Spicy Pepper Rasam | Milagu Rasam

 A perfect meal always ends with rasam.  Rasam plays a vital role in our south-indian meal. First part it helps in digesting the food easier and next, the spicy masalas helps to cure sore throat. I generally prefer having rasam whenever I feel sick.  Usually there are different varieties of rasam and one of my own favourite is “Edicha pepper rasam” which is awesome when u ve a bad throat.  This can be taken along with rice as a simple and yet spicy dish for lunch. 

Ingredients

1 Lemon-sized ball of tamarind

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp mustard seeds

1-2 Red chillies (adjust to taste)

Curry leaves

Coriander leaves

Salt

1-2 tsp Oil

How I made it

• In a mortar-pestle add the pepper corns and cumin seeds. Crush it coarsely. Or grind in a blender using the pulse button.
• Soak the tamarind in a cup of water (500ml) . Extract the juice and discard the pulp of it 
• Add salt, pepper-cumin mixture to the diluted tamarind water. Keep aside.
• In a sauce pan add oil followed by mustard seeds. Once it crackles add the red chillies and curry leaves. Make sure not to burn the chillies dark.
• Now add the diluted tamarind water content to the hot oil. Care should be taken. It’s better to simmer the stove at this time.
• As soon as it starts to boil switch –off the stove and garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes:

1. Don’t let the rasam to boil for long time. Just the frothy texture is good enough for making a perfect rasam.
2. Adding cooked and mashed toor dal to the rasam is optional.