Subru Uncle's Delicious Spicy S.indian Rasam Curry We Love

Total Time: 1 hr 50 mins Preparation Time: 50 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 cups water (or boiled toor dal, yellow lentils water, i used the boiled yellow lentils water)
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 6 tablespoons oil
• 2 medium green chilies, slit
• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled, washed and finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, washed and finely chopped
• 5 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
• 1 cup of fresh curry leaf, washed and torn
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)
• 3 whole red chilies
• 2 medium tomatoes, washed, peeled and chopped into cubes
• 1/4 cup water (this is to be added to cook the tomatoes)
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander powder
• 7 cups water (this is added to prepare the curry for rasam. you can add more or less depending on the consistency)
• 1/2 cup tamarind pulp
• 3 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves, washed and finely chopped (to garnish)

Recipe

• 1 with the help of a pestle, pound ginger, garlic and whole black peppercorns in a mortar as nicely as you can until the peppercorns are completely crushed and the ginger and garlic are completely softened.
• 2 keep aside.
• 3 extract tamarind pulp out of tamarind by soaking 4-5 one-inch sized pieces in 1 1/2 cups of hot water.
• 4 press these tamarind pieces to squeeze out the juice/pulp out of the tamarind.
• 5 transfer the tamarind pulp in a clean bowl.
• 6 keep aside.
• 7 heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame.
• 8 when its hot, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and cumin seeds.
• 9 allow to splutter and crackle.
• 10 once it stops spluttering and crackling, add curry leaves and green chillies.
• 11 stir-fry for a minute or two.
• 12 then add the whole red chillies and stir-fry for another minute.
• 13 add the above prepared ginger-garlic-black peppercorns mixture to the pot.
• 14 mix well.
• 15 then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and corriander powder.
• 16 mix well and continue to stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
• 17 put the chopped tomatoes in a bowl and crush them as tightly as you can between the palms of your hands.
• 18 squeeze them as well as you can to extract the juice/pulp out of them.
• 19 now add the crushed tomatoes alongwith the juice squeezed out.
• 20 mix well, add 1/4 cup of water and cook on high flame so as to allow the tomatoes to soften quickly.
• 21 add salt and mix well.
• 22 then add the boiled toor dal water (or 3 cups of plain water if you are using that).
• 23 stir well and bring to a boil.
• 24 lower flame, then add about 7 cups more of water.
• 25 you can add upto 3-4 cups more also, if required.
• 26 mix well and allow it to boil for 15 minutes.
• 27 then add tamarind pulp and stir well.
• 28 boil for 10-15 more minutes.
• 29 garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot as a soup on its own or as a lentil curry to serve over rice with/without plain low-fat yogurt on the side.