Jhiva For Love (Rasam – Spicy South Indian Soup)
Apr 10th, 2008 | By Sowjanya | Category: All Recipes, Soups & Stews, Veg - RecipesSummers during childhood usually passed at my grandmothers place. “Ammamma” thats how I called my granny, which means mother’s mother. She was very tender and gentle by nature and took great pleasure in feeding me while sharing memories of her childhood, her marriage with my grandfather, her days as a young bride so on and so forth…. I used to read the bhagavatham for her at bedtime lying down in her lap.
Mashed rice with rasam and a dollop of ghee is all that comes into my mind whenever I think of her. As I got older I began to get addicted myself to this delicious mild looking broth made with tangy tomatoes and fragrant coriander. ‘Rasam’ aids in digestion, helps in getting relieved from sinuses, and above all a comfort food that soothes the indian palatte. This can be served as a soup accompanied with pappadums, pakoras, any other starter or just eat it with plain rice. A perfect combo on winter nights. I feel honored to pay tribute to my grandma thru jhiva for love
 
We need ….
Medium sized tomatoes – 5 (cut into cubes)
Rasam powder – 2 tsps (I used 777 Madras rasam powder)
Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp (increase if you want a more spicy version)
Tamarind – 1 small lemon sized ball (soaked in 3/4 cup water)
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
asofetida/hing – 1/4 tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
We need ….
Medium sized tomatoes – 5 (cut into cubes)
Rasam powder – 2 tsps (I used 777 Madras rasam powder)
Black pepper powder – 1/2 tsp (increase if you want a more spicy version)
Tamarind – 1 small lemon sized ball (soaked in 3/4 cup water)
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
asofetida/hing – 1/4 tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
For the tadka/popu…..
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
Dried Red chillies – 2 (broken to half)
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves – 1 small bunch (for garnish)
How to….
-
In a sauce pan, heat ghee and oil together. Add tomatoes, turmeric, hing and mix well. cover and cook till the tomatoes turn soft and mushy and the juices running out.
-
Add pepper, rasam powder and mix well.
-
Add water and bring to a boil
-
Squeeze out the pulp from soaked tamarind and add it to boiling rasam.
-
Add salt to taste, mix well. Cover and simmer for 5 mts.
-
In a pan, heat oil on low flame. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and allow them to crackle. Add dried red chillies, curry leaves. Fry for 30 secs. Turn off the heat and add the popu/tadka to rasam.
-
Garnish with cilantro/coriander. Serve hot with rice, ghee and papaddums
Hello Sowjanya,
I dont know the actual reason for the time and effort that you take posting such a wonderful recipies, but seriously your site is helping me survive as i dont know anthing about cooking until i saw your good site. i’m on an assignment here in states and thanks for helping us around the world to be never far from indian tastes though we are away.
Thank you. Keep Going
Hi kalyan,
Thanks for such sweet words. Good to hear you my blog helps you. True that we miss our home badly here. Pls feel free to drop me a note or mail me at mommyskitchen@gmail.com if you need any help. Good luck to you on your assignment.
hi
Ur site is really nice and so does all the recipes.Can you post the recipe of tomato pickle and pappulu podi?
Thanks for droppping by marie. I’ll surely post the recipes for both of them soon.
hi
nice recipe….
but don’t u think we should add methi seeds(abt 1/4 tsp) (menthulu in telugu) for tadaka …..
becoz as far as i remember my mom and grandma add them especially for rasam,sambar and majjiga pulusu…it really adds a gr8 flavor…
Ananya,
The rasam powder that I used has methi seeds in it, and thats the reason I have’nt used them again in tadka. Just so the rasam does’nt turn bitter. When I make rasam from scratch without using any store bought rasam powder I use the methi seeds.