pepper cumin rasam or milagu jeera rasam recipe with step by step photos – a spicy, tangy and hot rasam thats good during the winters.
i was having a terrible cold for the past few days. i made this rasam on one of these days. this rasam is an excellent remedy for cough and cold. in the winters, whenever we have cold, i often end up making varieties of rasam. this pepper cumin rasam happens to be one of them. few more rasam varieties which are good for cough and cold are:
- milagu rasam (pepper rasam)
- beetroot rasam
- lemon rasam
apart from pepper and cumin, the rasam also has red chilies, coriander leaves and garlic. however, you can skip the garlic if you want to make a no onion no garlic version.
the rasam recipe is easy and does not require rasam powder.
this pepper cumin rasam can be had plain as a appetizer drink or even served with rice, sambar and a side vegetable dish like poriyal (stir fried veggies with coconut).
if you are looking for more rasam varieties then do check:
pepper cumin rasam
INGREDIENTS FOR pepper cumin rasam
to be ground coarsely or semi fine
- ½ tablespoon black pepper (sabut kali mirch)
- ½ tablespoon cumin (jeera)
- 2 dry red chilies, halved and deseeded (sookhi lal mirch)
- 6 to 7 medium sized garlic (lahsun)
other ingredients for pepper cumin rasam
- ½ tablespoon tightly packed seedless tamarind, soaked in ½ cup warm water
- 1 medium tomato, crushed or chopped
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves (dhania patta)
- 1 to 1.25 cups water or add as required
- salt as required
for tempering rasam
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (sarson)
- 8 to 10 medium sized curry leaves (kadi patta)
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder, roughly 2 to 3 pinches of turmeric powder (haldi)
- 1-2 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- 1 to 1.5 tablespoon oil
HOW TO MAKE pepper cumin rasam
preparation for pepper cumin rasam
- first just warm 1/2 cup water. soak tamarind in the warm water for 30 minutes.
- then squeeze the soaked tamarind to get the pulp. strain the tamarind pulp and keep aside.
- in a grinder, take garlic, red chilies, black pepper and cumin seeds.
- grind coarsely or to a semi fine texture.
making pepper cumin rasam
- heat oil in a pan or pot. splutter mustard seeds first.
- then add curry leaves and the coarsely ground spices.
- saute for a minute. then add turmeric powder, asafoetida and chopped coriander leaves. stir very well.
- then add crushed or chopped tomatoes. stir and saute for a minute or two.
- then add tamarind pulp and water. season with salt.
- stir and simmer rasam on a low to medium flame, without a lid, till the tomatoes soften and the raw taste of tamarind goes away. takes about 12 to 15 minutes.
- you can adjust the consistency of rasam as per your choice, by adding more or less water. adding less water will make the pepper cumin rasam more tangy and hot and vice versa.
- serve the pepper cumin rasam plain or accompanied with rice, sambar and a side vegetable south indian dish.
preparation for pepper cumin rasam
1. soak tamarind in warm water for 30 minutes.
2. then squeeze the soaked tamarind to get the pulp. strain the pulp and keep aside.
3. in a grinder, take garlic, red chilies, black pepper and cumin seeds.
4. grind coarsely or semi fine.
making pepper cumin rasam
5. heat oil in a pan or pot. splutter mustard seeds first.
6. then add curry leaves and the coarsely ground spices.
7. saute for a minute. then add turmeric powder, asafoetida and chopped coriander leaves.
8. stir very well.
9. then add crushed or chopped tomatoes.
10. stir and saute for a minute or two.
11. then add tamarind pulp.
12. pour water.
13. season with salt.
14. stir.
15. simmer rasam without a lid till the tomatoes soften and the raw taste of tamarind goes away. takes about 12 to 15 minutes on a low to medium flame.
16. when done, switch off the flame and the hot and spicy rasam is ready to be served.
17. serve the pepper cumin rasam plain or accompanied with rice, sambar and a side vegetable south indian dish like carrot poriyal, beetroot poriyal or cabbage thoran.
Am having a cold..looking at the pictures is so comforting..Am going to try this! Thanks for sharing
welcome deepa and i hope you like the rasam.
Good and simple
thanks.
Came out very well, Dasana! You are amazing. Thank you for freely sharing delicious recipes. God bless you.
thank you indu for the feedback and rating. most welcome and thanks again for your kind wishes.
Tried your recipe and it turned out to be awesome. Instead Cilantro, add Cilantro stems for better taste.
Tried.awesome.Thanks for the recipe
Great recipe. Were you using an earthen pot to make this dish ?
thanks. yes it a clay pot from kerala.
Hi Dasana,
I regularly follow ur blog n I love ur recipes.. Just made this rasam n had with hot rice n ghee…ahh it was so good..I’m down with cold n cough,,this rasam made my dead taste buds alive..
Thanks a lot..god bless u..
