Lemon Rasam
- 45 min
- mild
- Serves 4
Lemon rasam of toor dal, tomato, ginger and crushed cumin pepper with lemon juice and a mustard tempering. Mild and vegetarian, serves 4, about 45 minutes.
You’ll need: Pressure Cooker
Good for: Tamil New Year, Onam
Ingredients
Toor Dal50 grams
Water, For Cooking740 ml
Tomato, Chopped2
Green Chilli, Slit8 grams
Ginger, Crushed6 grams
Garlic, Crushed9 grams
Turmeric Powder1 grams
Asafoetida0.3 grams
Salt1 tsp
Cumin, Crushed1 tsp
Black Peppercorns, Crushed1.2 grams
Lemon Juice3 tbsp
Oil1 tsp
Mustard Seeds½ tsp
Dry Red Chilli1 grams
Curry leaves2 grams
Contains: wheat.
Nutrition
Per 1 person, and for all 4 people. Worked out from the ingredients, so treat it as a close guide.
| Nutrient | Per 1 person | All 4 people |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 81kcal | 324kcal |
| Protein | 3.9g | 16g |
| Carbohydrate | 13g | 50g |
| Fat | 2.2g | 8.8g |
| Fibre | 3.1g | 12g |
| Sugar | 1.8g | 7.2g |
Cookd masalas for lemon juice
Method
Get ready by washing the tomatoes, green chilli and ginger. Chop the tomatoes, slit the green chilli, peel the ginger and garlic, and break the dry red chilli. Crush the ginger and garlic together. Separately crush 1 tsp cumin with the peppercorns, and set aside the lemon juice.
Rinse the toor dal and add it to a pressure cooker with 240 ml water. Pressure cook on medium flame for 3 whistles. Let the pressure release on its own, then mash the dal smooth.
Add 500 ml water, tomato, green chilli, ginger, garlic, turmeric, asafoetida and salt to a kadai. Boil on medium flame for 8 to 10 minutes, until the tomato turns soft and the raw smell goes.
Add the mashed dal, the crushed cumin and pepper, and the extra water. Simmer on low flame for 4 to 5 minutes, until the rasam becomes hot and a light froth forms on top.
Switch off the flame and add the lemon juice. Mix for 1 minute until it is evenly combined. Do not boil after adding the lemon juice, as the rasam can turn bitter.
Heat oil in a small pan on medium flame for 1 minute until hot. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add cumin, dry red chilli and curry leaves, fry for 20 to 30 seconds until the curry leaves turn crisp, then pour the tempering over the rasam.
Rest the rasam for 2 minutes, then serve it hot with rice.
Before you start
- How long does Lemon Rasam take?
- 45 minutes from start to finish. That is 10 minutes of preparation and 35 minutes of cooking.
- How many people does Lemon Rasam serve?
- 4. The ingredient quantities on this page rescale if you are cooking for a different number.
- Is Lemon Rasam vegetarian?
- Yes. No meat, no fish and no egg.
- Is Lemon Rasam spicy?
- It is mild: 1 on our scale of 3. Chilli scales gently when you change the servings, so doubling the recipe does not double the heat.
- What do I need to make Lemon Rasam?
- 3 tbsp Lemon Juice, 1 grams Dry Red Chilli, 50 grams Toor Dal, 8 grams Green Chilli, 6 grams Ginger, 9 grams Garlic, and a few more listed on this page.
- Do I need a pressure cooker for Lemon Rasam?
- No, it is cooked in an open pot.
- How many calories are in Lemon Rasam?
- About 81 a serving. The full nutrition table is on this page, per serving and for the whole batch.
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