Garlic Rasam

The Garlic suffers from a prejudice that my family (actually my entire community) holds - or, used to hold against it. The aversion is mostly because of its unfortunate pungent smell. But, having come to know of its wonderful medicinal properties, my ancestors seemed to have relented their prejudices at some point, albeit only a tiny bit. Garlic rasam is one such a rare exception - I don’t think there’s any other dish in my community that has garlic as the star ingredient (or an ingredient at all). This warm soup is prepared by cooking garlic cloves in a spicy tamarind juice. It is especially prepared on days when people are nursing a cold or a minor ailment.

I can count the few number of times when my mother prepared garlic rasam. But, it has been featured in the kitchen, nonetheless. So, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. 6-7 cloves of garlic (was that a sharp intake of breath I heard?)
2. a small lime-sized ball of tamarind (approximately 1 inch in diameter)
3. 2-3 dry red chillies
4. ¾ teaspoon of black pepper-corns
5. 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
6. 1 teaspoon of bengal gram dhal / kadala paruppu
7. 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
8. 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
9. few curry leaves
10. ¼ teaspoon of asafoetida
11. 1 teaspoon of ghee
12. 2 teaspoons of oil (olive oil / vegetable oil)
13. 1 teaspoon of salt
14. ½ teaspoon of rasam powder (optional)

Preparation:

1. Extract tamarind juice. Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 minutes. Squish and squeeze out all the juices. Drain the pulp. Repeat the process for a second time with lukewarm water. Drain the pulp and discard. Add 2-3 cups of water to the extracted tamarind juice.
2. Slightly crush the garlic cloves (I do this, because I believe all the lovely juices come out and infuse better), and fry them for a couple of minutes in a teaspoon of oil. Do not let the garlic brown.
3. Add the slightly fried garlic cloves, salt, and a little bit of rasam powder into the tamarind juice (plus water) and boil on medium heat.
4. As the above heats, roast pepper-corns, coriander seeds, red chillies, and bengal gram dhal in a teaspoon of oil. Roast till the spices release their aroma and the bengal gram dhal begins to turn slightly brown. Do not burn or over-roast. Grind this to a paste with a spoon or two of water. Add this paste to the the garlic+tamarind mix that is heating. And continue to boil.
5. Dry roast the cumin seeds and a few curry leaves (2-3) for a couple of minutes. Grind this to a powder.
6. When the raw scent of tamarind leaves the boiling rasam and the garlic is cooked, add the above cumin powder to the rasam and continue to heat on low-medium heat until the rasam begins to bubble around the edges. Remove rasam from heat.
7. Splutter mustard seeds in a teaspoon of ghee. Add some asafoetida to it and add it to the prepared rasam.

Garlic rasam is ready to be served. It is had as a spicy soup or is mixed with steamed rice. This is also supposed to relieve digestive issues, thanks to the garlic, cumin, and pepper. Cooked garlic doesn’t taste or smell as pungent, so rest assured of that doubt. Seasoned cooks believe garlic tastes sweet when it is roasted or cooked for a long time. I haven’t really tasted the sweetness, but I like cooked/boiled garlic. Obviously, it is a frowned-upon eccentricity of mine that my family chooses to ignore.