Garlic Rasam | Poondu Rasam

Loaded with fried garlic, freshly ground spices and tempered with ghee this Garlic rasam is hot, aromatic and heavenly with hot steamed rice. Every house has its signature rasam and rarely do they try any other. My mother makes it with paruppu-thani (watery lentil/dal juices). My in-laws make the gottu rasam without paruppu thani. However you make your rasam, there’s nothing else that spells home-food like hot steamed rice, rasam and a dollop of ghee. It’s the ultimate Tamil comfort food. It’s light (forget the ghee for a minute), mild and easy on the stomach. If you don’t know rasam, it is sort of a spiced clear soup that is had with rice. Some rasams can make good soups too.

I was feeling particularly revolutionary one weekend and I had free reign of the kitchen. So I set out to make this Garlic Rasam. The recipe is from Chandra Padmanabhan’s book, Dakshin. The Garlic rasam turned out really well and I thoroughly enjoyed it alongside KovakkaiKari and hot steamed rice. But beware. If you can’t stand garlic, this rasam is not for you. This garlic rasam has enough garlic to ward away the scariest Draculas.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

Garlic – 25 pods peeled
Tamarind extract – about 2 cups from a lemon sized tamarind ball
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Whole dry red chillies – 2
Salt to taste
Oil – 2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp chopped

Ingredients - Spice Powder

Whole dry Red chillies – 4
Coriander seeds – 2 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Whole black peppercorns – ½ tsp
Bengal gram/Kadalai paruppu – 2 tsp

Method

1.      Dry roast the ingredients under spice powder until the Bengal gram turns red. Cool and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.

2.      Heat a kadai. Pour in the tamarind extract, add salt and let it come to a gentle boil.

3.      Meanwhile fry the garlic pods in 2 tsp oil till golden around the edges. Remove from fire and set aside.

4.      When the tamarind extract comes to a boil, add the spice powder and stir. Let boil for 2 minutes. Tip in the fried garlic. Switch off.

5.      Now for the tempering, heat 1 tsp ghee and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the red chillies and asafoetida. Pour over rasam. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.