There is no need for an introduction to a staple of South India, rasam. You will see it being served at parties, weddings, and hotels. It is one of the comforting and nutritious dishes that helps with digestion. Known by many names, it is a dish filled with nostalgia and granny’s love.
Rasam recipes are in abundance on the internet, so we have prepared a quick guide for you, from the ingredients you need to the cooking process. It is important to buy fresh ingredients for rasam, and shopping for groceries early in the morning, like our parents and grandparents used to, will make the experience more memorable.
Classic Rasam Recipe: Steps to Follow
Let’s begin a culinary journey into a simple yet delicious rasam recipe:
Ingredients that you need to create this magical dish:
For the rasam powder:
- Dry chillies: 5
- Toor dal: 2 tbsp
- Whole black pepper: 1/2 tbsp
- Jeera: 1/2 tbsp
- Hing: 1 tsp
For the rasam:
- Tomatoes: 4, chopped
- Water: 3 cups
- Ghee: 1 tsp
- Rai (mustard seeds): 1/2 tsp
- Curry leaves: 2 sprigs
- Coriander leaves: 3 sprigs
- Rasam powder: 1 tbsp
- Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
- Salt: 1/2 tsp
- Tamarind paste: 1/4 tsp
- Cooked toor dal: 3 tbsp
- Garlic: 4 pods
- Jaggery: small piece, crushed
If you don’t have time or cannot go shopping for groceries, you can buy all these ingredients online.
Step-by-step rasam recipe:
To get started, prepare the base:
- Dry roast the whole red chillies on medium heat
- Add toor dal and kali mirchi (black pepper)
- Increase the heat, and roast for a minute or two while stirring continuously
- Reduce the flame to low and roast for thirty seconds
- Mix in jeera (cumin) and roast for thirty seconds
- After turning off the heat, add hing powder
- Wait for it to cool down before grinding it into fine powder
Once you have completed making the rasam powder, the next stage is to prepare the tamarind water by soaking it in warm water and extracting its juice or using tamarind paste. If you are missing the ingredients, go shopping for groceries to get the sour tamarind flavours.
The next stage is to get it cooked, so let’s begin:
- Chop the tomatoes and blend it with 1/2 cup of water
- In a pan, add ghee and mix in mustard and curry leaves
- Once they crackle, add 1/2 cup of hot water to the pan
- Strain the mix into a pan
- To get more tanginess, put back the pulp and blend with 1/2 cup of water
- Strain the mix again and repeat until you are satisfied with the result
- Mix in rasam powder, hing, salt, and tamarind paste or extract
- Mash the dal with 1/2 cup of water
- Strain the dal and add the water first
- Repeat the process with 1/2 cup of water
- After crushing and chopping garlic, add it to the rasam
- Depending on your preference, choose the consistency
- Add roughly chopped coriander leaves and jaggery
- Adjust salt accordingly.
- Increase the heat and boil for 2-3 minutes
With this, your classic rasam recipe is ready!
Conclusion
Before preparing the rasam, choose the right ingredients while shopping for groceries. Make it spicy or less spicy, depending on your preference. Serve with rice and pair with crispy papad.
To conclude our guide, shopping for groceries is important if you want to magnify flavours for this simple rasam recipe.