Tomato Rasam-1

This is rather my bizarre way of making Tomato Rasam. Bizarre coz I never saw or heard anyone making Rasam like this. You may laugh at this, but this is what I used to make soon after I got married. I tasted some excellent rasam's at friends places, but the long procedures somehow kept me from following them. Very soon I learnt about canned tomatoes, in almost every other form. How thrilled was I when I made my first Rasam after a lot of thinking and whether to or not to with the Canned Tomato Paste, lol. We both instantly liked it and ofcourse after making some changes to it, this became my standard way of making rasam for a very long time. Since we both used to love Rasam a lot, I used to make it so often, with pepper, ginger, with or without rasam powder, with celery in it, and what not. We used to love to drink this rasam every other day. Some of my friends politely would tell me that's not how Rasam is made.

Slowly, I gave up canned tomato for the fresh ones and that rasam recipe of mine was forgotten. Few days back, I suddenly remembered it and thought, why not make it and enjoy it, my recipe of bygone days. Now, if I thought of making it again, it should be tasting good rite. Even though made from the canned stuff, it tastes really good to just gulp it down sip by sip. Try it..

Ingredients

Tomato paste, canned - 1 1/2 tbsp

Tamarind - a small marble sized ball, soaked in water and juice extracted from that.

Garlic cloves - 3

Black pepper corns - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or more

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Cilantro, chopped - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 3-4

Salt - to taste

Oil

Method

- With a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic, pepper corns and cumin seeds together.

- Heat oil in a pan, add this crushed mixture, saute for a few seconds, add the curry leaves.

- Add the tomato paste with 4-5 cups of water, add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, tamarind juice, and cilantro. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes till the mixture boils completely and you don't feel any rawness of the paste.
- Serve hot.

Note :

- Making it thicker or thinner by adding more or less water.

- Adjust and vary the garlic and pepper according to your taste levels. You can give an extra seasoning of garlic after the rasam is ready.

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