Now that the worst of the summer is behind us, I have begun dreaming of piping hot dishes. And one vision has been tempting me — that of a steel bowl of steaming rasam. Rasam warms you up, whets the appetite, gives you all kinds of nutrients — and tastes really good.

Even though we now know all about sub-regional cuisine, a south Indian meal in a city north of the Vindhyas still mostly means a thali. The centre of the thali has a mound of rice with a papad on top. The sides are lined with
bowls with rasam, sambar, vegetables, curd and a sweet dish. You drink up the invigorating rasam and are ready to take on the world.

“Rasam is made in almost every south Indian home, traditionally with tamarind,” stresses Ajit Bangera, the senior executive chef at ITC Grand Chola, Chennai. “It’s called rasam in Tamil and Malayalam, saaru in Kannada, and charu and pulusu in Telugu.”

There are very many variations of rasam. Kattu saaru, for instance, is often prepared with the Byadagi chillies of Karnataka, while thakkali rasam is cooked with fresh tomatoes. The inji rasam is flavoured with ginger, while poondu rasam is garlicky.

I find this whole world of rasams fascinating. Have you ever had chicken rasam? It is not a modern-day creation, but a traditional dish. Likewise, crab rasam is a Chettinad special, prepared with crab claws, spices and tamarind.
“Tamarind juice is the base of most rasams, with combinations of tomatoes, fruits, pepper, cumin, chillies, garlic and lentils. Turmeric and asafoetida improve the taste and add therapeutic value,” chef Bangera explains. “Choices abound for rasam enthusiasts and the creative mind can surprise you with some amazing concoctions.”

He mentions rasams prepared with raw mango, drumstick flowers, and even fruits such as pineapples, grapefruit and oranges.

There is a lovely apple rasam recipe in the cookery book, The Bangala Table. For this Chettinad dish, take one and a half cup of toor dal, mash it and add one cup of water to it. Grind cumin seeds and peppercorn. Mix tamarind with one cup of water, knead the tamarind, strain it, and add the tamarind water to the dal mix. Crush a whole tomato in the dal with the hand. In hot oil, sauté red chillies, mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. Add the dal mixture, the cumin-pepper powder mix and salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add 100g of chopped apple (one-inch cubes). Simmer for a bit. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

I have been reading my south Indian cookbooks and salivating over the various kinds of rasams that the writers mention. The recipes are traditional, but they are little known outside the South. For instance, Cooking At Home With Pedatha mentions a sweet Andhra rasam, prepared with split masoor dal, tamarind, turmeric powder, ginger, garlic, coriander seeds, peppercorn, cumin seeds, sugar or jaggery, and salt. A similar rasam — hoorna kattu saaru — is mentioned in Malati Srinivasan and Geetha Rao’s The Udupi Kitchen. But the dal here is Bengal gram.

Tamarind plays a major role because it grows abundantly in the South, points out consultant chef Arun Kumar T.R., who specialises in south Indian food. He believes that rasam possibly turned into a drink because of left-over
tamarind juice in southern kitchens.

“Some chef cleverly spiced it up with pepper and made a drink,” he says. “Ever since, rasam has taken many forms.”
Rasam rasiks hold that there is nothing quite like the Southern soup to lift one’s spirit. “I am an enhanced being when I’ve had rasam,” chef Bangera stresses.

This season, then, let’s say it with rasam.

Photographs: Rupinder Sharma; Location courtesy: ITC Maurya, Delhi