This Tomato Rasam from Karnataka is a sweet and spicy soup served together with roasted vegetables. Tastes amazing!
Actually, I only made this soup because I needed something to serve as a side dish with my recipe for jackfruit vegetables from Karnataka. And in Karnataka, as in large parts of southern India, you simply eat rasams with roasted vegetables. Rasams are much more watery than ordinary curries, more like soups. They are usually eaten in small portions together with rice and vegetables. Therefore, one should not necessarily imagine a large bowl of soup under it.
There are countless variations. Among the most popular are: Lemon Rasam, Tomato Rasam, and Tamarind Rasam. However, I have also eaten rasam with chicken broth in Maharashtra.
This rasam was so great that I will definitely try some more soon. It is pretty sweet though. If you don’t like it that way, just reduce the jaggery. Whereas it complemented my veggies great, also from the consistency, which came from the sugar of the jaggery, among other things.
The basis of a rasam is a rasam spice mix. Of course you can make it yourself, I bought one. You can find them in Indian supermarkets, but also easy to order on the Internet.
Tomato Rasam – a south Indian sweet and spicy soup
Ingredients
- oil
- ½ tsp mustard seeds brown
- ½ tsp urad dal (halved)
- 1 red Kashmiri chili cut into 3-4 pcs. – without seeds
- 2 green chilies slit lenghtwise
- ~10 curry leaves
- 4 tomatoes chopped
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 4 Tbsp jaggery alternatively brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 tsp rasam powder preferably Udupi rasam powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 handful coriander leaves
Instructions
- Chop the tomatoes, slice the green chilies lengthwise and cut off the stalk. Set everything aside.
- Now heat some oil over medium heat in a pot and add the mustard seeds first.
- When they start to pop, add the lentils, red and green chilies, and curry leaves, and put the lid on.
- Once the mustard has popped, add the tomatoes and cook until soft.
- When they are soft, add the turmeric powder and jaggery.
- Let the whole thing simmer in the pan briefly before adding 1 ½ cups of water.
- Let it simmer further, add the rasam powder, asafoetida and salt and stir everything well.
- As soon as foam forms on the surface, remove from heat.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve as a side dish with rice and vegetables.
Please rate my recipe before you leave 🙂:
My source of the recipe for Tomato Rasam: https://udupi-recipes.com/2013/12/tomato-rasam-recipe-easy-rasam-racipe.html
Cooked with lots of love ♥ on From zero to curry.
