Rasam is nothing but a thin in consistency, spicy & sour (in taste) curry. It does not contain so many vegetables. Now you may think why will people have rasam? Actually, it is just like an appetizer. Many people enjoy this without any other. They just sip tomato rasam like soup. Sometimes people consume it with rice too. It is also said that it helps in digestion.
It was all about why people like rasam. But I prefer this South Indian food because it is a very simple soup like dish. It takes hardly a few minutes to prepare and that too with a few easily available ingredients. Though there are several types of rasam (like tomato rasam, lemon rasam, ginger rasam, drumstick rasam, rasam with dal, rasam without dal etc), but I always prefer this tomato-based rasam. Drumstick tomato based rasam is preferable from February to April when drumstick vegetables are available). During this season most restaurants actually offer this type of drumstick rasam. Is it not true?
Ingredients
2 large size tomato, pureed
3-4 drumstick vegetables, peeled & cut into 1.5-inch pieces
Salt as needed
2 cups of water
1.5 teaspoons refined oil
Spices1.5 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon black pepper powder
1.5 teaspoons turmeric powder
For Tempering/Tadka½ tablespoon refined oil
1.5 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon whole fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon saunf
3-4 whole red chillies
12-14 curry leaves
Pinches of hing/asafoetid
Method
- Heat oil in a cooking pot and add tomato puree and saute for 2 minutes then add all spices (cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, black pepper powder, turmeric powder) and again stir it for next 1 min
- Pour water, salt and add drumstick pieces and stir, then boil for next 10 minutes
- Now in a tadka pan, heat oil and add all spices one by one and stir till whole spices start cracking and raw smell goes away and a nice mixed aroma of all spices comes out, pour it over cooked tomato based curry and mix
- You can garnish with some fresh coriander leaves spread over drumstick tomato rasam.