Spicy Chennai Rasam

Ingredients:

Tamarind - lime size

Tomato - 1 chopped

Hing -1 pinch

Garlic - 6 to 7 cloves slit ( not chopped)

Jeera - 2 tbsp

Pepper - 1 tbsp

Dry Red Chillies - 4 to 5

Rasam powder-2 to 3 tsp

Lots and lots of Coriander Leaves ( Cilantro...)

Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Curry leaves-a few

Salt ( to taste)

water - 3 cups

For Rasam Powder:

Thur dal-1 tbsp

Channa dal-1/2 tsp

Coriander seeds-1/2 tsp

Pepper-1/4 tsp

Jeera - 1/2 tbsp

Red chillies-3

Shredded Coconut-1 tbsp ( optional )

Coriander leaves- few

Roast all the above in a tbsp of oil/ghee till golden brown and grind it all to make fine rasam powder.

For Rasam:

• Soak tamarind in warm water. Let it soak for 10 mins. When the tamarind is nicely soaked, extract tamarind juice and remove the tamarind from the tamarind extract.
• To tamarind extract, add tomato, salt, hing and boil it for 10 minutes.
• Add the ground rasam powder and water and continue boiling for 15 minutes.
• Turn off the heat.

For the seasoning,

• In a pan, add oil/ ghee, hing, mustard, curry leaves, jeera, red chillies, whole pepper, garlic pieces, few coriander leaves ( gives a nice flavor when you season coriander leaves in oil/ghee) and add to rasam.
• Mix with rice and ghee and serve with any curry/pappad/ pickle.

Enjoy your spicy chennai rasam...