Here's a recipe for "Pepper Rasam" that's just the perfect one for a wintery cold day to create that warm inner feeling like immunity against cold spells.
Pepper rasam is one of the easiest and great tasting south Indian rasam recipes. Easy because it needs very few ingredients and also because you can go from start to finish in 30 minutes or less. Let's get started!
This is basically a watery pepper-flavored rasam enriched with flavors from tomatoes and supporting spices. It is typically served as a pairing with steamed rice, but can also be enjoyed as a drink or soup.
My family and I enjoy this simple dish during wintery days just like you would enjoy soup or bisque in the winter. It keeps us warm and helps fight cold and fever during cold weather seasons.
If you are looking for a rasam recipe for cold, this is one of the easy and best-tasting rasam recipes you can find.
If you generally prefer rasam recipes over any other recipe, check out similar recipes that I have shared in the past like tomato rasam, hesaru bele saaru, and horsegram rasam.
Pepper rasam or any rasam pairs well with steamed sona masoori rice and a side of vegetable stir-fries like Swiss chard and potatoes, beetroot poriyal, beans playa, and rice.
Ingredients
- Black pepper: Use whole black pepper instead of ground peppers to make sure you get the freshest of flavors. Ground pepper that is stored for a long time can lose its flavor.
- Tomatoes: Fresh or canned tomatoes work equally good for this recipe. Regardless of which one you use, you will have to puree it before using it for the recipe.
- Cumin seeds: This is not something you can skip because its a big source of the flavor for the dish. Similar to pepper, look for cumin seeds instead of cumin powder. Seeds that are not older than an year provides the best falvor.
- Other spices: Mustard seeds, Urad dal, and Turmeric are the other supporting spices you will need to complement the flavors. As always, be sure to store the spices in an airtight container to get the best out of them for this recipe.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
First, wash and chop the tomatoes into cubes and puree them with a blender. Place it aside for use later.
Grind the black pepper and cumin seeds in a little (coffee) grinder and make them into a coarse powder. If you don't have a coffee grinder, you can use a mortar and pestle to get it done.
Place a medium-sized vessel on medium heat and add 2 teaspoons of coconut oil.
As the oil heats up, add mustard seeds and urad dal. Saute until mustard seeds start to crackle.
Add curry leaves and green chilies to the pot and saute it for 30 seconds.
Add the tomato puree, turmeric powder, and tamarind paste and mix well. (If you are using tamarind pulp, soak it with ½ cup of warm water for 5-10 minutes, extract the tamarind essence and add it to the pot.)
Add 2 ½ cups water and salt. Give it a nice stir.
Add powdered black pepper, cumin seeds and stir well.
Once it starts boiling, simmer it on a low flame for 10 minutes until the raw smell of the tamarind disappears. By this time, the rasam quantity would have reduced a little. Add ½ cup water if the dish is too thick.
As you continue to simmer, froth starts forming on the top indicating the time to turn off the flame. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Variations
If you love garlic in pepper rasam or milagu rasam, add crushed or chopped garlic as you saute the spices.
You could skip the tomatoes altogether and boil the water with just tamarind paste or water.
If you are not a big fan of tamarind, feel free to skip it and replace that with one extra tomato instead.
Storage
Pepper rasam has a decent shelf life and makes it a good choice to reuse leftovers throughout the week. You could store the pepper rasam in a refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Be sure to reheat before serving it.
Top tip
- Add ¼ - ½ cup water if your rasam turns out spicy or sour.
- I used medium spicy green chilies. Green chilies come in different temperament. If your green chiles are very spicy, be sure to vary the quantity to suite your taste preference.
- If you have rasam powder stowed away in your pantry, you could also add ½ teaspoon of that along with other spices to get some enhanced flavor.
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📖 Recipe
Pepper Rasam
Equipment
Process Shot
Check above for step-by-step pictures (most of my recipes include pictures)
Ingredients
- 2 tomatoes - puree
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 green chilies sliced
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 6 curry leaves
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder (optional)
- 2 teaspoon coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon urad dal/split black gram
- 2 tablespoon cilantro chopped
Instructions
- First, wash and chop the tomatoes into cubes and puree them with a blender. Place it aside for use later.2 tomatoes - puree
- Grind the black pepper and cumin seeds in a little (coffee) grinder and make them into a coarse powder. If you don't have a coffee grinder, you can use a mortar and pestle to get it done.1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- Place a medium-sized vessel on medium heat and add 2 teaspoons of coconut oil.
- As the oil heats up, add mustard seeds and urad dal. Saute until mustard seeds start to crackle.½ teaspoon mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon urad dal/split black gram
- Add curry leaves and green chilies to the pot and saute it for 30 seconds.6 curry leaves, 2 green chilies sliced
- Add the tomato puree, turmeric powder, and tamarind paste and mix well. (If you are using tamarind pulp, soak it with ½ cup of warm water for 5-10 minutes, extract the tamarind essence and add it to the pot.)1 teaspoon tamarind paste, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Add 2 ½ cups water and salt. Give it a nice stir.
- Add powdered black pepper, cumin seeds and stir well.
- Once it starts boiling, simmer it on a low flame for 10 minutes until the raw smell of the tamarind disappears. By this time, the rasam quantity would have reduced a little. Add ½ cup water if the dish is too thick.
- As you continue to simmer, froth starts forming on the top indicating the time to turn off the flame. Garnish with chopped cilantro.2 tablespoon cilantro chopped
Video
Notes
- If you love garlic in pepper rasam or milagu rasam, add crushed or chopped garlic as you saute the spices.
- You could skip the tomatoes altogether and boil the water with just tamarind paste or water.
- If you are not a big fan of tamarind, feel free to skip it and replace that with one extra tomato instead.
YOUR OWN NOTES
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimation only.
Frank says
2 green chilis ??? Would that be a green bell pepper, a jalapeño, a serrano ?
Uma Raghupathi says
Hi Frank. I used serrano chilis.