Rasam aka Amruth.

After being selected for the Blogadda’s Tangy Tuesday Pick, there is this insatiable thirst to get selected for the Spicy Saturday Pick.  But, don’t know when will that happen !!!! 🙄

That day of being selected into the Spicy Saturday Picks, will see the spicier and tangier minds in for a treat of great blogs, including mine. 😉

Talking of Spicier and Tangier, makes me wonder about the counterpart in our cooking – the Tangy Spicy Rasam aka Amruth !!!!

No South Indian Meal is complete without the Rasam – a tangy and spicy preparation with tamarind, tomatoes, pepper, jeera and chillies.  While the basic ingredients are only this much, the variations are mind-boggling.

Everyday cooking is complete with the paruppu rasam, which involves adding cooked dhal towards the end of the dhal making process.

But for those days, when you want to avoid the using of dhal, here’s the jeera rasam !!!  Actually, today I made this jeera rasam, which is such a perfect balance to the tummy, when it is preparing itself for a feast towards the night !!! 😉    And, it works the other way around too. When you are feel bloated and burpy, this is the perfect rasam for you, to make you feel better.  You can actually drink it !!!!  This is what I equate to Amruth !!!

While talking about rasams, this one requires a special mention, for being the Queen of Rasams – the Mysore Rasam. Its a delicacy. The proportions have to be perfect, the tamarind at the right level, then there is nothing to beat the taste of this rasam. We reserve this rasam for special occasions at home.

If you are a garlic lover, like me, then you wouldn’t want to miss this delicious garlic rasam !!! You can choose between crushing a few cloves of garlic and adding to the tamarind water, while boiling.  Or you can use  full garlic cloves in whole pieces, added to the rasam.  My girls and S, love it when I put the garlic cloves, in full pieces, without crushing them. They love the taste of garlic, boiled in that tangy tamarind water.

Also, this dish gives you the flexibility of so many variations, that you can add or minus certain things, according to the requirements of your tongue, on that particular day.  After all, it’s the tongue that decides what goes into the stomach !!! 🙂

 

All that talking cannot be satisfied, without the basic recipes, right ???? So, here they are.

Common for all rasam recipes  : (Paruppu / Jeera / Mysore / Garlic)

Tamarind – Around the size of a small lemon. Soak it for 30 mins, crush and extract the juice.

Red Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp

Dhaniya powder – 1/2 tsp

Tomato – 1

Cooked toor dhal – 2 tbsp ( For Paruppu rasam and Mysore Rasam)

Now, boil the tamarind juice, with required amount of salt, chilli powder, dhaniya powder for a few minutes.

Add the tomatoes cut into small pieces or grind in a mixer and add the puree – Whatever you like.

Paruppu rasam – Add 1 tsp of crushed pepper + jeera powder and hing.  Add the dhal and a glass of water. Simmer the gas. Let it come to a boil.

Jeera rasam – Grind coarsely 1 tsp of soaked toor dhal + 1/2 tsp of pepper + 1/2 tsp of jeera + 1/2 tsp coriander seeds. Add this with a glass of water to the rasam. Simmer the gas. Let it come to a boil.

Mysore rasam – Fry in 1/2 tsp of oil – 1 tsp Chenna dhal, 1 tsp Coriander seeds, 4 red chillies, hing and a little bit of dry coconut. If dry coconut is not there, you can also use regular coconut. Grind all these to a powder. Add 2 tsp of this powder, then the cooked dhal and a glass of water. Simmer the gas. Let it come to a boil.

Garlic rasam – Add crushed garlic or peeled cloves of garlic. Let it be cooked well. Then add 2 tsp of crushed pepper + jeera powder and a glass of water. Simmer the gas. Let it come to a boil.

Lemon rasam – This is quite different. Take only half the tamarind mentioned above and make the juice quite watery. Add salt, turmeric powder, 3 slit green chillies and some finely chopped tomatoes and boil it for some time.  Then add the cooked dhal and a glass of water. Simmer the gas. Let it come to a boil. Add the juice of one lemon to compensate for the lessened tamarind. This is one of the delicious rasams invented by people, I tell you. Make it and drink it to believe it.

Use more black pepper if u like, but don’t boil the rasam for a long time, after adding the crushed pepper – This is a very important tip – decides the taste of the rasam.  Rasam might turn bitter, if allowed to boil for a long time.

Finally, do a mustard tadka in ghee, for a fantastic fragrant house and superb taste !!! Add chopped coriander, if you like !!!

Pl do try them all and I hope that the recipe is easy to understand.

Hot rice, with ghee and rasam is excellent on any given day !!! Please do not forget that Pappad, OK !!!!  Aloo fry is also a damn good combination.

So, do you agree that it’s indeed the Amruth, which is named as Rasam ???!!!! 🙂