Rasam
Onion Rasam (Neerulli saru)
How long it takes: 45 minutes
Number of servings: 4 people
Neerulli/Onions/Kando in Kannada/English/Konkani. Onions go into anything except maybe coffee and tea ! Here now is rasam whose main ingredient is the onion. It is simple to make and very tasty, should have put up long ago. A great combination with rice and papad.
What you need to have:
1. Chopped onions – 1 cup
2. Chopped tomato – 1/3 cup
3. Coriander seeds – 2 teaspoons
4. Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
5. Fenugreek seeds – 5-6
6. Red chilly (byadgi) – 5-6
7. Fresh grated coconut – 2 tablespoons
8. Jaggery – a little
9. Salt – to taste
Ingredients of Onion rasam
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash, peal and chop onions, tomato, grate coconut and keep it aside.
2. Place a spatula with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil in it on low flame and fry coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and lastly add red chilly too and fry in it. Later on add fresh grated coconut and fry till done. On cooling grind it in the mixer adding water in steps to a fine consistency.
Wet masala ingredients
3. Place a skillet with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil in it. On heating fry chopped onions and tomatoes adding a little salt till tomato is mushy and onions are fried but not burnt.
Chopped onions and tomatoes being fried
4. Now add the ground mixture from step 2 to it and also required quantity of water to bring it to the falling thin consistency. Check for salt, add a little jaggery and bring it to boil. Yummy and tasty onion rasam is ready to relish. Enjoy with rice and papad. Yummmmmmmmmmmm
Grind wet masala being added
Ready to serve onion rasam
Good to remember:
1. Onions and tomatoes should be chopped fine to fry fast and to release the aroma as well.
2. Masala should be grind fine to bring it to the required thin consistency.
3. There is no need for seasoning since onions are already fried well.
4. This rasam is good for a person who has recovered from an attack of severe cold and tasteless tongue..
Tomato Rasam
Tomato Rasam
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 2
The humble Rasam is now a popular dish, substituting for soup in the Indian cuisine and especially makes for good comfort food. It is a perfect simple food, even a relief – especially when you’re back from hectic travel, or recovering from a nasty flu. In fact on a normal day, many youngsters will refuse to have it, only craving for rasam to come to their rescue when illness leaves a bitter taste in the mouth! There are different varieties of rasam, the simplest and easiest version being Tomato Rasam or Saaru as it is otherwise known. I’ve put another version of tomato rasam with toor dal, as well as eclectic versions like pineapple rasam, masala rasam, poli saru, ginger-lemon rasam (another welcome remedy for the ill), and then rasam powder that you may make each time or store for further use. An easy and healthy recipe, one can enjoy tomato rasam with any simple curry or sip it in a cup after the lunch. This simple tasty recipe is a good beginning for the amateurs and beginners. Here it is.
What you need to have:
1. Tomatoes – 2 Medium
2. Green chilly – 1
3. Tamarind – A pinch or pulp 1/2 Teaspoon
4. Sugar – A pinch but a must
5. Rasam powder – 1 and 1/2 Teaspoon (home made)
6. Choppped coriander leaves – A handful
7. Salt – To taste
Ingredients of Seasoning:
1. Mustard seeds – 1/2 Teaspoon
2. Red chilly pieces – 3-4
3. Asafoetida powder – 1/4 Teaspoon
4. Curry leaves – 2 Sprigs
5. Cooking oil – 2 Teaspoons
Ingredients of Tomato Rasam
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash and chop tomatoes and puree it in the mixer to a fine consistency. Wash and slit Green chilly and chop cilantro and keep it aside.
Tomato puree
2. Transfer Tomato puree (3/4 cup) to a bowl and add 1/2 cup water, slit green chilly, tamarind, salt, sugar and place it on medium flame. Cook for about 15 minutes till you get a pleasant aroma of cooking the ingredients, by then tomato puree will have been cooked.
