Poondu Rasam/ Garlic Rasam/ Indian soup

It is the season for coughs and colds! The goodness of garlic is almost as famous as its flavor which I have grown to love after marriage - Amma hardly ever cooked with garlic with probably the yearly exception of making poondu rasam - I literally ran from this dish and amma would always have to make plain rasam for the few of us who could not stand the smell of it. Another growing moment happened 17 years ago when my husband cooked me pasta with a goodly amount of garlic! And now I wonder I have ever lived without it - I must quickly add that even now, i do not like the indiscriminate use of it in my preparations, but a subtle hint in the appropriate dishes only enhances the taste of it.
Poondu rasam has been a huge favorite among my kids and hubs and I make it at least once or twice a month.

Start to finish, this take me 30 minutes including pressure cooking the lentils

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal/thoram paruppu split peas pressure cooked with a dash of turmeric and oil
1 can of Hunts diced tomatoes
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon each of
coriander seeds
cumin seeds
black pepper
1/4 cup of grated coconut
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 table spoon of rasam powder


Preparation
Pressure cook the dal and keep
In a pot, heat a small amount of oilive oil (or oil of choice)
Lightly fry the cumin, pepper, coriander, coconut and the garlic
In a blender add the diced tomatoes and some water along with the fried ingredients and blend nicely

Back to the pot, pour the mix from the blender and allow it to cook, adding 1 more cup of water
When it starts boiling, get the dal ready by beating it with a hand blender and then pour into the boiling pot.
Add the salt

Sautee
In a saucepan, add some ghee/butter. Thadka some mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves.
Add to the rasam once the seeds have popped.
Sprinkle some crushed cilantro at the very end

Enjoy HOT.

As always, the key ingredient would be that pinch of love :))