V8 Rasam

V8 rasam is a spicy south Indian soup prepared with V8 juice. It is a comfort food in winters and side dish for rice.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings

Calories 55kcal

½ – 1 tablespoon Toor Dal ground to fine powder
2 teaspoon Oil
½ teaspoon Cumin ~ Jeera
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
4 Curry Leaves
1 ½ teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
Pinch of Turmeric
1 can (5.5 oz. or 163 ml) V8 Vegetable Juice 3 cups Water
⅛ teaspoon Black Pepper Powder adjust to taste
½ tablespoon Salt adjust to taste
½ tablespoon Tamarind Paste check note
2 teaspoon MTR Madras Rasam Powder use any brand you like. This is the only brand I tried so far
1 medium sized Vine Tomato diced
Cilantro for garnish

Grind toor dal to fine powder. I grind dal to fine powder and add it to rasam instead of cooking the dal and then adding it to rasam. This saves some time and this is a tip I picked up from my mother-in-law.
Heat oil in a 2 quart/liter sauce pan and temper it with mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
Then add ginger garlic paste and sauté until raw smell of ginger is gone.
Add turmeric powder, toor dal powder and roast the powders for a minute or two until the toor dal is lightly roasted in the oil.
Add V8 juice, salt, pepper powder (can add pepper after tasting the rasam), rasam powder, tamarind paste and mix well. Add water, tomatoes, cover the pan and bring to a boil.
Once rasam comes to a boil, taste rasam and adjust salt, pepper and tamarind paste to taste.
Partly cover the pan and continue boiling for another 3-5 minutes until tomatoes are soft.
Add cilantro, turn of the heat and cover the pan completely. Let it sit for another 5-10 minutes and serve hot with rice.
This soup a little light and mild, and can be served as soup as well.

I prefer light rasams over thick rasams. If one wants a little thick rasam, add another ½ tbsp. of toor dal powder and also adjust water to desired consistency.
If not using rasam powder, grind together some cumin, pepper powder, coriander powder and fenugreek powder along with toor dal.
I usually add some onion but I skipped it this time.
Also, since I used rasam powder for the first time, I did not know how spicy the powder is, so I did not add any green chilies. If using green chilies, adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Adjust tamarind paste to taste and it depends on how sour the tamarind is. I used homemade tamarind paste.