This is a very quick recipe that I make when we catch a cold or feel sick or tired. But last week N and Junior N went out to swim as daddy wanted to teach R swimming and I had volunteered to make muffins(for cupcakes) for R’s school(till primary age) for Easter.With over a 100 muffins to make and decorate, this was the quick recipe I could think of to go with rice for dinner. At the end it was good that I made the rasam as I was tired of making 120 muffins and I ended up having the rasam too, to give me the energy boost

A quick look of a portion of the muffins:

This rasam does not need any dal and this is almost like a version of mysore rasam. This is very quick to make say 5-10 minutes, even if you have guests who arrive unannounced for dinner, you can make this like a soup.

Ingredients:
List-1
Toor dal- 2 tbsp
Jeera- 1/2 tsp
Pepper- Less than 1/4 tsp- about 4 or 5 numbers will work.
Red chili- 1

Other ingredients:
Tamarind paste- 1/4 tsp mixed with 1.5 cups of water
Tomato- one small size
Garlic- 5-6 cloves
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Jeera- 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves- few
Hing- one pinch

Method:

Toast all the ingredients in list 1 except garlic and tomato to a golden brown color. Transfer to a blender. Toast the garlic separately. Grind the toasted ingredients to a coarse powder and add toasted garlic and fresh tomato, grind it to a smooth paste. Mix tamarind water to this paste.

Heat ghee in a pan add jeera, when it splutters add curry leaves and hing. When they sizzle, reduce the flame and pour the tomato-garlic-tamarind mix, add salt and let it simmer for 10 minutes till the rasam is frothy and the aroma of rasam boiling hits you Switch off and cover(to seal the aroma). Serve with papad,rice and ghee with any accompaniment of your choice. Or you can even drink it like a soup. The toasted dal is like a rasam powder but you do not need any cooked mashed dal to give it the thickness as the powder will do that job!