When eating the same rasam prepared with tamarind daily becomes boring, and the tongue craves for variety, we usually switch over to tomatoes or lime or even mango or pineapple to add the sour taste to rasam. Lime rasam can be had has a clear thin soup just before meals, or served like any other rasam with white rice.
Ingredients:
Lime – 1 big
Green gram dal – ¼ cup
Green chillies (slit) – 2
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Curry leaves – a few
Coriander leaves – a few
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
Salt – 1 tsp
Pepper – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Tomato - 1
Method:1. Pressure cook green gram dal in 1 ½ cups of water and turmeric powder.
2. Add salt, asafoetida, curry leaves to the watery cooked dal and boil for 2 minutes.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and boil for one more minute.
4. Add two glasses of water and decrease heat.
5. Coarsely powder pepper and cumin seeds and add it to the rasam.
6. Squeeze out the juice of one lime into the rasam
7. Add chopped fresh coriander leaves. (fewMint leaves will lend it refreshing flavour)
8. Wait until the rasam foams and remember to remove from flame before it boils.
9. Heat ghee and add mustard seeds. When it splutters add it to the rasam.
10. Keep the rasam covered so that the flavour is intact.
TIP: Any rasam should never be boiled as it spoils the flavours. Rasam will foam, and slowly rise to the top of the vessel, similar to milk, when it reaches boiling point. The flame should be switched off immediately, and the vessel covered with a lid to seal in the flavours.
Enjoy the hot rasam in a tall glass as you watch the monsoon rain lashing out.
