thing.

Soup or beverage is a matter of context. Bouillon is sometimes served in cups like tea. I've just been making a chilled fruit soup that works as either an appetizer or a dessert and could easily be called a "smoothie" and drunk through a straw.

Lovely post, Jen. Do you serve this hot or cold?

Thanks Parker and LAZ. Rasam is usually served piping hot.

Jen

Rasam can be thought of as a soup, but it is often served as a beverage in a tumbler or eaten poured on rice with yogurt. The spicy, yogurty rice makes a nice light meal, with the yogurt helping cut the heat of the rasam.

This surprised me - I've never been offered rasam in any form other than in a small katori, piping hot, to start a meal & whet the appetite. With rice & yogurt I've always had sambar offered, not rasam.

Hi Athena,

I was surprised too the first time I saw rasam eaten on rice as my previous experience had been similar to yours. I just asked my husband about this, and he said that the popularity and manner of eating rasam varies quite a bit depending on family, community, and geography. He noted that rasam is typically a much more popular dish in Tamil Nadu than in Kerala. Compared to sambar and other wet curries, his family (from Kerala) very rarely makes rasam. (They always recommend it for colds though.) I guess this explains why I only have one rasam recipe from his mom, while she seems to have a nearly infinite variety of sambar and dhal recipes.

Jen

I love rasam -- which I usually drink out of a cup, though I've had it in a bowl as part of a traditional meal in Kerala. But until now, I've had to rely on rasam paste from the store -- and it's not always possible to find the same brand twice. So I really appreciate having a recipe. Thanks.