Today is an important day. I finally made my most favorite food in the entire world. And I am going to share it with you!

Like some of you, I tend to find cooking Indian food daunting. This is one of those foods that I’ve never attempted to make because I thought 1) it was too hard and 2) it wouldn’t come out like my mom’s!

So what made me decide to make rasam today? I was talking with Katherine at Deliberate Fare and she inspired me to make an Indian dish with no onion, no garlic, and no dairy to allow for intolerances to these ingredients. And so I made it happen with this well known Indian comfort food.

I used this recipe as a base and tweaked it slightly.

Easy Tomato Rasam (Makes approximately 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 5 tomatoes
• 3 cups of water
• 1 tsp clarified butter (or oil)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• cilantro, for garnish
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric

Directions:

In a large pot, place the tomatoes (chopped or not – I chopped them) and water and boil. When the mixture starts to froth add the pepper, ground cumin, turmeric, and salt. Continue boiling for another 5 minutes. Then using a potato masher, mash the tomatoes. The mixture will not become completely homogenous.

In a small pan, heat the clarified butter or oil with the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop, pour the mixture into the pot with the tomatoes.

Garnish with chopped cilantro, and serve with brown rice or quinoa, or on its own like a soup.

Next week’s recipe will feature a side dish that pairs perfectly with rasam!