Jeeraga rasam / seeraka rasam

Ingredients:

Tamarind                   : size of a large marble
Cumin / jeera            : 1 tsp
Tur dal                      : 1 tsp
Red chillies               : 2
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds          : 1 tsp
Ghee                         : for seasoning
Asafoetida                 : a pinch
Salt                            : to taste

Method:

Soak tamarind in 2 cups of water and extract juice.

Soak cumin seeds, tur dal and red chillies in a little water for about 15 mins and then grind them to a smooth paste.

Boil tamarind water and salt till the raw smell of tamarind evaporates.
Add the ground paste and boil till the top gets frothy.
Take off stove.
Heat a spoon of ghee . Add mustard seeds and asafoetida and pour over the rasam.

Note: Optionally one chilli can be reduced and you can add 4 or 5 pepper corns.

Mysore rasam

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons Tur dal
Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized ball ( soaked in a cup of warm water)
Tomatoes - 3 medium, pureed
Hing - 2-3 generous pinches
Sambhar powder - 1 teaspoon
Powdered Jaggery - 1 tsp

For the powder
1/4 cup coconut ( grated )
dhania seeds - 1 teaspoon
tur dal - 1 teaspoon
chana dal - 1 teaspoon
red chillies -  2 ( to taste)
pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
jeera - 1/2 teaspoon

For the tempering
Ghee - 1.5 teaspoons
mustard - 1/2 spoon
hing - a pinch
curry leaves -a few
red chilly - 1
coriander leaves for garnishing

Method
Cook the tur dal in 2 cups of water with turmeric until completely soft. churn and set aside.
While the dal is cooking, roast the ingredients for the powder ( except coconut and jeera) until fragrant
Turn off the stove and add coconut and jeera - cool and grind to a powder - not too coarse, not too fine
While the roasted spices are cooling, extract 1.5 cups of juice from the tamarind and boil it with the tomato puree, hing and salt until the raw smell disappears
Add sambhar powder and prepared rasam powder and powdered jaggery and boil for 5 minutes more
Add the dal ( it should be watery/soupy ) and heat until a yellow foam appears on the surface. do not allow the rasam to bubble/boil.

For the tempering 
Heat the ghee in a small kadhai
Sputter the mustard and add the chilly
When the chilly turns bright red, add the hing and curry leaves
Sizzle this over the ready rasam
Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves




Recipe Courtesy: Shalini via Dailysamayal

Rasam powder / Rasappodi

Rasam Powder

Red Chillies (Guntur)                        : 250 gms
Dhaniya seeds                                  : 500 gms
Tur Dal                                              : 150 gms

Pepper                                              : 30 gms
Jeera                                                 : 50 gms
Turmeric                                            : 5 to 6 pieces ( or you can use 4 tbsp powder)

Dry in Hot Sun for a few hours and grind to a coarse powder.

Arusuvai Natarajan's recipe for rasam powder:

Dideer rasam

(you can make it in smaller quantity. Keep the proportion)

Tur dal – 500 g

pepper – 250 g

jeera – 200 g

hing 100 g

chillies – 300 g

Daniya – 750 g

Turmeric Powder – 50 g

Curry leaves – a fistful

Order of frying ( light fry)

Pepper

Tur dal

Red chillies – broken

Curry leaves.

Jeera

Prior to all this fry hing in oil and add while grinding. Grind to a coarse powder.

For 4 cups rasam:

Add 3 cups water to  a handful of boiled dal. 

Extract pulp of tamarind and add enough water to make it into one cup of liquid.

Add this to the dal.

add 2 ½ tsp rasam powder, enough salt.

Bring to boil.

Heat Ghee and add mustard seeds. Pour it over the rasam once the seeds splutter.

Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Do try. You will love it.

Another Method:
Shimoga Shantamma's recipe

Rasam Powder 

Ingredients:        

    Dried Chillies (byadege) broken into small bits – 3 pavs. This is a tricky measure to describe if you have never seen a pav in life . and the accuracy of measurement makes all the difference to taste. 
 Dhaniya seeds                                 1 ¼ to 1 ½ pav

Curry leaves                                     enough to fill both palms held together in a cup shape.In a little oil fry these together till all the ingredients are crisp. You should be able to break the curry leaves and the chillies. Keep aside.  
Take a piece of dried turmeric and fry it in a little oil. Keep aside. 

Jeera                                              1 tbs
Pepper                                           1 tbsp  
 Mustard                                         1 tbsp
Methi seeds                                    1 tbsp
Fry the above in very little oil.

  

 Channa dal                                    2 tbsp

 Urad dal                                         2 tbsp.

Fry the above in a little oil till golden brown. Powder , cool and store in an airtight container.

Rasam (without using Rasam Powder)

This is one of Arusuvai Natarajan's recipes:


Ingredients:
Tur dal                               : 1/4 cup pressure cooked and mashed
Tamarind                           : a large marble sized ball
Ripe tomatoes                    : 2
Dried chillies                      : 2
Green chillies                     : 2
Turmeric powder                : 1 tsp
Pepper powder                  : 1 tsp
Jeera powder                     : 1 tsp
Jaggery powder                 : 1 tsp
Salt                                    : to taste
Ghee                                  : 1/2 tsp
Mustard                             : 1 tsp
Whole pepper  crushed     : 1tsp
Jeera                                 : 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

Method:

Soak tamarind in warm water and extract pulp adding 2 glasses of water.
Cut the tomatoes and add them to the tamarind water. Add salt, turmeric powder, slit green chillies and split red chillies and boil till the raw smell of tamarind evaporates.(about 5 minutes on slow flame)
Now add  the cooked dal, pepper powder, jeera powder and jaggery and 2 cups of water.
Bring it to a boil and switch off immediately. Do not boil for long.
Heat ghee, splutter mustard seeds, add coarsely ground pepper and jeera and pour over the rasam.
Add Coriander leaves and curry leaves.

Note: If you have a lot of paruppu  from left over rasam (Rasa vandal) you can use the same and follow this method to increase the quantity of rasam.There is no need for adding more paruppu.
Peel a few garlic pods, crush them along with a 2 inch piece of ginger. Add these also in step 2 and boil well. This gives a wondefully delicious Poondu rasam that is yummy to your palate and very kind to your digestive system.

Saaru

Tur dal                  1 cup

Tomato                 1 large - sliced into two parts

Turmeric               ½ tsp

Mensina pudi         2 tsp (recipe here)

Tamarind              large marble size

Jaggery                ½ tsp

Salt

Chopped coriander leaves 

Curry leaves

Seasoning: ghee, mustard, hing

Cook tur dal and tomato and turmeric in a pressure cooker till well done.

Carefully remove the tomato, release skin and mash pulp. Return tomato pulp to cooked dal and stir into a nice homogenous mix.

Add mensina pudi, and tamarind pulp. Add water. 

Boil on high for 7 minutes till the raw smell of the mensina pudi is gone. Add jaggery and salt and bring to boil again. 

Add curry leaves and Corainder leaves.

For seasoning, heat ghee in a small pan. Splutter mustard seeds and very little hing. 

Add to saaru and stir and cover immediately. Serve hot.

This should make 4 cups of saaru.

You can vary the jaggery to taste. 


Recipe courtesy: Ratna Rao (via Dailysamayal)