Tomato Saar (Recipe 1)

Tomato saar is known by different names across Southern India. It is a delicious tangy tomato soup that is generously poured over rice and slurped with much gusto. You may have heard of tomato rasam or tomato saalan, or tomato saar and they all basically mean the same, with slight variations in tang and spice levels.

When I was growing up my mum made tomato saar quite often to go with fried fish and or a vegetable side dish and rice. However, todays recipe is a cross between tomato saar and rasam. And this is my recipe that has gone through a couple of trials and has been finally perfected. As I always mention in all my recipes, please adjust the number of chillies as per your spice tolerance levels. This goes well only with hot steamed rice and a side dish of vegetable or fried fish.

Ingredients:

1. Ripe tomatoes - 5 medium sized
2. Garlic - 6 flakes
3. Peppercorn - 6 to 8 nos
4. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Dried red chilly (Kashmiri) - 2 nos

Tempering:

1. Oil - as required
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Curry leaves - a few
4. Onion - 1 small, chopped
5. Green chilly - 2 nos, chopped or slit
6. Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
7. Rasam powder - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Make cross slits at the bottom of the tomatoes and place them in a pan with water that completely immerses the tomatoes. Place the pan on a stove, bring it to a boil and cook the tomatoes on low flame for 8 - 10 minutes.
2. After the flame has been switched off, add the peeled garlic, and dried red chilly into the hot water.
3. After it has cooled down, move the ingredients into a mixie jar and add the peppercorn and cumin seeds and grind to a smooth paste. Use water sparingly while grinding as tomatoes are already mushed. Reserve the water in the pan for later use.
4. Heat pan, pour oil, wait for the oil to heat up and then add the mustard seeds. Let the spluttering stop, and then proceed to add the onions and the curry leaves. Let the onins turn soft and translucent.
5. Add the green chillies and turmeric. Mix well. Add the ground paste, salt and rasam powder. Stir till all the contents have mixed well in the pan and it has started boiling.
6. Add the reserved water as required. Let it simmer for about 8 - 10 minutes. Check for taste and consistency and lastly garnish with chopped coriander leaves.