Tomato Rasam (Thakkali Rasam)

Rasams are just delicious South Indian style soups that are purely warming and comforting. Here, on this post, I have shared a terrifically tangy and spicy Tomato Rasam that can be enjoyed over rice or on its own, as a hearty soup. And you don’t need rasam powder, lentils (dal) and tamarind to make this one. It is also a naturally vegan recipe.

What’s Special About This Tomato Rasam

Tomato Rasam is a popular South Indian soup-like dish that is not just known for its flavors, but also health benefits and a wholesome choice of dish for any meal.

In fact, it’s often served as a spiced hot drink that helps ease cold/cough symptoms and digestion issues.

Since ‘tomato’ is referred to as ‘thakkali’ in Tamil language, this delish piquant rasam version is also known as Thakkali Rasam.

It is a vegan recipe that features juicy tomatoes, bold spices, and lots of ginger and garlic for extra pungent, wonderfully sour notes in the dish.

Essentially, of the most important ingredients in a rasam preparation is the Rasam Powder.

But like I have mentioned above this recipe of Thakkali Rasam typically doesn’t require any rasam powder in it. There are also no lentils (dal) and tamarind used in this recipe.

While there are many different ways for making a classic Tomato Rasam, this is by far the easiest way to make it from scratch. And, in my opinion, it is the tastiest, too!

This Tomato Rasam or Thakkali Rasam is my mother’s special recipe. It has a more tangyish tomato flavor with a robust taste coming from the spices and herbs. To sum up, it is piquant, tangy with bold and spicy flavors. There’s also a video for this.

The recipe is easy to make and is delectable to enjoy as a soup or with rice. You can also simply choose how spicy you like your rasam.

There are so many ways Tomato Rasam is made in the regional South Indian cuisine. One of our favorites is also this Andhra style Tomato Charu that has the addition of tamarind pulp together with the tomatoes for that extra tang.

Ingredient Essentials

For the Tomato Rasam, we use cumin seeds and black pepper as the main spices. You can increase or decrease the proportion of pepper to adjust with your taste and desired level of spice. Plus, you also obviously require juicy red tomatoes and plenty of herbs.

Other ingredients that are needed are tender coriander stems (cilantro, with or without leaves), ginger and garlic. Again, feel free to use more or less ginger and garlic, depending on how fragrant you want your dish.

How to make Tomato Rasam

Make Herbs & Spice Mixture

1. In a blender or food processor, add ⅓ cup (about a handful) roughly chopped coriander stems (with or without leaves), 7 to 8 medium peeled garlic cloves, and 1 inch peeled and roughly chopped ginger.

2. Add 2 teaspoons cumin seeds and ¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns.

Feel free to use less or more pepper to taste.

3. Grind to a coarse paste or semi-fine, but do not puree. Transfer the paste to a bowl or plate and keep aside.

Make Tomato Puree

4. To the same blender, add 3 large ripe and red chopped tomatoes.

You will need 275 grams tomatoes or roughly 1.5 to 1.75 cups chopped tomatoes.

5. Blend the tomatoes to a smooth puree. For a beautiful bright red rasam, you can first blanch the tomatoes and then puree them.

To blanch tomatoes, boil them in a pot of water for 1 to 2 minutes before quickly plunging in a bath of ice water. This stops the cooking process and keeps the tomatoes super red and juicy.

Fry Spices & Herbs

6. First we need to temper the spices in oil, which means frying the spices in hot oil, so that they release their flavors.

To do the tempering, in a heavy pan or pot, heat 2 tablespoons oil on low flame. Add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds.

You can use gingelly oil (made from raw sesame seeds) or sunflower, peanut or any neutral oil.

7. Fry the mustard seeds until they begin to crackle.

8. Next add ½ teaspoon urad dal.

I have used whole urad dal, but you can even use split and husked lentils.

While the dal adds great texture and taste, feel free to leave it out, if you don’t like or don’t have it.

9. Continue to stir often as you fry the urad dal to a golden brown.

10. Add 1 to 2 dried red chilies (halved and seeds removed) and 1 pinch asafoetida (hing). Turn off the heat, if the pan/pot gets too hot and nearly smokes.

11. Stir and fry the chilies for few seconds or until they start to lose their red color and become reddish brown.

12. Add the prepared spice-herb paste to the pan. Again, if the pan is so hot that anything begins to burn, turn off the heat and/or remove the pan from heat.

13. Now, add 10 to 12 curry leaves (1 sprig curry leaves), whole or chopped.

14. Sauté for a minute on low heat, being careful to not burn the spices.

15. Add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder. At this point you could add about ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder if you prefer.

16. Stir to thoroughly blend the turmeric powder with the spice mixture.

Make Tomato Rasam

17. Carefully, add the prepared tomato puree. Take care as the tempering mixture splutters when you add the tomato puree in the pan.

18. Mix well. The rasam will almost immediately smell amazing.

19. Continue to stir and simmer for a minute to heat the mixture through.

20. Season with salt to taste.

21. Next, add 1.5 cups water and stir to mix.

If you want a thinner rasam, you can add a splash more water. But I don’t recommend adding too much more, or you risk diluting the delicious flavors of the Thakkali Rasam.

22. Increase the temperature to medium-low heat and bring the rasam to a gently boil. Stir again, and reduce the heat back to low or medium-low.

23. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

24. Switch off the heat and add 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves. Taste, and add more salt, if needed.

25. Serve Tomato Rasam hot with steamed rice or enjoy as is.

Serving & Storage Suggestions

Tomato Rasam is best had, when served hot, either like a curry over steamed rice or enjoyed as a bowl of hearty soup. Both ways are great with a side of pappadums or simple toasted bread.

If love to pair your Idli or Medu Vada with rasam, go ahead and pair this Tomato Rasam with these popular snacks.

You can refrigerate any leftovers for a day. Reheat the rasam in a small pot or pan until warm or hot. If you plan to make ahead, then do not add coriander leaves. After you reheat rasam, add the coriander leaves.

Expert Tips

1. Tomatoes: For the best Tomato Rasam, use fresh, red and ripe tomatoes. You can use any ripe variety of tomatoes in these recipes. For extremely tart tomatoes, you can add some jaggery to balance the sourness.
2. Lentil: Skip adding the urad dal in the Thakkali Rasam, if you do not have it.
3. Spices: For a spicy and robust Thakkali Rasam, increase the quantity of whole black peppercorns by adding a total of ½ teaspoon.
4. Choice of Fat: Traditionally, rasam is made with gingelly oil. It is nothing but wood pressed oil extracted from raw sesame seeds. In a pinch, you can opt to use sunflower oil, peanut oil or any neutral oil.
5. Gluten free rasam: To make both these rasam varieties gluten free, skip the asafoetida (hing) or use a gluten free asafoetida in the recipes.

This Tomato Rasam recipe from the archives was first published on January 2012. It has been updated and republished on May 2024.