May be this rasam could be a very old cuisine prepared by the travelers in India.
The other name of this rasam is 'vandikkaaran rasam', that means the rasam prepared by the bullock cart drivers:)
In those days , before the invention of motor vehicles, people were traveling in bullock carts from place to place. Some times they may take even a month to reach their destination. So they would take rest once in a week in a nearby city and would stock up some grocery items and food. The restaurants were rare to commons and the annachathiram (free meal place) would be scanty. So, in the mean time they would have prepared Puliyotharai, lemon rice, curd rice etc for the first three days and for the next coming period they need to cook , at least for two days.
The only way to sustain the travel was to cook the rice with the available wood and to fix up some easy side dish like rasam and thovaiyal (hand ground chutney). Thus comes the invention of this raw tamarind rasam.
May be we also find it very easy to fix a delicious simple dinner, if running late. Good for the summer too:)
I remember those days when my elder brother and myself voraciously consuming the rice without any hesitation with our mom's puli thanneer rasam:)
Ingredients:
Tamarind - size of a small key-lime
Shallot onion - 10
(or 1 red onion)
green chilly - 2
cumin seed - 1 tsp
curry leaf - 1 brig
water - 3 cups
salt - to taste
Method:
Extract the juice of tamarind by soaking it in water.
Finely chop the onion, green chilly, curry leaf and mix it with the tamarind water.
Add cumin seeds and salt.
Let them soak for an hour or we can use it immediately also.
Pachai puli rasam is ready!
Serving suggestions:
Pour over piping hot fully cooked rice along with any thogaiyal , vadagam or appalam as sides.
Note:
Prepare more quantity of rice than the usual amount and you will find the reason after tasting this rasam:)
