Tomato Rasam

Amma's recipe for thakkali rasam... I simply love this... I can literally drink cups and cups and cups of this rasam...Pa says he never used to like rasam before marriage... But after mom made this for him, he can never finish a meal without this rasam...My little bro adores this rasam... I still remember the days he used to pack rasam saadam for lunch every single day... It is his all time favorite..Mom Passed this recipe on to me... and now... there is another victim... Mr.B... hahahaha...

Ingredients

2 chopped tomatoes
1 tsp of sambar powder
A small piece of tamarind
(or) 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
1 small piece of asafoetida (hing)
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1/4 cup of toor dal
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of jeera (cumin seeds)
1 tsp of Ghee
salt to taste
2 cups of water
Corriander and curry leaves for garnish

Method

Pressure Cook the toor dal, mash it and pour cup of water and mix well. Let this rest, so that the dal settles to the bottom and the dal water rises up. Soak the tamarind in half a cup of hot water for 5 minutes. Extract the tamarind puree to a pan (you can also use 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste). Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, sambar powder, hing & salt. Give this a good crush with your hand. Cook this mixture for 10 - 15 minutes, till it reduces to 1/3. Add the dal water and keep this on high flame. Bring this to a screaming boil and immediately remove from the flame.

Heat ghee in a small pan, and add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter add jeera , a pinch of hing, and curry leaves and pour it on the rasam. Garnish with corriander leaves.

This is YUMMMILICIOUS .... You can serve this as a soup, or serve it with steamed rice.... I even add this to my oats... this makes it 1000 times better than the mundane milk / butter milk serving...

Tricks: Only trick is to cook the initial mixture very well until it reduces. This really makes the rasam taste so yummy....And season with ghee... the aroma is mindblowing...