Tomato Pepper Rasam ~ Indian version of Hot and Sour Soup

Spicy and tangy Tomato Pepper Rasam, a Southern Indian version of Hot and Sour soup is the ultimate comfort food in my books! Nothing can take away any kind of blues like this rasam can.

There is nothing like a bowl of hot rasam to comfort you any day – be it you have a cold or you had a tiring day at work or its too dark and gloomy outside or just that you miss home. Rasam always works wonders for me. Just a little white rice topped with a lot of rasam and I can curl up on the couch and savor it like its the best thing to happen to me that day. That is what a comfort food should do to you, right? What is your comfort food that makes you feel like its all ok?

When amma was here I made her make a lot of rasam and saved some for later. A few days after she left, I fell sick and I was so thankful that I had some of the leftover rasam. Rasam is basically an Indian version of hot and sour soup that you either have it as it is or like most of us do, mix it with some white rice and accompanied with some crunchy chips or wafers. There are a million versions of rasam out there, some are easy, some not so much but mostly it is the same base of tamarind water and spices which makes it hot and sour.

Tomato Pepper Rasam – The Recipe

• 2 cherry sized balls of Tamarind, soaked in warm water
• 1 tsp  Oil
• ½ tsp  Ghee, substitute with oil to make it Vegan friendly
• ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon Crushed black pepper
• 2 tablespoon Rasam powder / Sambar powder (store bought will do)
• ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon grated Jaggery
• 2 Tomatoes, chopped in to small pieces (slightly smaller than if you would quarter a Roma tomato)
• a pinch of Asafetida
• Salt, to taste
• Cilantro leaves, chopped

Method:

Squeeze the juice out of the tamarind soaked in warm water, keep the juice aside. Add more water and repeat the process 2 or 3 more times. Keep aside the pulp.

Heat the oil and ghee in a deep pan. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds, let the mustard seeds splutter. Throw in the crushed black pepper and add the tamarind pulp to this. If it is too thick add a ½ cup of water to it. Add turmeric powder to this mix. Mix the rasam powder or sambar powder in a little water to make a paste and then add it to the pan. Add the tomatoes too. Let it come to a boil.

Now add the jaggery, salt and asafetida. Switch off the heat and add the cilantro. Mix well and keep aside for sometime before serving. Rasam tastes better a little after it has been cooked so that all the flavors mix well together. But do not let it cool down too. If it does, put it back on the stove and heat it up. Serve hot with cooked white rice.

There are many variations to this same rasam. Some add a little cooked toor dal to it or some just add some of water in which the toor dal is cooked. If you have that handy, go for it. Otherwise it just adds to the process which is why I usually skip it.

Enjoy your rasam! 🙂