Cumin-Coriander Rasam

Photo: Ramya Manja

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

3 tablespoons coriander

2 tablespoons toor daal*

7 dry red chillies

2 green chillies

pinch of hing and haldi

1 tomato

tamarind

jaggery**

cilantro and curry leaves for garnishing

Tadka Ingredients:

2 teaspoons oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 split red chillies

Preparation

Roast cumin seeds,coriander, red chillies, and toor daal/lentils until a fine aroma oozes out.

Blend the dry roasted spices into a fine powder by adding a pinch of Hing and Haldi.

Add tamarind water (soak tamarind in a luke warm water for about 20 -30 minutes or microwave tamarind with little water for about 30sec to 1 minute), chopped tomato, chopped green chillies, cilantro, curry leaves and add enough water to get the required consistency.

Add a pinch of Haldi and Hing and get the mixture to a boil.

When it starts boiling add freshly prepared rasam powder (about 2 Tbsp), jaggery and salt to taste, and let it boil for a 3 to 5 minutes.

Put oil in a fry pan, when it gets warm, add mustard seeds. After it sputters add dry red chillies (split into pieces) and hing (if desired) and curry leaves.

Add this tadka to the rasam and turn off heat.