Our lunch today is big on taste, small on size, a quick and comforting sort of meal:
Tomato Rasam,
Sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spinach, walnuts and red chilli garlic powder.
Yogurt with shredded carrot
Tomato Rasam Recipe:
Take few very ripe tomatoes, few leaves of cilantro and small piece of tamarind in a vessel.
Add one cup of water to them and hand squeeze the tomatoes along with other ingredients until nothing hard left to squeeze (work those hand muscles). Add water if needed. Leave the contents undisturbed for few minutes to get the pulp settled at the bottom. Separate or strain the juice from the sediment below. How tasty the rasam depends on how juicy and fresh the tomatoes are. So attempt this rasam only with decent quality ripe or cherry tomatoes.
In a mortar take half teaspoon each of black peppercorns, cumin seeds and coriander seeds and make a fine powder of them with a pestle.
Do the popu (frying mustards seeds, cumin and curry leaves in oil), use just a drop of oil for popu. Even 1 tsp of oil is too much for the rasam, it spoils the rasam taste with oiliness. To the popu, add the tomato-tamarind juice and half to one glass of water. Don’t dilute it too much with water. Add half teaspoon of salt, dhania-jeera-pepper powder and one teaspoon of sugar or powdered jaggery. Mix it once, have a taste and adjust the seasonings. And bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, then turn off the heat.
You can have it as soup or with rice. Tomatoes’ sweet tartness, tamarind’s sourness and jaggery’s sweetness combine and make this into one tasty rasam.
A different rasam recipe. I love the use of fresh ground spices. I noticed the use of red chili garlic powder on the sandwich. You have given me a great idea…
Comment by mika — June 22, 2005 @ 7:25 pm
Mika - I am crazy about that red chilli garlic powder, I am using it on everything these days plus I didn’t have any pickled jalapanos.
Try this rasam, I know you will like it.
Comment by Indira — June 22, 2005 @ 8:26 pm
Did you make the red chilli garlic powder yourself? If yes, could I have the recipe please?
Comment by Shyam (aka Shammi) — June 23, 2005 @ 2:24 am
That powder is from India, so the craziness. I can make it here too but the taste is different. 5 to 10 red chillies and 4 to 6 garlic cloves(depends on how hot you want) and salt, pound or powder them together. That’s it.
Comment by Indira — June 23, 2005 @ 8:29 am
dhania-jeera-pepper powder - how do i make this? sorrry i am not indian so having troub.le understanding this and would really like to try the recipe. thanks!
Comment by zee — September 6, 2005 @ 8:50 pm
Zee, it’s coriander-cumin-black pepper powder. This tomato rasam gets it kick from this powder and tamarind. Please try it and let me know, thanks.
Comment by Indira — September 6, 2005 @ 9:52 pm
Well, i tried out this recipe at home….Amazing taste…everyone at home loved it….Love this recipe…Yummy.
Indira replies:
This is my favorite too.:)
I am glad you tried and liked this rasam recipe, thanks for letting me know.
Comment by aniti — June 10, 2006 @ 3:58 am
mahanandi it is very good site-i must say exelent-in my opinion it is the no 1 recipes thanks for photograph (sorry if i make any mistake in typing
Comment by noorali chaglani — August 10, 2006 @ 3:10 am
[…] I found these beautiful leeks in the market and could not resist them. I thought I might make a clear soup of leeks and carrots. I even went so far as to dice the carrots. But local tomatoes are finally on; after a couple of days of sitting on the counter, the luscious, vine-ripened tomatoes cried out to me: “Put us into Indira’s Tomato Rasam“! The leeks were crying too, so I put them in the soup in lieu of cilantro. […]
Pingback by Out Of The Garden » Fresh Tomato Rasam with Leeks — August 25, 2006 @ 12:26 am
Great recipe. I have a suggestion. Instead of the “popu” at the start, get the rasam done. “Popu” separately and add asofotadia (hing) to the oil too along with other ingredients and add it to the rasam once its done. It gives it a great aroma and the curry leaves act as a gr8 garnish
Comment by L — October 20, 2006 @ 4:47 pm
Hi Indira,
I have asked this query already. Again, posting it here..
