How to makeTomato Rasam

First we'l see how to make rasam podi. This is made and  stored, so that its easy to use we want to make rasam. The freshly ground rasam is the tastiest I would say.

There may be lot of varities of rasam, this one is my favourite. This recipe is my mom -in-law's. I adhere to her method. Lets make the podi 1st then the rasam.

How to make Rasam Podi

Ingredients

Toor Dal - 1 cup

Corriander seeds (Dhania) - 3 cups

Pepper corns - 3/4 cups

Red chillies - 4 to 5

Cumin Seeds (Jeera) = 1/2 cup

Preparation

In a kadai, dry roast coriander seeds, Chillies, Pepper, Toor dal. When it is almost done, add Jeera and transfer it to a plate to cool. Then grind this. (Consistency - not too coarse not to fine).

This is Rasam Podi.

How to make the Rasam

Ingredients

Tomato - 2 chopped

Tamarind - a small lemon sized

Turmeric - 1/2 spoon

Asafoetida

Toor dal - 1/2 cup

Corriander leaves

Ghee - 1 spoon

Mustard

Curry leaves

Salt

As the 1st step, wash the 1/2 cup of toor dal, pressure cook it by addling little turmeric. When that is done, take a spoon and mash it well by adding a little water. Keep this aside.

Then in a small bowl, take the tamarind &1 1/2 glass warm water, extract the juice well & throw the residue. To this tamarind add, a little turmeric, salt, a pinch of asafoetida and; bring it to boil.

Add the tomatoes. When the skin of the tomatoes peel away & the mixture boils up, add 3 spoons of rasam podi and bring it to boil. When the mixture rises up, stir well. The aroma of the rasam will rise.

Now, add the cooked & mashed toor dal into this. Also add the corriander leaves. And when it boils and rises up, take it off the gas.

If its over cooked, the rasam give a burnt taste. So make sure you dont over heat it.

The rasam is almost done.

Now we have to season it. In a skillet, heat ghee add mustard seeds, when its spurts, add some cumin seeds, a pinch of asafoetida and then the curry leaves. When done add this to the rasam.

Delicious Rasam is done.

Few tips: If ghee is not available, we can use oil.

When the curry are added, it will spurt out. So, we can have a lid handy. So when we add these curry leaves to the kadai, we can immediaely close it. This avoids spill overs of the mustard seeds on the gas & spurting out of the ghee/oil on our hands.

Rasam can be mixed with rice and taken. It can be eaten with any Kariamudhu (curry).

The Ingredients in the rasam actually helps in enhancing digestion.

How to make Usili Karamudu. (Paruppu Usili/ Beans Lentils Curry)

How to make Paruppu Usili

Ingredients
Toor dal : 1/2 cup

Channa dal : 1/2 cup

Red Chilli : 2

Salt to taste

Turmeric

Mustard seeds

Urad dal : 1/4 spoon

Asafoetida : a pinch

Oil

Usili can be done with one of the following vegetables : Potalankai (Snake gourd), Beans, Banana flower (vazhai po), Broad beans (avaraikai), kothavarankai (cluster beans).

Preparation

Cut the vegetables and pressure cook them after adding salt and turmeric.

Soak Toor dal, Channa dal for half an hour. Then, grind them coarsly with minimum water after adding salt, red chilli , asafoetida.

Heat 6 spoons of oil in Kadai. When it fumes, add mustard and then udad dal, when they are roasted untill golden brown add the dal mix, stir thoroughly, close the kadai with a plate and allow it to cook (10 to 15 minutes). Keep stirring every 3 minutes.

After the dal gets cooked, add the cooked vegetables, mix well, fry for 5 minutes and remove.

Its ready.

Combination

Mostly taken with Mor Kuzambu. Also good with araicha sathumudhu (Tomato Rasam)