Tomato puree being cooked with other ingredients
Tomato puree being cooked
3. Dissolve Rasam powder in 1/2 cup normal water and mix it to the boiling tomato puree mix. Also add 2 tender sprigs of Curry leaves which will enhance the aroma and flavour of rasam. Check for salt and some more water if needed.
Curry leaves being added to boiling rasam
4. Finally add chopped Cilantro and close it with a lid.
Chopped Cilantro being added to boiling Rasam
5. Place a spatula with 2 Teaspoons of cooking oil in it on medium flame. When hot, add mustard seeds and once they splutter, add red chilly pieces, asafoetida powder and curry leaves. Season the dish with this mixture.
Seasoning in progress
6. Transfer it to bowl. Serve hot with white rice and a simple curry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ready to serve Tomato Rasam(A closer view)
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 2
Good to remember:
1. Use pulpy and ripe tomatoes for the dish
2. This should be watery since we do not use dal for the dish, but makes for a tasty rasam indeed.
3. Using either a pinch of sugar or a piece of jaggery is a must for extra flavour.
Pineapple Rasam
Pineapple Rasam
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 3-4
Pineapple is a seasonal fruit and now available in plenty for 2-3 months of a year. It is available in huge sizes which ranges from 5-6 K.G by weight. It is sweet-sour in taste, but the ripened variety is so sweet that we need no sugar at all while we prepare juice /milkshake. I have already put up pineapple pudding, mango-pineapple sweet sour dish (ambo anannas sasam) and would like to put up pineapple rasam which really tastes great with rice and a spicy curry. It is very simple and easy recipe. Why don’t you give a try?
What you need to have:
1. Pineapple chopped – 1 and 1/2 cup
2. Toor Dal – 2 Tablespoons
3. Turmeric powder – 1/2 Teaspoon
4. Green chilly – 2
5. Ginger – 1/2 “: piece
6. Rasam powder – 1 Teaspoon (home made)
7. Salt – To taste
Ingredients of Seasoning:
1. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon
2. Red chilly – 1
3. Cumin seeds – 1/2 Teaspoon
4. Asafoetida powder – 1/2 Teaspoon
5. Curry leaves – 2-3 Strings
6. Lime juice – 1/4 Teaspoon (optional if the fruit is not very sweet))
7. Cooking oil – 2 Teaspoons
Ingredients of Pineapple Rasam
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash and peel pineapple, and chop it into 1-2″ pieces and keep it aside as shown in image-1. Also wash and slit green chilly, wash and chop ginger too.
2. Cook chopped pineapple in a separate vessel on medium flame till soft.
Chopped pineapple being cooked
3. Soak toor dal in the cooker with turmeric powder and a little oil and cook it as usual for 20 minutes till soft. Transfer it to a cooking bowl and cook it with slit green chilly, chopped ginger from step-1 on low flame.
Cooked dal being boiled with green chilly
4. Add cooked pineapple pieces from step-2 to it and add required quantity of salt, rasam powder, water to bring it to the required pouring consistency and boil it on low flame. Squeeze lemon juice to it if the fruit is very sweet to get the tangy flavour to the dish.
5. Place a spatula with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil on low flame. When hot, add mustard seeds and cumin to it. When it splutters, add broken red chilli pieces, asafoetida powder (hing) and curry leaves to it. The seasoning is ready now.
Seasoning in progress
6. Season it to the boiling rasam from step-4. Close it with a lid. Serve hot with rice and a spicy side dish. Yummmmmmmmmm!!!!!!
Seasoned Pineapple Rasam
7. Just pour it into a bowl on cooling. It can even be sipped cool!!!!!!
Ready to serve Pineapple Rasam
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 3-4
Good to remember:
1. Ideally, pineapple should be just ripe for the dish. Extra ripe fruit will spoil the taste of the dish.
2. Sweet-sour variety will be a better option so that Lemon can be avoided.
3. Toor-dal should be cooked to a smooth consistency to enhance the taste and aroma for rasam
4. Should be served with a spicy side dish like the potato song, a Konkani specialty or any other spicy dish of your choice.
