The health benefits of garlic in the diet are well known. Pair garlic with Long Pepper and you have an immune boosting rasam. Long Pepper is well known in Ayurveda to have multiple health benefits. It also is known by numerous names in India – Pippali, Thippili, Kandathippilis, Desavaram.

This rasam is flavoured with the Pippali and Garlic, as well as black pepper, cumin seeds, chilli and curry leaves. With such layerings of flavours, how could it not be delicious?

Are you interested in other Rasams? Try Saaru, Lime Rasam, Cumquat Rasam, Kottu Rasam, and another version of Garlic Rasam.

You might also be interested in the following articles:

Our simply explore all of our Rasam recipes. Our Indian recipes are here and our Indian Essentials here. Or take some time to browse our Late Spring recipes.

Garlic and Long Pepper Rasam

ingredients

1 tspn channa dal

0.5 tspn peppercorns

5 – 6 Long Pepper (Pippali, Thippili, Kandathippilis, Desavaram)

5 cloves garlic, chopped

4 Indian dried red chillies

2 tspns coriander seed

1 tspn ghee

0.75 tspn cumin seed

6 curry leaves, to be ground

tamarind – a lime sized piece, or use tamarind paste

1.5 tspn salt

4 curry leaves for the tamarind base

tadka

2 tspn ghee

1 tspn black mustard seeds

2 Indian dried red chillies, broken in half, 0r to taste

to garnish

a few green coriander leaves

method

Heat a tspn ghee and saute the channa dal, pepper corns, pippali, dried red chillies and coriander seeds until they are golden and aromatic. Add the garlic towards the end of cooking, so that it does not burn.

Grind into a paste (use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder). Keep aside.



Grind the cumin seed and 4 curry leaves to a powder, and keep aside.

Make 4 cups of tamarind water and place in a saucepan. To this, add salt and curry leaves. Bring to a simmer and add the paste made from the sauteed ingredients. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Mix the cumin seed powder with a little water to make a paste or slurry, and stir into the rasam. Bring back to the boil, simmer well for 30 seconds, and remove from the heat.

Make a tadka of the mustard seeds and chillies in the ghee and add to the rasam. Garnish with coriander leaves.

recipe notes

To make tamarind water – use a concentrated form of tamarind, just a small amount, less than a full teaspoon, and dissolve in the required water.

If you are using dried tamarind, take a lime sized piece, and soak it in hot water for 15 minutes or more. Then strain, pushing through all of the paste and leaving the seeds and fibres.

Best of all, use fresh tamarind, but outside of India that is harder to achieve. If you have fresh tamarind, for this recipe (as it has cumin seeds) you can combine some new and some old tamarind.