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Thursday, July 20, 2006

Pepper Rasam/ Milagu Rasam with Homemade Rasam Powder.




"Rasam sadham" is the common term used in tamil for simple plain white rice mixed with Rasam.In authentic tamil cuisine, white rice and rasam are served as the final course of the meal. The reason for this being that rasam aids in quick digestion.
Usually the basic rasam is prepared by the combination of pepper, tamarind and other spices.But then there are different kinds of rasam's which can be had as the main course like paruppu/dhal rasam, lemon rasam, pineapple rasam etc.These receipes are prepared using the main ingredient in their names + basic rasam.

As kids, we always jump into rasam sadham skipping the main course such as dhals/sambhar or kulambhu.Sometimes when we want to give our Mom a days rest (which she doesnt want to ) we would request her make us just rasam.Whenever I go on a long trip and spend days together by eating fast foods like burgers and pizza, my heart starts aching for the hot steaming white rice and rasam.I get the same feeling while travelling from India- US and vice versa.On such times, I can't wait to go home and make a pot full of spicy rasam.

According to me the definition for 'comfort food' is the food that comes to your mind or the food that you ache for, when you are deprived of homemade food for days.With that in mind my first choice for FMR - comfort food would be 'Pepper Rasam'.

Here's a simple receipe for Pepper Rasam.

Ingredients:

3 cups of tamarind juice by soaking and squeezing lime size tamarind in water (or) 2 tsp tamarind pulp dissolved in 4 cups of water.
2 tsp pepper powder
2 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 cloves garlic smashed and roughly chopped
1 medium size tomato
1/cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves
salt as needed

For tempering:

1 tsp mustard
1 tsp jeera seeds
1 red chilly
a pinch of hing
few curry leaves

Method:

Take the tamarind juice in vessel.Add all the powders, garlic and salt to it. Squeeze the tomatoes by your hand and mix with the liquid well.Check for salt and spice level.Add the coriander leaves and keep aside. Take a kadhai or sauce pot and add 2 tsp of oil. To this add the tempering ingredients one by one.When the mustard pops add the tamarind juice mixture to it.



Reduce the heat the medium and look for the bubbles.The trick for good rasam lies at the last stage.My mother tells me that the rasam should not boil at any cost.When the first stage of boiling bubbles appear like a foam as shown in the above picture,we should switch off the stove and take the pot away from the stove and close with a lid.Allow it to rest for atleast 15 mins. At this stage your house will be filled with the wonderful aroma of the rasam.

Serve it piping hot with white rice, papad and egg curry as a side dish...hmm.. yummy :)

Some Tips:
Pepper-Jeera Powder
If you are making rasam regularly then its better to make the pepper -jeera powder at the ratio of 1:2 at home.Make it a coarse powder.Add a tblsp of this powder instead of adding the pepper and jeera powder seperatly
Another form of home made rasam powder :
5 red chillies
1/4 cup of coriander seeds
1/2 cup of pepper
1 cup of jeera
2 tblsp of chana dhal
2 tblsp of toor dhal
Dry roast all the above spices, till you get a nice aroma, grind them into a coarse powder, store in an airtight container.Add 1 tbsp of this powder to the above rasam along with the other powders mentioned in the recipe.The Rasam becomes even more spicy and it greatly enhances the taste.




I would like to thank each and everyone of you who have tried this recipe and left such wonderful feedback in this blog as well as in email. Thanks for you support and love readers.

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:13 PM

    Your rasam is super easy and looks yum. Nice rasam sadham with urulaikizhangu fry is my all time favorite.

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  2. I completely agree with your sentiment, the ultimate comfort food. It is rasam satham that I yearn for when we go away on trips and even getting rice in a restaurant is hard leave alone Indian food or rasam for that matter.

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  3. Hi Sumi
    Yes it my comfort food also. I love to have rasam with dal. I can completely relate with your feeling of what comfort food is. Thanks for participating and see you in the round up

    Cheers
    Revatgu

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  4. Yummy!I love drinking hot rasam!

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  5. Sumi:

    The pepper rasam looks amazing. Will definitely be a must try for me :).

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  6. Anonymous1:48 AM

    I have been on a life long quest for that perfect Rasam and Sambar! I used to joke that all that my "would be" need know is how to make that perfect Rasam and that out of this world Sambar served in Udupi restaurants :)

    I have a question. We always boil Rasam and Sambar so that the raw smell of Tamarind goes away. Do you see a big difference between well boiled rasam and rare(?) rasam?

    I guess I will just have to conduct an experiment this weekend :)

    Thank You!

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  7. Anonymous8:38 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  8. Anonymous11:52 AM

    hi,

    thanks for your recipe. My mom (who is from karnataka) puts lentils in her rasam (saaru). It always tastes amazing. I thought it was an integral part. I will try your recipe without dhal because my husband says it gives him gas. (probably true, but we indians just deal with it? He is white).

    thanks again.

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  9. Anonymous10:11 PM

    Dear Sumi, Glad to hear of your move to Chennai. We would definitely like to meet you here in Chennai. Please do get in touch with us. Your latest post has a lot of comment spam. hence I have written on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1:57 PM

    Yammy, Yummy!
    This was my first time I made rasam at home and it came out yummy. The taste was very different and my entire family, including my wife really enjoyed it. Thanks for the receipe.
    Mathi

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  11. hi Ms K
    I am Durai, an NRI, a forced bachelor.
    I tried yr Milagu rasam, it turned out superb. Simple recipe, easy to make.
    Also suggest like this simple to make recipes for breakfast also - for forced bachies whenever their better halfs were away !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Balakrishnan11:38 PM

    I missed this rasam for a long time now,its like the way my mother used to do for our family, it really brought me nostalgic memories and of course my childhood too, Thanks! a lot , really appreciate your efforts to keep others happy by sharing.
    Wishing You and Your Family A Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year.

    Bala.

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  13. Thanks a lot Bala, Glad that it tuurned out well.even though the recipe is good, the credit for a proper rasam goes to the person who made it, so you did a good job there.
    Really appreciate your comment

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  14. Anonymous10:39 AM

    Sumi,

    First, i just would like to tell you, that your way of describing things are fantastic...i just loved the way you wrote it!

    Good receipe for rasam...thanks! Agree that the last bit of rasam adds so much to it....sure we need to switch off when it gets the foam!

    good job! keep posting nice recipes!

    Regards,
    Angai

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  15. hai, u know what it is always nice to have hot hot rasam sadam with roasted pappad especially in cold winter days or when u r sick or having running nose do u agree
    vijaya

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  16. sandhya Adiga1:44 AM

    Hi,this is one of the best Rasam I ever had. I really got appreciated by my Mom and mother in law.

    Great one keep Going!!!.

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  17. Thanks a lot Sandhya, for your valuable Feedback. Iam glad you liked it.

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  18. anjana12:44 AM

    amazing taste.... it ws the first time i made milagu rasam.... a huge success... but little changes ... but came out really well.... thanks a lot :)

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  19. A lovely recipe Sumi particularly since it does not depend on having a rasam powder. I am assuming by red chillie, you mean the dry red chillie.

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  20. n.subramanian12:42 PM

    Wonderful recipe. Tried and enjoyed its taste. thank u.

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Thanks for dropping by.Your comments are very much valuable to me. Will reply to you guys as when time permits