Lemon and Lentil Rasam

After I shifted to South India I have taken a great liking for the tangy and spicy Rasam. Born and brought up in the eastern part on India I never had the opportunity to taste this tangy elixir in its true form and hence had never developed a taste for this so popular dish. But today being in the south for the past 6 years and having tried my hands and mastered a part of the South Indian cuisine, I definitely place Rasam in my top 5 comfort foods. And when down with flu, it becomes the only comfort food for me J

Across the four southern states, Rasam is prepared differently in different places. If I have to list down the variety of Rasam recipes I know, I can almost list out at-least 10 of them!!!

Yesterday I prepared Lemon and Lentil Rasam and here’s the recipe….

Ingredients

½ cup Toor Dal
1 tbs tamarind paste
2 tbs lime juice
2 tps rasam powder
4 pods of garlic chopped
1 inch ginger chopped
1 tps pepper
10-12 curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander leaves
Oil for tempering

Process

Pressure cook the dal along with Rasam powder, tamarind, salt and turmeric powder.
Grind the boiled dal to a fine paste and add thrice the amount of water to it and put it boil again.
Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds and peppercorns and let them splutter. Follow it with curry leaves.
Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stir till they are give out their pungent aroma.
Add the tempering to the boiling dal and mix well.
Add the chopped coriander leaves and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes till it reduced to 3/4^th of the amount so that the flavour of the tempering gets into the Rasam.
Add the lime juice at the end and simmer for another 2 minutes.