Tomato-free Rasam - Ayurveda-style

(aka spiced digestive soup)

This is a quick and easy ayurvedic rasam recipe you can make anytime you're needing a little spice in your life or want an easy flavorful side dish to spice up a meal and enhance your digestive capacity. Rasam is a southern Indian soup usually served with rice and veggies. It is essentially a digestive tea made to taste like a meal. It is truly one of a kind and some people are totally addicted to it b/c of its delicious and digestion enhancing qualities. The trouble is, it's usually made with a base of tomatoes which are in the nightshade family and thus, are notoriously chalked full of neurotoxins such as solanine and have a tendency to be pro-inflammatory, and cause spasms of the gut, blockage of the flow through the nervous system leading to neurological and psychological challenges as well as join inflammation. So best to avoid or eat on occasion whenever possible.  Here's a simple easy solution to the tomato challenge with rasam that allows you to enjoy all the digestive, spice and taste benefits of rasam without all the challenges. Enjoy!

Ingredients (240 ml cup used)

• 5 cups just boiled water

• 1 Tbs ghee

• 1 tsp tamarind paste (or to taste)

• 10 curry leaves chopped

• ½ tsp cumin seeds

• ½ tsp mustard seeds

• 1 pinch Hing

• ¼ tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp coriander powder

• ½ tsp cumin powder or “Mum’s Super Spice” or any garam masala will do

• ½ tsp black pepper

• ¼ tsp fenugreek powder (“methi”)

• 1 Handful of chopped coriander leaves

• ½ - 1 tsp Salt to taste

• 1 Tbs jaggery or more/less to taste

• Lime juice to taste

• 1-2 Tbs arrowroot powder to desired thickness

• Adjust salt, sour, spices to suite your taste

Instructions:

• blend tamarind and water with hand blender and set aside retaining fluid for soup base

• Heat ghee in medium sauce pan

• Add: mustard seeds (pop), cumin seeds (golden), and fry until you get a nice aroma.

• Add curry leaves, hing and fry until crisp.

• Add the powdered spices, aside from salt and saute for a minute until aromatic.

• Add freshly boiled tamarind water and arrowroot powder, salt, and jaggery

• Bring to a boil then simmer 1-2 minutes until desired thickness is achieved adjusting thickness as needed adding more arrowroot powder if necessary

• Remove from heat

• Stir in lime juice and cilantro and adjust taste as desired!

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Written by: Traci Webb director of the Ayurvedic Living School in Northern California.