Garlic Rasam

Lentils, often referred to as pigeon peas. Toor dal is the dried, hulled and split version and is a bright yellow color. Its a staple in nearly all cuisines across India and is sold at all Indian grocery stores, often oiled with castor oil.

I have to say as a South Indian and a lover of rasam, it fills my heart with joy to see rasam recipes shared so broadly - I would also say that categorizing it as a soup does not do justice to the fact that the authentic way to also enjoy this would be with some good old steaming white rice as many of grew up eating with a spoonful of ghee for that added touch ! Hoping others can also do this to enjoy that different perspective,

Every item in this recipe (absent curry leaves) is a staple in my kitchen but for the toor dal. I have red, black, green and brown lentils, green split peas, and umpteen kinds of beans but wouldn't ya know...no pigeon peas / yellow lentil aka toor dal. Rats. Rather than run out for 1 tsp I'm going to try red lentil as substitute since I thinks a little thickening is what the toor dal provides. They will cook faster than the toor dal, I know, but seem the best option of what I have on hand.

What's toor dal? a kind of lentil dal? do you buy it or make it?

You can definitely leave the dal out or use red lentils. I’ve added red lentils to up the protein and make it a bit heartier, but if you do don’t go overboard or it won’t be rasam! I think a tablespoon of dal to 2 cups of water is the maximum dal one should add. Our family does not traditionally add any dal and we add chopped fresh tomatoes, coriander, and dried chilies. This has been my favorite comfort food since I was little! It’s fun to see rasam mentioned in the Times!

There is no way this can be prepared in 15 minutes, unless you're a professional chef: just the peeling and slicing of 15 garlic cloves is a 10-minute task. It took me 30 minutes to assemble the ingredients and prepare it, not so long but not 15 minutes. And it is yummy!

I am so happy to see Rasam going mainstream. For the confusion on toor daal here: Daal means lentils and toor daal is yellow variety which you find in most stores now as split pigeon peas. Indian stores only sell by a big bag. Whole Foods has it in their bulk section so you can buy just a small qty. But by all means skip it - one tsp is only for consistency in here and doesn’t do much for the taste.

For those who may care, curry leaves keep perfectly well in the freezer and work great for recipes like this. Once I learned that they did become a staple in my kitchen. Happy cooking!!

Merriam defines Elixir as a substance capable of prolonging life indefinitely. Of course Saaru is that and more! Just a quick tip...purée tired tomatoes and simmer in spices and freeze in cubes. I can quickly add these to a “stock”, bring to a boil, temper with mustard and have myself a speedy pick-me-up.

Botanically, toor/pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is a *legume*, but not a lentil (Lens culinaris, whose shape gives us "lens"). Pigeon peas are native to India, lentils to the Mediterranean. Harold McGee, in "On Food and Cooking", notes that some Roman families - Lentulus, Fabius, Cicero - took their names from legumes: lentils, fava & chickpeas. Pressure cooking is virtually mandated for pigeon peas (1/2hr pressure, as for beans), but will quickly convert whole lentils to mush in 5 min.

Yes it's a kind of lentil. It is also called arhar (harhar) dal and some spell toor as toovaar. Anything goes. As someone else already said they are called pigeon peas in English/the US. Most Indian recipes use the dry hulled dal rather than the fresh or frozen. For more on dal, you may find this link useful: neerfoodie.wordpress.com/4-daal/daal-tutorial/

Add fresh coriander in the end and close the lid for a few minutes. Serve it with ghee rice and you will understand why it's called "The Elixir of Life"

Most recipes suggest yellow split peas as a substitute for toor dhal. At least my Indian cookbooks do.

If you’re using tamarind concentrate make sure to cut the amount in half. It’s all I had at home at the time and it turned out great!

A rasam recipe without hing (asafoetida powder) hardly seems like a real rasam but I'm going to try it. Every rasam I've had in India used hing to give it that special zing and sour flavor. And I suspect it is why rasam is an acquired taste for many westerners and maybe why it's been left out of this recipe.