Rasam rice is one of my favourite things to eat, and considering how it’s always described as ‘comfort food’, I’d wager this is the case for a lot of us. (After 10+ years of eating Kimchi Jiggae—Korean kimchi soup—I think at this point it comes a close second.)
Rasam rice is simple enough to make on its own. You cook the rasam and you cook the rice. Both separately. This is a version that literally takes both those steps and combines it into one. Same flavours, just quicker. So hovering over a pot of rice is a step that is completely avoided. I also increased the ratio of dhal to rice here to get more protein and fibre from the meal. (For context, I’ve seen versions where the dhal is usually half or even quarter of the quantity that I’ve used here.)
This also happens to be the perfect heatwave recipe: fry off some aromats and shallots in ghee, add your rice and dhal, and cook it all together until it turns to mush. You kinda want that here. Not sloppy goop, but a homogenous texture that doesn’t give you separate grains of rice and dhal. This is not the place for al dente. This is the place for ‘I don’t want to chew’. To achieve this, cook the rice and dhals with a lot more water than you’d typically need. After it’s cooked, stir it all together quite vigorously, adding a bit of hot water if necessary to achieve the desired consistency.
ONE-POT RASAM RICE
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rice
- 1/4 cup toor dhal
- 1/4 cup yellow mung dhal
- 1 cup shallots, halved
- 1 lime-sized ball of tamarind
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 cup coriander leaves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- Salt, to taste
Coarsely blend:
- 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 7 cloves garlic
- 1 green chilli
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
Tempering:
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon split urad dhal
- 2 dried chillies, halved
- 1/4 teaspoon asofoetida
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
Instructions
- Add the rice and dhals to a bowl. Rinse until the water runs clear, then soak for 30 mins.
- Pour 1/2 a cup of boiling water over the tamarind. Break it up and let it sit for 10 mins.
- Add the tomatoes, garlic, green chilli, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns to a blender jar. Pulse a few times to get a coarse paste.
- Add 1 cup of room temp water to the bowl containing the tamarind. Squeeze with your fingers to get most of the pulp into the water. Retain the tamarind water and discard the pulp.
- Heat ghee in a pressure cooker (or a heavy-bottomed pot). Add the mustard seeds and urad dhal. When the seeds starts to splutter, add the dried chillies, curry leaves, and asofoetida. Stir for a few seconds.
- Add the blended paste along with the tamarind water. Season with salt. Cook over medium heat for 10 mins.
- Drain the rice and dhals and discard the water. Add the rice and dhals to the pressure cooker. Add turmeric powder. Pour in 5 cups of fresh water.
- Pressure cook over medium heat for 5 whistles (about 10 mins). Let the pressure release naturally.
- Remove the lid, and stir the rice and dhals vigorously to break up some of the rice. Add a little hot water if necessary to get a looser consistency.
- Stir in the coriander. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve hot.
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