• Either cook the 2T toor dal in a pressure cooker or stovetop along with the turmeric. Once the dal is soft and breaking apart, transfer it into a vessel to make rasam. You can use an eeyachombu if you have one—make sure it’s at least ¾ full.
• Soak the tamarind in a cup or more of hot water, and extract the pulp.
• Add the extracted tamarind pulp to the cooked dal.
• Follow with the tomatoes, which you can chop coarsely or squeeze and mush with your fingers--or both!
• Crush the garlic with skin on and add this to the rasam broth.
• Allow this to boil well until the tomatoes are soft and the tamarind no longer smells raw.

Grind the spice paste

• While the broth is getting ready, prepare the spice paste.
• Lightly toast the cumin, black pepper, and red chillies. Add a drop of oil to keep these from burning, if you wish.
• Put these and the shallots in a blender jar and blitz without water into a coarse mix.
• Add this to the simmering rasam and leave this to simmer on a low flame so that the onion can cook and the tastes can mix and mellow.
• Now add the rasam powder (if using), the jaggery and salt to taste.
• When the rasam starts to look frothy, add the thumbai flowers, mix well, and switch off the flame.

Temper the rasam

• Heat the ghee in a small tempering pan, and follow quickly with all other dry ingredients. Once these crackle and splutter, add the curry leaves.
• Fry until the curry leaves are starting to crisp, and pour this directly on top of the foaming rasam.
• Serve hot with a soft white table rice like a semi-polished kullakar or parboiled polished iluppaipoo samba. Ambasamudram idli rice, Ambai 16, is famed for idlis but works brilliantly as a rasam-rice, too!