Rasam (Tamarind and Tomato Soup)
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 19 Steps 11
Rasam, also called saru, is a popular dish in South India. It can be described as a thin soup, served on top of rice.
Ingredients
Rasam powder
- 2 tsp oil or ghee
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 3–4 dried red chillies
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 small pinch asafoetida
Dhal
- 14 g (½ oz) toovar dhal (also called red gram dhal)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 3 tomatoes
- 1–2 tsp tamarind paste
- Salt
- 1 tsp sugar (jaggery or palm sugar is good too)
- Water—the amount depends on the amount of rasam required as it is meant to be very watery.
Mustard seed seasoning
- 1 tbsp ghee (or butter and oil)
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp urad dhal or cumin seeds
- 2 dried red chillies
- 4 curry leaves
- 1 handful of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
Steps
Rasam powder
- Fry all ingredients together in a skillet with oil or ghee, adding asafoetida last. Toast until the spices brown slightly.
- Grind to a powder. Coriander seed is very difficult to powder.
Dhal
- Wash toovar dhal until the water runs clear.
- Cover with double the quantity of water, turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon oil. Cook covered in a microwave for half an hour, in a pressure cooker, or slowly on a stove, until mushy.
- Cut tomatoes into 4 pieces. Put in a saucepan full of water. Bring to a boil.
- Add tamarind, salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Add tamarind a little at a time, as it is very bitter; adjust later.
- When tomatoes are half cooked, add the cooked dal.
- Add rasam powder to taste, usually 4–5 teaspoons; reasonably spicy, with neither tamarind nor sugar dominating. Stir. Keep simmering.
- Heat ghee in a small pan. Add mustard seeds, urad dhal, chillies and curry leaves. Cook until the dhal browns and the mustard seeds spit. Do not burn the spices.
- Pour the seasoning into the rasam immediately. Stir through.
- Add chopped coriander leaves. Serve with hot, soft plain boiled rice.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Rasam (Tamarind and Tomato Soup)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-10-23, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Rasam from Kerala.JPG by Rameshng, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.