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Tamilnadu · Lunch

Milagu Rasam (மிளகு ரசம்)

Traditional 4. Milagu Rasam recipe

🧺 Ingredients

• Tamarind — marble-sized ball (about 15 g), soaked in 1 cup hot water
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp toor dal, pressure cooked to mush (just ½ cup cooked mashed dal — for body)
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 tsp black peppercorns, coarsely cracked (not fine-ground)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp coriander seeds (optional)
• 1.5 tsp ghee (ghee is traditional for rasam — sesame oil works but ghee is superior)
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• 2 dried red chilies, broken
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed (with skin)
• ¼ tsp asafoetida (hing)
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp jaggery
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

👩‍🍳 How to make Milagu Rasam

1. Soak tamarind in 1 cup hot water for 10 minutes.
2. Extract tamarind water by squeezing and straining.
3. Set aside.
4. In a pot, combine tamarind water, chopped tomatoes, and 2 cups fresh water.
5. Bring to boil over high heat.
6. Reduce to medium heat and cook for 8–10 minutes until tomatoes are completely softened and the mixture has reduced slightly.
7. Mash tomatoes with the back of a spoon.
8. Add the cooked mashed toor dal to the tomato-tamarind base.
9. Stir until the dal blends in smoothly.
10. Add turmeric, salt, and jaggery.
11. Add cracked black pepper and cumin (freshly cracked peppercorns give superior results to pre-ground pepper).
12. Stir.
13. Bring to a gentle boil for 3–4 minutes.
14. The rasam should be thin and brothy — add more water if too thick.
15. Heat 1.5 tsp ghee in a small tempering pan over high heat.
16. Add mustard seeds — crackle 20 seconds.
17. Add cumin seeds — fry 10 seconds.
18. Add broken red chilies and crushed garlic — fry 30 seconds until garlic turns golden.
19. Add curry leaves — sizzle 10 seconds.
20. Add asafoetida — stir 5 seconds.
21. Pour sizzling hot ghee tempering into the simmering rasam.
22. The ghee hitting the thin liquid creates an extraordinary aromatic bloom.
23. Remove from heat immediately after combining — rasam must NOT be over-cooked after this point.
24. Add lemon juice off heat.
25. Add coriander.

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