Rasam on a rainy day

Today dawned as a dreary, cloudy, grey day - with slick roads testifying heavy showers during the ngiht.
It was a day which made me feel like turning off the alarm and cuddling back beneath the sheets, and not think about going to work.

However, what could have been a dull, lifeless morning was transformed into a thing of joy and vibrance and energy - by the entrance of the culinary delight called rasam.

Mrs.B.N. very kindly dropped off some piping-hot, just-made rasam to start the day for Dad and me, Mom being out of town for a couple of days. The rasam was so hot, I really wonder how she carried it with her bare hands!

As Dad prised open the lid, the first spice-laden wafts that arose from the container tickled my nose and suddenly made the day look brighter and full of promise. The gently unfurling curls of steam, the resplendant red-golden-orange-yellow colour (the pictures just dont do it justice!), the spicy scent - all contrasted sharply with the cold and wet gloom and made my blood sing! :)




Rasam is the South Indian equivalent of chicken soup - simple, nourishing and incredibly tasty. It is essentailly a clear soup or broth, based on lentils rather than meat/vegetables. Sour and spicy are tha hallmarks of rasam - be it lemon rasam, tomato rasam, tamarind rasam or pepper rasam.

This rasam was made using MTR (a famous cooking-aids manufacturer and restaurant) rasam spice mix. But it had all the genuine heartiness of flavour of the real McCoy (the kind made at home from scratch, using Grandma's recipe). On slurping a sip, the first taste was sour and salty - and just when I'd concluded that it wasn't adequately spicy, the aftertaste of spice tingled my tastebuds in an altogether delightful way. Though if I was to be nitpicky, I would wish for these two tastes - sour and spicy to be present together throughout each sip and not as separate components on the taste timelime.

But that one point aside, MTR and Mrs. B. N partner each other perfectly to create a delicious, mood-lifting elixir! :)


When the cat was away, this is what the mice had for breakfast :P EDIT (15/08/09) - Mrs. B. N., suffering from pangs of guilt at having used ready-made spice mix and a few shortcuts for making rasam, sent some true blue rasam over today - made entirely from scratch. If the MTR rasam was good, this was SUPERLATIVE! Perfect balance of sour, spicy, salty and just that elusive hint of sweetness - yum! Thank you, B. Aunty!! :)