Tamarind rasam is a sour, spicy and warming rasam variant from the South Indian cuisine. It is made with tangy dried tamarind, tomatoes, spices and herbs. It is also called as Puli Rasam or Chintapandu Charu.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons tamarind (- tightly packed or 1 lemon sized tamarind, soaked in 1 cup water for 30 to 40 minutes)
  • 1 tomato (- medium sized)
  • 2 to 2.25 cups water
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves ((cilantro) - for garnish)
  • 2 tablespoons oil (- any neutral flavored oil or sesame oil made from raw sesame seeds)
  • salt (as required)
  • ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1 or 1.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 4 to 5 garlic cloves (- small to medium-sized)
  • 3 to 4 dry red chilies (- broken and seeds removed)
  • ¼ cup coriander leaves (with their stems - optional)
  • ¾ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (- optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder ((hing))
  • 10 to 12 curry leaves

Method

Preparation

  1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup water for 30 to 40 minutes. Or if you are short of time then soak in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Squeeze the pulp from the soaked tamarind with your hands in the water. Keep aside.
  3. Crush the tomatoes with your hands and add this to the tamarind pulp.
  4. You can also chop the tomatoes, if you prefer.
  5. Make a semi coarse mixture in a small blender or coffee grinder or in a mortar-pestle with the ingredients mentioned under rasam spice mix.

Making tamarind rasam

  1. Heat oil in a pan. First fry the mustard seeds till they crackle.
  2. Add cumin and fry till they are browned.
  3. Add curry leaves and asafoetida. Fry for some seconds. You can opt to add 1 to 2 small garlic cloves here in the tempering.
  4. Add the tamarind pulp - crushed tomatoes mixture.
  5. Add the ground semi coarse rasam powder.
  6. Stir and then add about 2 cups water or as required. Season with salt as per taste.
  7. Bring to one boil and then simmer puli rasam for about 5 minutes.
  8. Lastly add chopped coriander leaves and give a stir.
  9. Serve tamarind rasam hot with any South Indian main course vegetarian meal. It can also be enjoyed as a soup.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.