Welcome Arati. Glad to know that this rasam helped you. thanks for your best wishes and positive feedback on recipes.
Superb receipe
Thanks Gayathri
I have tried many of ur rasams, this one and coriander lemon one are my particular favorite… I have a request can u post rasam using Indian gooseberry?
thank you shilpa. have taken a note of your recipe request and will try to add.
Dear Dassana, thanks so much for directing me to this recipe. It is really very soothing. I’m making it again today..
RA
Welcome RA. Good to know that it helped you.
Hi Dassana,
Wonderful easy method with very simple and clear step by step recipe with crisp pictures. Wifey is gone out. So wanted to make some quick simple rasam and stumbled upon your site. Gonna make it now before she is back!
Thanks a great deal!
Regards,
Dean.
PS.: You may want to change the heading/title font to something that’s got an international flavor. Also you may need to change it to either all caps or beginning of the word caps. You can have a nice design that goes next to the title, like a little vine, in green. All the best…
thanks dean for the feedback on the recipes as well as on the design and the little vine idea. the issue is that we are not able to make any changes to the design. there is something (we are still finding out) that does not take the css design changes on the website. i spend a couple of hours doing that. the changes are there in the css files, but not getting reflected on the website. still looking in to this issue.
Hi Dassana, is it possible to use tamarind concentrate instead? If so, how should I adjust the tamarind portion of the recipe
you can use tamarind concentrate. 1 to 2 teaspoon should work. first add one teaspoons and check if the rasam has some tartness. if not then add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon more.
Thanx for saving my life daliy with such easy nd variety of recipes that too easy to make nd nicely explained step wise. This rasam nd avial both turned really goooood. Keep up d gud work. God bless u
thank you jaya for your kind words and positive feedback 🙂 god bless you.
Very nice recipe thanks, I didn’t have the tamarind but used dry mango instead and it turned out well.
thanks tom. good to know that the with dry mango the rasam tasted well.
Thanks for maintaining such a good vegetarian recipe collection online .
This Rasam was definitely the best and worth making in winter especially as my daughter has cold today. Thank you !!
thank you dhanalakshmi. agree rasams are too good in the winters.
Hi, I am allergic to asafoetida. Is there an alternative or can I just leave this ingredient out? Thank you
welcome shakeera. skip adding it.
Simple and yummy rasam. I added an extra spoon of peppercorns as my hubby was down with sore throat…he loved it although it was way too spicy for me. Nonetheless I still enjoyed my rice and rasam with a tbsp of sugar in it. Thanks Dassana 🙂
welcome rajani. thanks for sharing your feedback and variation.
This is simply great recipe. Everyone in my family loves this! Helps to clear soar throat and cold.
All the recipe pictures are awesome. Thanks You!
thanks and welcome shushruta.
Have tried many of your recipes and I must say they are so yummy! Have 2 questions regarding this recipe:
1. Instead of tamarind can I use lime?
2. how much should I use if using cumin powder, pepper powder and red chilli powder directly?
Thanks a ton!
thanks champa. lime will change the taste and it will taste like lime/lemon rasam. but still you can add lime. just add as per your taste. otherwise the rasam could become too tart. in this rasam, freshly crushed or powdered black pepper gives a good aroma and taste. the same cannot be got with ready pepper powder. the same thing applies for both cumin and red chilies. use about 1/2 tbsp black pepper, 1.5 tsp cumin powder and about 1/2 tsp red chili powder. the taste will be different though but will still taste good.
super easy to follow
This is what is served in almost all Tamilnadu .hotels.It is served round the year but it assumes a specialty in rainy and winter seasons. It is a must in every house. Lunch or diner is always rounded of with a cup of steaming [Milangu tanni] rasam. It’s like washing down dinner with a peg of Rum !!! It certainly keeps the sore throat and cold out. It is good even for severe cough and chest congestion. All the best.
thanks for the info. i know its good for the cold. i have making it often in winters here. very comforting and healing.
I am brand new to Indian Cuisine – a friend to a restaurant an I enjoyed it very much. In looking at the recipe pepper cumin rasam it mentions Tamarind. I was looking for a place to purchase to give this recipe a try. All I have found is Tamarind paste. Can a certain amount of paste make up for the real Tamarind? Or you can you recommend a website that might carry?
Thank you
you can use the tamarind paste. for recipes mentioning a lemon sized ball of tamarind, you can use approx 1.5 tsp paste. just dissolve the paste in 1 cup of water before adding it. if the color is very dark in color, than add a pinch of turmeric powder to lighten it. also if there are threads and fibers than you can strain it
Do not say Rasam, I will walk in to your Home… Tempting click
aparna, you are most welcome
Perfect for the season….with hot steaming rice….love your click!!
thanks nisa.
super recipe…very nice details with Photos really helpful. Ideal way to write a recipe…
thanks a lot vikas.