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
Pigeonpea – ¼ padi
Ghee – ¼ palam
Turmeric Powder – ? palam
Pepper – ? palam
Cumin Seed -? palam
Coriander Seed – ¼ palam
Red Chilli – 3 veesam 3/16 palam
Black Gram – ½ palam
Grated Coconut – 1 palam
Salt – ½ palam
Curry Leaves – 1 palam
Ghee – ½ palam
Fenugreek Seed – ? palam
Cumin Seed – ? palam
Method
1. Boil pure water in a lead coated vessel that can hold 2 ½ padi water. Add pigeonpea, turmeric and ghee one by one into the boiling water.
2. Close it with a vessel filled with water. Fry separately pepper, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, red chillies and black gram in ghee. Add grated coconut to the above ingredients and grind it to a fine paste.
3. Dissolve the paste in little water and add salt. Fry curry leaves in slow fire. When the rasam thickens, heat the ghee and add fenugreek, cumin seeds and when they are fried, add the seasoning to the rasam and remove the rasam from the fire.
4. Squeeze a lemon and add lemon juice to it before serving.
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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