Tomato Rasam/ Thakkali Rasam

I wanted to post this since a very long time. A colleague of 'N' had asked for this recipe and he has promised to become our blog's follower if I post this recipe :).

Rasam is one of the tasty yet simple dishes which I am sure everyone loves. It is one of the staple diets of South India.
This goes to Innovative In-Laws "Garnish the Dish" event.



Ingredients:Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Ripe tomato - 1 medium sized
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized
Green chilli - 1-2
Rasam powder (recipe coming soon) - 2 tsp
Grated coconut - 2-3 tsp
Salt
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Coriander/ Cilantro leaves - a small bunch
Curry leaves - 5-6



Garnish:
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6

Method:
Pressure cook dal with little turmeric, mash well.
Soak tamarind in little water and extract the juice.
Add chopped tomato, curry leaves and some water and boil this till tomato is cooked.
Add the mashed dal and salt. Depending on the consistency you want add more water.
Then add green chilli and let it simmer for some time. The green chilli imparts its flavour to the rasam, giving a nice aroma.
In a seasoning wok, add little ghee and fry the rasam powder for 2-3 sec till you get an aroma. Add hing to this and fry once. Add this to the rasam and let it boil for 1 min.
Now remove from heat and add grated coconut.
In a seasoning wok add the remaining ghee. When its hot add mustard and when it splutter add cumin seeds and then curry leaves. Pour this to the rasam.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Serves: 2 people