Rasam

Tamarind extract is boiled with crushed tomato, turmeric, rasam powder and salt until the raw edge cooks off. Thin cooked toor dal water is added, and the pot is taken off the heat just as it begins to froth — rasam is never boiled hard. A tempering of mustard seeds, cumin, dried chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida in ghee finishes it.

It is thin, sharply sour, warmly peppery and highly aromatic. It is meant to be sipped or mixed with a small quantity of rice.

Milagu rasam is heavy on black pepper and served when someone is unwell. Poondu rasam is garlic-forward. Paruppu rasam uses more dal for body, Lemon rasam replaces tamarind with lemon juice, and Nellikai rasam uses gooseberry. Madurai and the southern districts often make it hotter and thinner.

Every banana-leaf meal in the state includes rasam, served after the sambar course. Traditional mess halls in Kumbakonam, Thanjavur and Madurai make particularly good versions, and Chettinad restaurants serve a peppery variant that stands out.