Poli Saru (Rasam)
This poli saru is nothing but the rasam/saru prepared with the stock of the cooked Bengalgram dal while preparing “Puran poli. Cooked dal is poured in a collander and stock collected there in will be seasoned by adding other necessary ingredients. It is prepared as per one’s pallot. In some house hold they prepare it like the simple rasam and in others they prepare it by adding some ground masala with garlic seasoning. Here is my version of Poli saru.
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 5-6
What you need to have:
1. Cooked dal stock – 2-3 cups
2. Tomato – 1 (large)
3. Green chilly – 3-4
4. Soft Asafoetida – A pinch
5. Rasam powder – 1 Teaspoon(Optional)
6.Salt – To tste
7. Sugar – A pinch
Ingredients of Poli saru & Seasoning
Ingredients of Seasoning:
1. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon
2. Red chilli pieces – 3-4
3. Curry leaves – 2-3 Strings
4. Asafotida powder – 1/2 Tespoon
What you do with what you have:
1. Cook Bengalgram dal as usual in cooker and transfer it into a collander to collect the dal stock.
The Cooked Bengalgram dal stock
2. Wash and chop tomato, slit green chilly and chop coriander leaves fine and keep it aside.
3. Transfer it to a bowl and add chopped tomatoes, slit green chilly to it and place it on low flame and bring it to boil. When tomato is cooked add required quantity of salt, a pinch of sugar and also dissolve soft Asafoetida in a spoon of water and add it to the boiling stock. (Rasam powder can be added at this stage, although I have not added at all. Plain saru will be yum !!)
Dal stock being cooked with tomato, green chilly and salt
4. Place aspatula with 2-3 teaspoons of cooking oil in it on low flame. When heated, add mustard seeds to it. Once it splutters add red chilli pieces, Asafoetida powder and curry leaves in a row and switch off the flame. Season it to the dish from step 3 to it. Add chopped coriander leaves and close it with a lid.
Ready to serve Poli Saru (Rasam)
Good to remember:
1. We prepare this saru only when we prepare “Puran poli”.
2. Since dal stock is normally thick one can add required quantity of water to bring it to the required consistency.
3. Serve stiring every time since the stock remains at the bottom and the rasam looks like plain water.
Ginger-Lemon Rasam
Ginger-Lemon Rasam
How long it takes : 45 minutes
Number of servings: 3-4
This rasam is very simple and easy to prepare and a good recipe for the starters. We do not use any powder as such for this dish – the aromatic seasoning of fresh curry leaves, garnishing with fresh cilantro and using quality Toor dal for the dish will enhance the flavour and satisfy the palate. Here it is. Do give it a try !!!!
What you need to have:
1. Toor Dal – 1/2 Cup (cooked and mashed well)
2. Tomato – 1 Ripe
3. Ginger crushed – 1/2 ” piece
4. Green chillies – 2-3
5. Curry leaves – 2-3 Strands
6. Coriander leaves – A handful
7. Lemon juice – 1 Tablespoon
8. Salt – To taste
Ingredients of Ginger-Lemon Rasam
What you do with what you have:
1. Soak dal in water for about 15 minutes and cook it as usual in the cooker till soft and is as shown in the image below.
Dal finely cooked
2. Wash and chop tomato into bite size pieces. Place a broad based bowl on medium flame and allow it to cook till soft in around 2 cups of water. Add slit green chillies to it as well.
Chopped tomatoes being cooked in water
Cooked tomatoes
3. When done add cooked dal from step-2 to it and stir well adding required quantity of salt to it. Now add chopped ginger as well to it and bring it to boil. By now tomatoes will have cooked and mashed well into it. One can crush it with the dal beater too. Squeeze lemon juice as well to it. Add chopped coriander leaves to it.
Ingredients of Seasoning:
1. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon
2. Red chilli pieces – 3-4
3. Cumin seeds -1/2 Teaspoon
4. Curry leaves – 2-3 strands
4. Place a spatula with 2 teaspoons of either cooking oil or pure ghee into it on medium flame. When heated toss in mustard seeds, cumin, together. When it splutters add broken red chilli pieces and curry leaves to it. Switch off the flame and use it to season the dal tomato mix.
