Simple Rasam, not so simple I say...

Five years ago, when I became a Telugu kodalu (daughter-in-law), I did not fully understand the implications of being one. Food is a main factor which determines how good you are in a house-hold. There I became a kodalu sans any experience in Andhra cuisine.  All I had cooked until then was a variety of parattas – aloo/mutter/gobi & the like – thanks to Tripti Saraswat who was my roommate then.

The first 3 months of marriage, whenever I made Sambar, someone would ask me if it was a variant of pappu (Dhal). Whenever I made tomato pappu, it was seen as something else totally. I can’t blame them.. Seriously, if I eat anything now however I had cooked then, I would ask the same questions & pass on similar comments ;-)

So life was getting difficult with my cooking skills at an all-time low.. And one day terror came in the form of Rasam. Yes, you heard it right.. Rasam a.k.a Chaaru turned to be the scary demon which I couldn’t conquer.

During the initial months of my marriage, I tried to impress my mom-in-law by cooking a full thaali (Dhal, rasam, poriyal, chutney) everyday for lunch. The ordeal went for a week for both of us (me & my m-i-l). After one whole week, on a Saturday Kalyan entered the kitchen to help me with my cooking & made Rasam all by himself. When we had lunch, my mom-in-law said, “wow, finally I get to eat Rasam after one whole week!!”. I was dumbstruck!! Here, I was making rasam everyday to impress her & she says her son’s rasam is the actual Rasam.. My natural instincts kicked in & I started thinking, of course, she is my m-i-l. She may not like whatever I make.. Alas, how wrong I was… When I ate Kalyan’s rasam, I thought whatever I had made so far, didn’t stand a chance in front of this one.  So I took a resolution that day.. Never will I attempt to make Rasam in my life, since it always turned out tasting terrible in my hands…

Until………..

5 years later…

Abirami, my eldest sis (who is an expert in cooking by the way), showed me light at the end of the tunnel. It was a ray of hope in my rasam making horizon & guess what, it worked. When I made Rasam based on Abikka’s recipe, Kalyan said “wow, you make excellent Rasam” & it was not just a beginners luck. The taste still holds. Whenever I make Rasam these days, Kalyan says “It is good” which if you know Kalyan equals to “It is soooo awesome!!” J

So, here is my recipe for fool-proof Rasam, in case you are a dummy like I was. For all other people out there who can make a good Rasam already, please skip the section below J

Ingredients

½ litre water

2 Ripe tomatoes
Rasam Powder – 2 tsp
Coriander powder – ½ tsp
Pepper powder– ½ tsp
Jeera powder– ½ tsp
Pinch of turmeric powder
Salt – to taste
Coriander leaves – for garnish

For seasoning:

Oil – 2 tsp

Jeera – ½ tsp
Mustard – ½ tsp
Asafoetida powder - pinch
Curry leaves – 5-10 leaves, crushed
Garlic cloves – 3-4

1.  Boil the tomatoes in half-litre water until the tomatoes are cooked. If you are wondering how to check if the tomatoes are cooked, just look at the tomatoes. If the skin starts peeling off, then its cooked. Once the tomatoes are cooked, remove it from heat & let it cool a bit.

2. Mash the tomatoes in the water itself.  Add Rasam powder, Coriander powder, Pepper powder, Jeera powder, Turmeric & Salt to the water.

3. Heat oil in a small kadai and add mustard & jeera. Wait for the mustard to pop (else it will have a bitter taste). Add the asafoetida, curry leaves & crushed garlic. Wait till the raw garlic smell goes away (it would take about 10 seconds).

4. Add the seasoning to the boiled rasam mix & bring it to boil again. When Rasam starts boiling, switch off the stove & add the coriander leaves. Your rasam is now ready :)

Tip:  Close the Rasam pot with a lid, once you take it off the heat. This helps retains the flavor of the Rasam.