From Pobe's Garden....

Hey guys! Aside from nail polish and beauty products in general, I have a special place for food in my heart. Today’s post is on an Indian dish I made that was pretty much spot on (so says my Indian co-worker friends – yay!). This dish is called Rasam. It’s brothy in nature and the version I am replicating is the tomato and chili peppers one. The ones I’ve always had is just the tomato version, but one time I had it with various green chili peppers in it as well and loved it so much that I decided to go with that version. The various green chili peppers came from my boss friend Pobe.

Tomato and Chili Peppers Rasam

The result is a spicy, flavorful concoction of heady Indian spices with tomatoes and chili peppers. I used various types of chili peppers in this one. Consume with rice and you’re good to go. Don’t try it with pasta. Trust me on that. I can only come up with a rough recipe since I eyeball a lot of my recipes.

Tomato and Chili Peppers Rasam

Tadka:

6 T butter
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin
8-10 pcs dried red chili peppers
2 strands of curry leaves

Soup Base:

3 lbs various chili peppers, sliced with seeds removed
3 lbs tomatoes, sliced
2 T tamarind paste
2 T rasam powder
salt and pepper to taste
water as needed

1) Slice peppers into smaller pieces after washing and removing seeds. Wash tomatoes and cut in half or quarters. If using small tomatoes like cherry tomatoes, slicing is optional.
2) Make the tadka. I use a big pot for this. I melt butter in it on high and toss in the mustard seeds and cumin.
3) Once it starts to crackle and pop, add in the dried red chili peppers. Stir around for 1 minute then add the curry leaves. The mixture you have up to this point is known as tadka.
4) Add in the chili peppers and fry it for about 3 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and stir. Let sit for about 5 minutes. The tomatoes will release its water content.
5) Add in the tamarind paste and rasam powder. Add water as needed for the flavorful broth. Boil for about 10 minutes.
6) Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

This particulr recipe I outlined can serve around 10 people, so cut the recipe accordingly for the right proportion to you. Remember, this is only a rough recipe since I eyeball it and adjust to taste. This is probably my favorite Indian dish to date. It’s simple and easy to make – can’t complain there!

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