Seasoning in progress
Ready to serve Ginger-Lemon Rasam
How long it takes : 45 minutes
Number of servings: 3-4
Good to remember:
1. Use quality toor dal to enhance the flavour of rasam.
2. Always use ripe pulpy and fresh tomatoes .
3. Do not burn the seasoning, as it will stink rather than giving a nice aroma.
4. One can use pure ghee for seasoning depending upon one’s palate
Masala Rasam
I have already put up the normal Tomato Rasam using Rasam powder with Toor Dal. But today I would like to put up yet another Rasam which is prepared with a little masala, without dal and yet really very tasty. This rasam is prepared in most of the temples for pooja food and is also a must in most of the weddings in Coastal Karnataka. Its a great combination for rice/curry/papad. It is also called “Devasthana Saru”/”Devala Saru”.
What you need to have:
1. Fresh grated coconut – 2 tablespoons
2. Tomato -1
3. Coriander seeds – 4 teaspoons
4. Bengalgram Dal – 2 teaspoons
5. Cumin sdds – 1/2 teaspoon
6. Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 teaspoon
7. Asafoetida (Soft) – A pinch
8. Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
9. Tamarind – size of a half lime
10. Red chillies(Byadgi) – 2-3
11. Curry leaves – a few
12. Jaggery – A little
Ingredients of Masala Rasam
What you need to have:
1. Place a spatula with 3-4 teaspoons of cooking oil in it on low flame. On heating, add bengalgram dal to it. When fried add coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek sdds, asafoetida, one by one. Add red chillis, curry leaves to it and fry for a while. Add grated coconut and fry till it turns light brown in colour. Finally add turmeric powder, tamarind and switch off the flame. Fried ingredients is as shown in the image below.
Masala ingredients being fried in oil
Fried ingredients of wet masala
2. Grind the fried ingredients on cooling in the mixer adding water in steps to a medium fine consistency and the masala is as shown in the image below. 
Ground wet masala
3. Place a broad based bowl on the flame with 2 cups of water with chopped tomatoes. Cook it till smooth.
Tomato being cooked in water
4. When tomato is cooked add the ground masala from step 3 to it and add sufficient quantity of water to bring it to the required consistency. Add required quantity of salt, one or two strands of tender curry leaves to it and jaggery if required and bring it to boil. Finally add chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.
Masala rasam being boiled
5. Place a spatula with 3-4 teaspoons of cooking oil in it on the flame. When heated add mustard seeds to it. When it sputters add fresh curry leaves to it. Switch off the flame and season it to the Masala Rasam.
Ready to serve Masala Rasam
Serve hot with rice and papad. yum enjoy!!!!
Number of servings: 3-4
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Tomato Rasam (with Toor Dal)
Try the same recipe which is a two in one on youtube!
Anyone learning South Indian cooking, Rasam would be among the first to be learnt. Not only so because of its simplicity but also versatality – it can be used as gravy with rice and side-dish with idlis and dosas. So I presume that many of my readers are familiar with the recipe – I will nevertheless put it just for the record and the benefit of those who are not familiar with South Indian cooking. I wrote more about Rasam when I put up the Rasam powder here.(the same powder I am using in this recipe)
Although its widespread in South Indian cooking, Rasam taste varies from place to place. This is more like the Konkani version (Daali Saru)
What you need to have:
Toor Dal 1/4 cup
Tomato (Big) 1
Green chilly 1
Tamarind pulp 1 Teaspoon
Rasam powder 2 Teaspoons
Sugar (optional) 1/2 Teaspoon
Salt To taste
Curry leaves 1 string
Ingredients of Rasam
For Seasoning:
Mustard seeds 1 Teaspoon
Red chilly 1
Asafoetida powder 1/2 Teaspoon
Curry leaves 2 strings
Ingredients of Seasoning
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash and puree tomatoes in the mixer and pour it in a bowl. Slit green chilly lengthwise and add it to the purreed tomato. Also add tamarind to it.
