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Tamilnadu · Breakfast

Kollu Rasam (கொள்ளு ரசம்)

Traditional 69. Kollu Rasam recipe

🧺 Ingredients

• ½ cup horse gram (kollu), soaked 30 minutes and pressure cooked
• 2 cups water (for pressure cooking)
• Remaining cooking liquid after draining (the dark decoction)
• 1 medium ripe tomato, finely chopped
• Tamarind — small marble-sized ball (10 g), soaked in ¼ cup water
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp rasam powder (store-bought or homemade) — OR: ½ tsp coriander powder + ¼ tsp cumin + ¼ tsp black pepper + ¼ tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ghee
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chilies, broken
• 10 curry leaves
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed (with skin)
• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground — generous amount (key to kollu rasam)

👩‍🍳 How to make Kollu Rasam

1. Rinse soaked horse gram.
2. Pressure cook with 2 cups water for 4–5 whistles on medium heat.
3. Allow pressure to release naturally.
4. Drain — keep ALL the cooking liquid (this dark, mineral-rich decoction is the key ingredient).
5. The cooked horse gram can be used in a separate dish (chutney or salad) — for kollu rasam, it's the cooking water we primarily want.
6. Soak tamarind in ¼ cup warm water for 10 minutes.
7. Squeeze and strain through a sieve — extract the thick tamarind pulp.
8. Discard fibres.
9. In a medium saucepan, combine: horse gram cooking liquid (about 1.5 cups), tamarind pulp, chopped tomato, turmeric, rasam powder, and salt.
10. Add ½ cup fresh water.
11. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for 8–10 minutes until tomatoes are completely cooked and the rasam has a slightly thickened, deeply flavored broth.
12. Taste — it should be tangy, savory, and smell deeply of tomato-tamarind.
13. Heat 1 tsp ghee in a small pan over high heat.
14. Add mustard seeds — crackle 15 seconds.
15. Add cumin seeds — fry 10 seconds.
16. Add broken red chilies and crushed garlic — fry 30 seconds until garlic is golden.
17. Add curry leaves — sizzle 10 seconds.
18. Add freshly ground black pepper — stir 5 seconds.
19. Pour tempering into simmering rasam.
20. Add fresh coriander and ½ tsp lemon juice.
21. Stir.
22. Taste for salt and sourness.
23. The rasam should be thin enough to drink from a glass, not thick like sambar.
24. Pour into steel tumblers or small bowls.
25. Serve hot as a morning drink — before eating solid food.
26. The rasam is drunk (not eaten with rice for the morning tonic purpose, though it can be).

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