Scope

South Indian meals, particularly lunch, is never complete without some tangy, sour, digestives such as the moru (curd) rice and another soupy dish called rasam. Rasam means “juice”. Rasam commonly refers to soup prepared with sweet-sour stock made from either kokum or tamarind, along with tomato and lentil, added spices and garnish. The Karnataka and Andhra varieties are called saaru in Kannada and chaaru in Telugu, respectively. The spices used include chili pepper, black pepper, cumin etc.

It is eaten with rice or separately as a spicy soup and can be consumed hot or cold. Rasam has a distinct taste in comparison to the sambar due to its own seasoning ingredients. Given its usage as a regular dish in daily meals, Rasam Powder is prepared and stored in airtight containers beforehand.

Fundamental Concepts and Principles

Rasam is prepared mainly with kokum, kadampuli/kachampuli (malabar tamarind) or tamarind stock depending on the region, along with tomato stock. Lentils are optional but are used in several rasams recipes. Other ingredients used are jaggery, garlic, cumin, black pepper, chilli powder, turmeric, curry leaves, coriander as flavoring ingredients and garnish.

The below series covers pretty much the whole gamut of rasams one can savour in South Indian households.

Fundamental Concepts and Principles

Pure Water – 2 padi

Butter Beans – ¼ padi

Turmeric Powder – veesam 1/16 palam

Tamarind – 1½ palam

Salt – 1¾ palam

Rasam Powder – 1½ palam

Curry Leaves – 1 palam

Fresh Coriander Leaves – ¼ palam

Ghee – 1 palam

Mustard Seeds – ?palam

Black Gram – ¼ palam

Cumin Seeds – ? palam

Fenugreek Seeds – veesam 1/16 palam

Asafoetida – 2 ku.a

Method

1. Boil pure water in a vessel that has the capacity to hold 2½ padi water. Add butter beans, turmeric powder to the boiling water one by one.

2. Close it with a vessel filled with water. Dissolve tamarind in water in a lead coated vessel and remove the seeds from it. Add salt to the tamarind juice.

3. If the butter beans are cooked well, add the tamarind juice and the rasam powder to it. Add curry leaves.

4. Boil ghee and add mustard seeds, black gram, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and follow the procedure in recipe no 22 (seasoning recipe) for seasoning. Dissolve asafoetida in water and add it to the rasam and remove from the fire.

Hindu Compliance Body

The Hindu compliance body was established under the executive order of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, dated August 14, 2020, order number 10010, under the title Reviving the Hindu Compliance System and Body to create, promote, spread and teach the standard procedures for all products and services that are in compliance Hindu Shastras.

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