Try this Tomato rasam recipe, or contribute your own.
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- pinch of hing
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 broken red chili
- 1/2 tsp. mustard
- 2 cups chopped ripe & red tomatoes
- 3 cups water (can use more to make thin charu)
- 1 to 2 tsp. rasam powder(adjust to suit your taste)
- 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp. oil or ghee/ clarified butter
- pinch of fenugreek seeds / methi
- 1/8 tsp. turmeric/ haldi
- generous pinch of pepper powder
- small piece of tamarind or 3/4 tsp. tamarind paste
- 1 to 3 broken red chili
- 1 1/2 tbsp. chana dal(optional use if you like slightly thick charu)
- 1 1/2 tbsp. coriander seeds/ daniya
- 1/2 to 1 tsp. pepper
- Carbohydrate 2.44812 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.263835 g
- Fiber 0.236249994277954 g
- Protein 0.568605 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0214575 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (7g)
- Sodium 2.784 mg
- Sugar 2.21187000572205 g
- Trans Fat 0.044928 g
- Calories 13 calories
Step-by-step
- Skip this step if you have ready powder. To make instant powder, dry roast chana dal till golden, add coriander seeds, red chili, pepper corn. Switch off the stove. Add cumin to the hot pan. Cool them and make a fine powder.Keep this aside.
- Heat a pot with oil, add cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds. When they begin to splutter, add red chili and hing.
- Add curry leaves and fry for a min.
- Add finely chopped ripe tomatoes, salt and turmeric. Salt helps to cook tomatoes faster.
- Fry the tomatoes for about 2 minutes. Cover and cook.
- Tomatoes should turn mushy and soft.
- Pour water and add the powder as needed. If you wish you can crush 2 garlic cloves and add it.
- Bring it to a boil. Taste it and adjust salt. Wash little tamarind and add it to the pot. You can even add tamarind paste if you have. Check sourness as well now.
- Allow it to boil well for about 3 to 5 minutes on a medium flame. Switch off the stove.
- Add coriander leaves, stalks and pepper powder. Keep the pot covered.
Cooking on a strict ingredient budget requires liquids that pull double duty, extracting maximum flavor from minimal aromatics without wasting produce. Tomato rasam relies on acid and spice to create a complex broth using only a handful of pantry staples. When scaling this recipe upward to feed a larger group, do not multiply the dried spices at a strict one-to-one ratio; whole cumin, mustard seeds, and fenugreek can easily overwhelm a larger pot if doubled blindly. Instead, increase the base tomato and water volume first, then adjust the ground rasam powder gradually after the liquid reaches a rolling boil. Ripe, red tomatoes must break down completely until mushy, a process accelerated by adding salt early to draw out moisture. Letting the covered pot sit off the heat for five minutes allows the volatile oils from the final pepper powder and coriander stalks to infuse the broth fully. Stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator, leftovers develop a deeper tartness over twenty-four hours as the tamarind and garlic meld into the tomato base, making the second day flavor profile distinctly sharper than the first.
