Tomato rasam is one of the dishes handed down from generation to generation. South Indians have been enjoying this soup for decades. The practice of having rasam after a heavy meal is like a ritual in south India. One can especially find it as part of sadya, the delicious meal with several dishes served on a plantain. No, south Indians did not have tomato rasam just for the tangy spiciness it provides. They didn’t pass down this sacred tomato rasam recipe through generations just because of its flavour. Tomato rasam has a quality that most of you are unaware of. Want to know what that is?
What is Tomato rasam?
Before disclosing the quality that helped tomato rasam survive throughout generations, let me introduce you to tomato rasam. Tomato rasam is a quintessential part of traditional south Indian cuisine. It is a kind of soup which is aromatic, slightly spicy and tangy. Most people drink rasam after a heavy meal to help digestion and bloating. It is because a traditional tomato recipe will act as a digestif.
Digestif is a drink that will help you digest your food. But the problem is that one cannot entirely address tomato rasam as a digestif. Are you wondering why? While tomato rasam has the same function as a digestif, its nature differs. A digestif is an alcoholic drink that boosts your digestive processes. But, one can state that tomato rasam is a perfect non-alcoholic digestif that will help you achieve the same benefit but much more healthily. Before considering the advantages of using tomato rasam, let’s consider how to make it.
Ingredients required to prepare a healthy tomato rasam recipe
- Tomato: 2 (diced)
- Garlic: 10 cloves
- Dried chillies: 3
- Tamarind: A lemon-sized ball
- Turmeric powder: ½ tsp
- Asafetida: One pinch
- Cumin: 1 tsp
- Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
- Black peppercorns: 1 tsp
- Coriander leaves: 3 tbsp
- Curry leaves: 1 sprig
- Water: 2 cups
- Oil: as required
- Salt: as required
Now, let’s prepare a healthy Tomato rasam recipe
- Grind the peppercorns, cumin, two dried chillies and three garlic cloves until well incorporated
- Soak the tamarind in ½ cup of water.
- Take the rest of the garlic and peel the skin off. Now coarsely crush it. Keep it aside
- Take a pan or, even better, a clay pot and heat the oil in it.
- When the oil is hot enough, add the mustard seeds into it and wait for it to splutter.
- Once it finishes spluttering, add the curry leaves, the rest of the dried chilli and the crushed garlic into it. Saute it until the garlic starts to burn brown
- Now, add the diced tomatoes, turmeric powder and Asafetida to it. Saute until the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Add the ground powder to the mix and saute for 2 minutes on low flame.
- Now add the tamarind water along with the rest of the water.
- Add salt to taste and boil this mixture for 5 minutes on medium flame.
- Finally, take the rasam off the flame and add the chopped coriander leaves.
- Your healthy and delicious tomato rasam recipe is ready!
Now, let’s see how this tomato rasam recipe can help boost your stomach’s health.
Tomato rasam and stomach
Not one but several ingredients added to the rasam add towards improving your digestion process. Do you want to know what they are? The black pepper used for making rasam will help you to increase the production and secretion of acids that aid your digestion. The garlic that we add to rasam will reduce inflammations in the stomach.
It will further help ward off all the worms and bad pathogens from your stomach. It will ultimately promote better absorption of nutrients and prevent gas formation, acidity, diarrhoea and flatulence. Moreover, tamarind in tomato rasam will provide dietary fibre to you. Thus, it will add more bulk to your stool which will help you in saying goodbye to constipation. So, making tomato rasam a part of your diet will be smart. Do you know what else can be a smart approach? Making Nutriplus GutHealth part of your daily life.
Nutriplus GutHealth
Nutriplus GutHealth is a probiotic supplement that will help you maintain your gut’s wellness. This product is produced by using an Advance Hybrid Culture, which will only get activated after entering the gut. This culture is made up of five species of beneficial bacteria. They are Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus salivarius, Bifidobacterium longum and Streptococcus thermophiles. These bacteria will improve your nutrient absorption and, thereby, the health of your stomach.
So, finally, your health rests in your own hands. You can decide whether or not to incorporate a healthy tomato rasam recipe into your life or not. Similarly, you can choose whether or not to subscribe to Nutriplus GutHealth. But always remember that health is very difficult to regain once you lose it. So, try your best to protect your health. These small changes and operational decisions can help you in the future. With that thought, have a happy day and a healthy life.
