Mysore Rasam

Much as I love a good, tangy rasam, I don't find myself making it often. I usually make it only when one of us falls ill. This time round, I made rasam just because I wanted to (The fact that I have chosen to showcase dishes from Karnataka for the blogging marathon does have a small bearing on this)and not as a cure for illness.
The recipe is from Mallika Badrinath's Classic Lunch Recipes.

What you need:
Tuar dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - a lemon sized ball soaked in water
Corriander seeds/dhania - 2 tsp
Black peppercorns - 10
Red chillies - 3
Cumin seeds/jeera - 1 tsp
Garlic - 8 pods
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Jaggery - a small piece
Curry leaves - a few

Add cumin,dhania,peppercorns, broken red chillies,garlic and turmeric powder to the dal. Add just enough water to cover it and cook until one whistle.
Let it cool. Drain off excess water(don't throw it away.....keep it aside) and grind the cooked dal to a coarse paste.
Add enough water to the soaked tamarind to make about 2.5 cups of thin tamarind extract. Add the ground dal, water in which dal was cooked,salt and jaggery to this. Crush the curry leaves with your hands and mix it in. Let it boil for about 10-12 minutes until the flavours are well blended.
Serve hot with rice.
Do take a look at what my fellow marathoners are up to.