Somewhere, have seen the image of tomato beet pulav in yr blog. But, could not find the recipe. Can you pls post it??
Also, is there any one place to post all the queries or doubts becoz, tracking them each & every time is really really difficult as the question blog is also closed!!!
Pls reply..
Thanks.
Indira replies:
Hi Rama,
Just follow cherry tomato pulao recipe, but in the beginning, add and saute 2 grated beetroots. That’s what I did and I didn’t take any photos while preparing it so I can’t post the recipe.
If you do try, let me know how you like it.
I hate receiving recipe requests, and also I am somewhat busy right now, not able to answer each comment. That’s why I closed down ‘question’ section. I will open it one of these days.
I have read all your comments. Thanks for trying out the recipes and letting me know.
Comment by Rama — November 12, 2006 @ 10:05 am
Thanks for yr reply..sure, will try and let you know..
Meanwhile, have tried coriander tomato chutney, way too different in taste and color.
Yr recipes are always different and interesting. Kudos to you, Indira.
Bye.
Comment by Rama — November 13, 2006 @ 11:37 am
Contn. from me..
Hi Indira,
Just now checked out the recipe and words are not enough to describle yr talent. IN an ordinary tomato rice, you have included chickpeas which is a different!!! And, now adding beet, wow, simply great and cant wait to try that recipe.
BTW, saw okra sambar and got the idea of addition of cherry tomato. Tried out the same in capsicum sambar and also in another sambar recipe. Wow, a great color and taste..My hub was literally slurping the sambar, all credit goes to you.
Tons of thanks to you, Indira..
Bye.
Comment by Rama — November 13, 2006 @ 11:41 am
hi indira, thnx for such a good recipe. it was delicious, wheni made it.
more over hte pictures are so mouth watering. good job.
Comment by sunitha — August 11, 2007 @ 11:18 am
[…] Chandrika’s Black-Eyed Beans Rasam Saffron has a recipe here and a really cute story about her first encounter with a “melting pot” called eeya chombu. For a discussion of eeya chombu / eeyum shombu, click here or . (Heh, just ignore the little arguments, there’s is good information there.) Indira’s Tomato Rasam and Taro Root Rasam. Shathabhishekam Rasam from Hemant Trivedi a very nice rasam for when you’ve got an abundance of mint to harvest, from Priya at Sugar and Spices Ginger Rasam from Viji at Yum Blog Priyanka’s Mango Rasam calling for raw mango seed, which I haven’t tried before! […]
Pingback by Lemon Rasam — August 30, 2007 @ 10:02 am
Amazing recipe for Tomato Rasam!!! Loved every drop of it! Thanks a ton!
Comment by Vidya — January 19, 2008 @ 9:25 am
[…] Meanwhile I embarked on a missionary zeal to spread the ubiquitous rasam recipe but with a different flavor (sans dhal yet soupy). Click here to get it. […]
Pingback by California Trip « Mukund’s Olaral — April 6, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
Indira,
deelish! I served this with some rava onion dosa. I love your website. thank you for sharing your cooking methods. I usually call my mom, but now i check here then call her to tell her what i’ve cooked up.
this was excellent. i used crushed tomatoes and a little extra water. I have difficulty buying tomatoes when not in season
Comment by Nilam — April 22, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Its a great recipe… i tried it and it came good… i wanted it bit more sour.. i added more tamarind and the resut was fantastic… easy method.. Thanks for the recipe.
Comment by Bheems — May 8, 2008 @ 5:59 pm
I tried the tomato rasam yesterday, and it came out beautiful!!! I love it!! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Spillay
http://spillay.wordpress.com
Comment by Spillay — May 18, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
I made thsi rasam today with the tomatoes in my garden. Only variation was that I pureed the tomatoes and added a tsp of rasam powder. It was delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Comment by Savita — August 17, 2008 @ 11:54 am