Homemade Rasam Powder

“In the childhood memories of every cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom." -Barbara Costikyan

I was lucky enough to have my grandmother in the picture as well.  What amaze me more than the food are the bonds and memories it is tied to. The very thought of few dishes would instantly take me back to the good old days. Rasam is one such dish and I can still remember the sleepovers my sister and I had at my grand mother's place. She prepares this amazing, mouth watery rasam and what makes it more delicious is the love with which she fed us. A day at the granny’s was never complete without having this along with rice. Ah, how much I miss her now. 

Before I could get lost in nostalgia, let me get back to the post – Rasam powder - the key ingredient that determines the taste of your rasam. If you have this handy, you can prepare the rasam in less than 10 minutes and what is even better is you can store this for months together in an air tight container. Every south Indian family would boast of a recipe for rasam powder that would date back to ‘God knows how many years’! And so is mine. Though, I can never come even close to the rasam my paati (grandmother) makes, the very thought of me following her recipe gives me joy and brings back fond memories of her in my daily life.

So, for those of you who are using store bought rasam powder, here is the age old family recipe for the homemade version of the same.



Ingredients :

Toor Dhal: 1 cup
Coriander seeds: 3 cups
Black pepper corns: 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds: little more than 1/2 cup
Red Chili: 6 - 8
Turmeric Powder: 1 Tsp

Method :

Grind all the ingredients to a coarse powder using a dry food processor.

Tips :

1. You can dry roast the ingredients before grinding.
2. Make sure you do not grind it to very fine powder.It should be coarse.
3. You can store it in an air tight container to last for a long time