Tomato Tamarind Rasam
A thin, peppery South Indian soup of tomato, tamarind and lentil water, finished with a sizzling mustard and curry leaf tempering. Quick to make and good with rice or on its own.
Ingredients
Equipment: Pressure cooker or medium pot, saucepan, small tadka pan, mortar and pestle
Method
Put the rinsed dal in a pressure cooker with 350 ml water and 0.25 tsp turmeric. Cook for 3 whistles, then let the pressure release on its own. The dal should be completely soft and collapse when pressed.
While the dal cooks, squeeze the soaked tamarind in its water with your fingers until the pulp dissolves. Strain into a bowl and discard the fibres and seeds.
Coarsely crush the peppercorns, cumin and garlic together in a mortar. You want a rough, uneven texture, not a paste.
In a saucepan, combine the tamarind water, tomatoes, crushed spice mixture, green chilli, 0.5 tsp turmeric, salt, jaggery and 600 ml water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the tomatoes are soft and the raw tamarind smell is gone.
Mash the tomatoes in the pan with the back of a ladle. Whisk the cooked dal until smooth, then stir 4 to 5 tbsp of it into the rasam. Keep the rest of the dal for another meal or add more if you like a thicker soup.
Heat gently until the rasam turns frothy at the edges and just begins to rise. Take it off the heat before it boils hard, which dulls the flavour. Stir in the coriander.
For the tempering, heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle, then add the dried chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves. Cook for about 20 seconds until the leaves are crisp and the chillies darken slightly.
Pour the hot tempering straight into the rasam, cover for 2 minutes so the aroma settles, then taste and adjust salt, pepper or jaggery. Serve hot.
Cooking tips
- Do not boil the rasam hard after adding the dal and coriander. Stop when it froths and rises; a rolling boil flattens the flavour.
- Crush the pepper, cumin and garlic just before cooking. Freshly crushed spices give the sharpest flavour.
- Rasam should be thin and sharp. If it tastes too sour, add a little more jaggery or water; if flat, add pepper or a squeeze of lemon at the end.
- Use ripe, soft tomatoes for a rounder taste. Very firm tomatoes make the soup taste thin and acidic.
Substitutions
- Replace toor dal with masoor (red lentil) dal, which cooks faster in a normal pot in about 15 minutes.
- Use 1 tbsp tamarind paste or the juice of 1 lemon added at the end if you have no whole tamarind.
- Swap oil for ghee for a richer tempering; the dish is then no longer vegan.
- If you have no fresh curry leaves, use a bay leaf in the simmer and skip them in the tempering; the flavour will be different but still good.
Serve with
"Serve in small bowls as a soup, or pour over hot steamed rice with a spoonful of ghee, a fried papad and a simple potato or beans stir-fry on the side."
Storage
Cool and refrigerate in a covered container for up to 3 days. Keep the tempering separate if you can, and add it fresh when serving.
Reheating
Warm gently in a saucepan over low to medium heat until steaming, adding a splash of water if it has thickened. Avoid a hard boil.
Nutrition per serving, estimated
Estimated from the ingredient list. Values vary with brands and portion size.
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