RASAM

The easiest way to eat is to order idli sambhar from the neighbourhood place.. hehehe... yes till you discover the joy of homemade Rasam and Sambhar.. honestly i find most restraunt sambhars very spicy.. would anyday prefer homemade to it..
on one of these visits to Crosswords i had casually picked up a south indian cook book.. Simply south by Chandra Padmanabhan.. and it turned out an excellent book. it had vegetarian recipes from all southern states.. and very simple.. it was a delight to try them..
the recipe of rasam given below is hers with very smallish changes suiting a north indian pallate.. the powder can be made and stored in a jar for quite some time..

• Rasam Powder
  1 1/4 cup dried red chillies
  2 1/2 cups coriander seeds
  1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
  1/2 cup black peppercorn
  2 sprigs curry leaves
  3/4 cup tuwar daal
  1/4 cup chana daal
  1 tsp tumeric powder ( do not roast)
  
  Dry roast invidual masalas, leaves and daals in low heat..
• The daals will turn light golden and masalas fragrant..
• Grind into a fine powder..

Simple Lentil Rasam

1 1/2 teaspoon tuvar daal
1 lime sized ball of tamarind
2 tsp rasam powder
1/2 tsp hing
salt to taste

1) Soak daal in water for 30 min and grind into a fine paste.. add about 1 cup water to the paste..
2) Soak tamaring and strain the juice/ pulp.. add about 3 cups of water to it ..
3) Add rasam powder , hing and salt to tamarind water and bring to boil uncovered for a few min till raw aroma of tamarind disappears..
4) Add the daal paste and cook till frothy..
5) Temper with ghee, mustard seeds, dried whole chillies, and curry leaves..

Serve...:)