Tomato Rasam : One of the Immunity Boosters

Picture Courtesy : Ratul Gosh

We all are aware of the fact that Indian cuisine isn't complete without whole spices. Foods in India are rich with the spiciness and aroma. The volume of spices in Indian cuisine is carried from the ages and various civilizations. This cuisine consists mainly North Indian and South Indian. People in Indian subcontinent consume whole spices including onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, etc in their day to day lives. The true fact is that the medicinal and nutritional value of these spices are at higher rate. These spices act as the immunity boosters in our body. And now due to the critical health conditions in the globe it is better to keep ourselves, healthy and sound.

Sitting on the sofa, I questioned myself, "Why don't I experiment something good and healthy?" .I went into the kitchen and my eyes fell on the tomatoes laid in the basket. That is how I decided to cook something tasty yet nutritional and medicinal. Yes, that is the "TOMATO RASAM" I am talking about. It is easy and simple too. So, here we go.

Ingredients:

1.Tomatoes - 4

2.Red Chillies (Kashmiri mirch/Byadagi menasu) - 4

3.Onion - 1

4.Garlic - 4 to 5 cloves

5.Curry Leaves (also called as Sweet Neem Leaves) - 10 to 12 or 1 foliage

6.Coriander Leaves - a little bit/hand fist

7.Green Chillies - 2 to 3

8. Salt - as per taste

9.Ginger, Mustard Seeds and Cumin Seeds - better if added( I add them when I feel like)

Procedure:

Boil the tomatoes and red chillies in the water in one stainless steel vessel. Let the tomatoes boil till they start peeling off. Once they are boiled remove the ingredients from the vessel, keep them aside to cool down. Later, peel the skin of tomatoes and keep them aside.

Peel the skin of garlic cloves and chop them along with onion, curry leaves, coriander leaves and green chillies finely. Keep them aside.

Grind the cooled and peeled tomatoes and red chillies in the mixer to a fine puree. Keep it aside.

Picture 1, Courtesy : Melvia Fernandes

Heat a vessel on the gas stove and add oil. Once the oil is heated add finely chopped onion, garlic cloves, curry leaves and green chillies one by one and saute it.(As it is shown in the figure above)

(P.S: You can add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and chopped ginger while sauteing)

Then add the grinded tomatoes and red chillies puree. Saute it till the raw smell of the puree goes. Then, add water as per the consistence( as per the picture 2 shown below). Boil it well. Add salt per taste.

Picture 2

Picture 3

The aroma of rasam starts spreading which means it is

almost cooked. Now add finely chopped coriander leaves as shown in the picture 3. Then turn off the gas.

The lip smacking yummilicious "TOMATO RASAM" is ready to have. You can drink it or have it along with the red rice or white rice. Trust me, it is spicy yet heavenly. I love drinking it or having it along with red rice and a piece of fried fish. My day is done.

file picture

Prepare it, do enjoy and let me know your experience in the comment section or personally.

(P.S: I have cooked it for two people to have it twice in the afternoon and evening)

Happy Cooking!!