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Thumbaipoo Rasam

A simple, flavorful rasam that is enhanced by the somewhat unusual use of shallots and the final addition of lightly bitter thumbaipoo, leucas aspera flowers, for their chest-warming medicinal values.
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Ingredients Method Video

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons toor dal
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • A lime-sized ball of tamarind
  • 2 ripe tomatoes
  • 5 cloves of unpeeled garlic
  • ½ teaspoon of rasam powder (optional)
  • Jaggery, to taste
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1 big handful of thumbai flowers, gently rinsed
To grind
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds or jeera
  • 2-3 red chillies
  • 3-4 small shallots or sambar vengayam
Tempering
  • 1 tablespoon ghee or neutral flavored oil
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • A pinch of hing/asafoetida
  • A broken dry red chilli
  • 1 sprig curry leaves

Method
 

  1. 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.
  2. Soak the tamarind in a cup or more of hot water, and extract the pulp.
  3. Add the extracted tamarind pulp to the cooked dal.
  4. Follow with the tomatoes, which you can chop coarsely or squeeze and mush with your fingers--or both!
  5. Crush the garlic with skin on and add this to the rasam broth.
  6. Allow this to boil well until the tomatoes are soft and the tamarind no longer smells raw.
Grind the spice paste
  1. While the broth is getting ready, prepare the spice paste.
  2. Lightly toast the cumin, black pepper, and red chillies. Add a drop of oil to keep these from burning, if you wish.
  3. Put these and the shallots in a blender jar and blitz without water into a coarse mix.
  4. 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.
  5. Now add the rasam powder (if using), the jaggery and salt to taste.
  6. When the rasam starts to look frothy, add the thumbai flowers, mix well, and switch off the flame.
Temper the rasam
  1. 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.
  2. Fry until the curry leaves are starting to crisp, and pour this directly on top of the foaming rasam.
  3. 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!