Simple Coconut Rasam

I love rasam. The simplest meaning for rasam is juice. So mango rasam means mango juice. There's also a South Indian dish called rasam. It goes great with any type of rice or also can be eaten as soup. A well known rasam that is offered in most Indian restaurants in the US is Mulligatawny soup (made with pepper).  Did you know there are 25 variations of rasam? That's a lot of rasams. I've probably tasted only about 5 in my life, which means I've still got a lot of ground to cover. I love the one I'm going to tell you about today. It's a step up from the basic rasam recipe; additional ingredient is coconut powder.

Ingredients:

- 3 Plum tomatoes

- 2 tbsp Coconut Milk Powder

- ½ tbsp Madras Rasam Powder
- ½ tsp Mustard seeds
- ½ tsp Cumin seeds
- A pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)

- ½ tbsp Salt

- 400 ml Water

- Coriander, chopped (to garnish)

Procedure: 

Dice tomatoes into cubes and grind them in a blender until sauce consistency. Transfer the sauce into a (2qt) container and add rasam powder, salt and coconut powder. (Hint: mix the coconut powder with a little bit of water so when it is mixed into the tomato sauce, it doesn't clump).  Bring the rasam to a boil on medium heat (approx. 7-10min). Check to see if all the coconut powder is mixed into the rasam, and no lumps are noticed. Continue to boil for another 2 minutes and remove from heat. Season the rasam with mustard and cumin seeds and hing. Add chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or as soup with croutons.

***Quick Tip:

- If coconut powder is not readily available, then substitute it with 4 tbsp of canned coconut milk.

What is your favorite kind of rasam? Please share with us.