2. Wash Toor dal and add 1/4 Teaspoon Turmmeric powder, a few drops of cooking oil, sufficient quantity of water to it. Put it into the cooker and place the tomato puree bowl in the cooker itself and cook it as usual for about 20 minutes till the dal is cooked.
3.Transfer cooked dal, pureed tomato to another bowl and mash it well.
4. Mix 2 Teaspoons of Rasam powder (see my earlier post for recipe) in a cup of water and add it to cooked Dal. Dilute it to the required consistency. Add sufficient quantity of salt, sugar a pinch, a tender string of curry leaf and bring it to boil.
5. Place a spatula on flame with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil in it. Add mustard seeds, on sputtering add red chilly pieces , asafoetida powder and lastly curry leaves to it. Add the seasoning to Rasam. Garnish it with chopped Corriander leaves.
Ready to serve Rasam is as shown in the image below. Serve hot with Rice.
Ready to serve Rasam
How long it takes: 45 minutes
Number of servings: 4
What to remember:
1. Tomatoes can even be cut fine if can’t be pureed.
2. The quantity of water depends upon the quality of dal used. If quality is not good then one can’t add much water, hence taste and then add accordingly.
3. Adding curry leaves while boiling gives enhances the flavour of the dish.
Rasam Powder @ Home
About Rasam
We need a host of powders to prepare a variety of dishes. Almost all the powders like the Rasam powder, Sambar powder and many are available in the market in various brands. Several brands have been very popular for decades now. Yet, I always prepare almost all the powders at home from scratch in order to avoid using commercially available powders. Today I am putting up the Rasam powder and will follow this with other powders in the coming weeks.
Rasam is a combination of sweet, sour and spicy ingredients and goes well with rice and any kind of curry. And its probably the most popular delicacy of Tamilnadu. No Tamilian wedding/traditional parties would be complete with Rasam. Referred as “Saru” in Karnataka, its popular in most of South India and certainly among Konkani families.
I recommend this powder if you are preparing Rasam for lunch/dinner, though not for Sambar (for which a separate powder is preferred, which I shall put up shortly)
What you need to have:
1. Coriander seeds – 250 grams – 3 cups
2. Cumin seeds – 50 grams – 1/4 cup
3. Fenugreek seeds – 2 teaspoons
4. Mustard seeds – 2 teaspoons
5. Pepper corns – 50
6. Asafoetida (soft)- 10 grams
7. Turmeric powder – 4 teaspoons
8. Byadgi chili powder -175 grams – 1 and 3/4 cup
9. Some curry leaves-2 handful
Ingredients of Rasam powder
What you do with what you have:
1. In a dry bowl roast curry leaves on a medium flame so that they just turn crispy but not change the colour.
2. Place 2 teaspoons of cooking oil in a spatula and fry asafoetida in it till it changes its color to brown and becomes a little crispy and hard. In the left over oil fry fenugreak seeds .
3. Roast without oil coriander seeds, cumin-seeds, mustard seeds together on a medium flame till you get a pleasant aroma, again without burning anything and finally add Turmeric powder too.
4. Place a wide bottomed vessel and add 1 teaspoon cooking oil . On heating add chili powder to it and switch off the gas and stir.
Ingredients roasted/fried
5. After all the above fried/roasted ingredients are cooled, crush them in the blender/mixer to medium coarse consistency.
The powder on cooling must be stored in air-tight containers. It will remain afresh for more than 2-3 months.
What it looks like:
Ready Rasam powder
How long it takes: 1 hour
What to remember:
1. While frying/roasting the above ingredients, do not over do it. Doing so would turn the powder bitter and cause it to smell bad. Roast on low/medium flame and always stir it as you do so.
2. The proportion of chili powder also depends upon the spice level of that particular chili powder.
The Indian Food Court 