TOMATO RASAM

This is a spicy, tomato based curry eaten in South India.  Growing up in a Muslim home in Malabar, I was not familiar with rasam, until I married.  My in-laws are from Tamil Nadu and there are many kinds of rasams prepared in their homes.  It wasn't until I moved to Dubai that I learnt to make rasam from my sister in law Thahira.  In the picture below, you can see my little notebook from the early 90s, in which I have written down her recipe.  It remains the only rasam that I make and most likely, will be the only rasam in my culinary repertoire.  My family eats this rasam with rice, spicy potatoes, fried fish/prawns, yogurt and some spicy pickles.  A departure from this specific combination is met with some annoyance, or  maybe I should call it disappointment by my kids.

Thank you Thahira, for teaching me how to make rasam.

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 3, peeled and soaked in 1 cup of warm water

Tamarind pulp - 1 tbsp, soaked in 1/2 cup of warm water. Tamarind Pulp (this is what I use).  Please refer to this video on how to use tamarind pulp - How to prepare tamarind paste

Cummin seeds - 1 tbsp

Peppercorns - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek (methi) seeds - 1/8 tsp

Green chili - 1

Curry leaves - 4-6

Coriander leaves - 3 sprigs (I didn't have any when I made this version of rasam so I left it out.  I recommend using it though as it lends a nice colour to the dish)

Garlic - 1 pod

Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Water - for desired consistency of rasam (some people like a very runny rasam)

Coarsely grind all the dry ingredients - cummin seeds, peppercorns, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.  Then add all the wet ingredients - green chili, curry leaves, garlic and coriander leaves.  Quickly pulse your grinder so that the ground mixture looks like it does in the picture below.

 


Do not grind to a smooth paste.  You want some texture to this mix.

Mash the tomatoes into the water. You may use your hands or a potato masher.  Do the same with the tamarind.

Use a strainer and add the tamarind to the tomatoes.  It is a thick liquid. Use a spoon and press down on the mixture in the strainer to make sure you get all the tamarind pulp.  You may substitute store bought tamarind pulp or tamarind powder.  I couldn't tell you exactly how much to use as I haven't used it before in this dish.  My instincts tell me to use sparingly as these would be more concentrated in flavour.  

 

Heat the oil in a cooking utensil.  Bring to a medium heat.  Add the ground paste and turmeric to the oil. 

Fry these spices till the raw odor is gone and the mixture begins to smell aromatic.  Do not burn the spice mixture.  Add the tomato-tamarind mixture.  Add 1 cup of water and salt to taste.

Mix well.  Bring to a boil.  Stir well so that all the spices mix in well.  Reduce to a simmer.  Cover the utensil and let it simmer for 20 minutes so that the flavours settle in well.  

This was my plate when I made this rasam.  No fried fish or shrimps.  But I did have spicy potatoes and some very nice aubergine pickles that I whipped up, soon after the city went into isolation due to COVID-19.  It was a delicious meal.