Tomato Rasam : a healthy low calorie hot beverage

If you have worked in and around central delhi for almost a decade , you ought to have fallen in love with Saravana Bhawan and it’s Rasam and papad . It’s our desi version of Coffee and cookies.

Here is a low calorie Tomato Rasam recipe , an essential for the upcoming North Indian winters .

It is my version of a quick rasam using the ingredients easily available in a North Indian kitchen.

Tomato Rasam

Preparation Time :5-10 minutes

Cooking Time : 10-12 minutes

Yield : Serves 2

Ingredients:

Tomatoes : 6 medium sized
Green Chillies : 2 in number
Ginger : 2 tablespoon (chopped) or 2 pieces of 1 inch ginger
Garlic : 4 cloves
Water : 500 ml (around 2 cups )
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Rasam Powder : 1 tsp (I used MTR Rasam Powder)
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder to taste
Lemon juice : 1/2 lemon squeezed
Oil : 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Curry leaves : fresh 2-3
Hing (Asofoetida) : a pinch
Dried Red chilli : 2-3 broken
Coriander leaves with stalk :finely chopped 2 tbsp

Method :

Take a blender and add tomatoes (cut in large chunks ) , ginger , garlic , green chillies , 250 ml water (~1 cup), turmeric powder, salt , red chilli powder and Rasam powder. Blend until smooth .
Strain the blended tomato well until most of the juice is extracted . Add few drops of water to the remaining pulp and blend . Strain the last residual pulp again .
Add remaining water (250ml/1cup) to the strained mix and boil .Cook on medium heat for 10 -12 minutes . Add lemon juice while cooking .
In a kadhai , prepare the tempering . Add oil, mustard seeds , cumin seeds , hing , curry leaves and dried red chillies all together in the oil on high heat and cook till you can hear the spluttering. Transfer the hot tempering into the strained tomato Rasam once it is cooked for 10-12 minutes .
Mix well and add chopped coriander leaves and stems .
Serve piping hot in a glass cup.