Fusion Rasam and Homemade Rasam Powder

        Rasam is considered as one of the most comforting South Indian dish.There are many south Indians who feel that a meal is never complete without a bowl of plain rice and rasam. Whenever we have a get together at home and even when the menu has rich and delicious stuff like Biryanis and Kormas,many times at the end of the meal people ask me if they could get some rasam. This one's from my mom's kitchen. Rasams are usually made in different flavours,like garlic,pepper etc.My mom's version is a fusion of different flavours.
      My mom would make this almost everyday or every other day. Despite being a working woman my mom was very adept at juggling both work and home.It amazes me when I think that she never even had a maid to help her.The memory I have of her is of a lady who worked from morning to night with no respite but still always found time to help her children with their homework and made sure that they were pretty well fed.Being a stay at home mom, I feel that I have a very relaxed lifestyle,but I'm not sure if I really like it at times.Many of us are professionals who after being in the work force for sometime are SAHMs by either choice or due to circumstances.I would really like to hear your take on it ' to work or not to work ',that's a big topic by itself . OK,I get it :)I know that this is a food blog and here I am rambling :) But then I've decided to ramble a bit too on my blog,pity you people :)Off we go to the recipe.....

For the Rasam:
Serves 3
Ingredients:
Tomato - 1 medium
Tamarind - a small marble ( size of a small gooseberry)
oil - 2 tsp
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 4 cloves(chopped finely)
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Mint leaves - leaves from 3 sprigs(chopped finely)
Coriander leaves - 3 sprigs(chopped finely)
Rasam Powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon Juice - juice from 1/2 a lemon
salt as needed


Method:
-Soak Tamarind in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes.Squeeze the juice out of the tamarind.Chop the tomatoes.
-Add oil to a pan, when it heats up splutter hing,cumin seeds,mustard and curry leaves.Add chopped garlic and mint and saute until the garlic browns slightly.
-Add the chopped tomatoes & the rasam powder and saute until the tomatoes are soft and the mixture starts oozing out oil.
-Add the tamarind juice,the turmeric powder,coriander leaves and salt.Check for salt and add some more water if needed.
-Let it boil until it starts foaming and small bubbles cover the whole surface of the rasam.
-Remove it from the stove and add the lemon juice.

Rasam Powder:

Coriander seeds - 1 cup

Whole Red Chillies - 1 cup

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds - 3 tbsp

Whole Pepper Corns  - 3 tbsp

Urad Dhal  - 1.5 tbsp

Fennel seeds - 3 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 4 -5 sprigs(optional)

Method:

-Dry roast all the ingredients one by one separately in a pan on low heat.

-Grind them together to a nice coarse powder.

Note:

-You can change the amount of chillies according to your spice level.I usually use only half the amount of chillies.

                                         Thanks for stopping by.Happy cooking !

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