Rasam

One of the first dishes I was ever taught to make is rasam, a South Indian spiced-sourish soup that is tamarind based.

The western version, Mulligatawny, is loosely based on rasam, but never mistake it for this mainstay in any South Indian home. It is eaten with rice and other main meat and veg dishes, and the combination of spices used is known to fight colds, as it warms the body and is great for digestion.

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tbsp black peppercorn (use less if you don't want a strong pepper taste)

4-5 pips garlic

1 medium sized onion roughly chopped

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 large stem of curry leaves

4-5 dried chili broken in half

1 tomato either blend it coarsely or smash with hand (use all parts)

a ball of tamarind (asam jawa) - size of a golf ball - add 1/2 cup of warm water and squeeze out the juice (discard the seeds, skin and fiber)

6 cups water

salt and sugar to taste

1 tbsp coconut oil

(Upfront confession: the measurements above are agak-agak (roughly), so use your taste buds to refine it.)

Method:

1. Coarsely pound cumin seeds, peppercorn and garlic. (Try to use the whole spices and not cumin and pepper powder for full benefits.)

2. Heat the oil on high then lower to medium flame. Add the mustard and fenugreek seeds, the oil should be hot enough for the seeds to immediately pop but not so hot that the spices burn.

3. Add the pounded mixture, dried chili and curry leaves and stir then add onions. Sauté till fragrant but do not burn. Increase the heat.

4. Add water, tamarind extract and smashed tomato.

5. Once it starts to boil, add salt and a pinch of sugar to taste.

6. Give it a good boil and reduce to a rough estimate of 4-5 cups.

7. Turn off the heat and immediately chuck more curry leaves (crush it with your hands) to allow the fragrance to be released and stir in the turmeric powder. Don't boil turmeric powder as this will destroy its benefits. Turmeric powder only needs quick heat for its properties to be released.

There you have it - the Indian elixir, ready to eat with veg and non-veg varuvels and paratels.

You can also sieve it to produce a clearer rasam that you can pour into a cup for drinking.

Optionally you can also throw in some roughly chopped fresh coriander leaves at the end.