Rasam powder is a very traditional and popular spice powder, which is used to make varieties of rasam.   It is a mixture of  ground spices which is used for preparing  rasam, a South Indian  lentil soup.  There are different recipes of making rasam powder and it varies  by region to region.  This recipe has been followed in my family for decades, which I will be sharing with you here.  This is the basic rasam powder recipe which is prepared with coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper seeds, toor dal and red chillies.  Toor dal gives a good flavour as well as thickness to the rasam.  Black peppercorns gives spiciness and red chillies a nice colour to the rasam.  You can use half whole red chillies and half byadgi or kashmiri red chillies in the recipe.  Kashmiri red chillies  gives colour and normal red chillies gives spiciness to the rasam.

The entire process of making rasam powder is very easy, except that the ingredients has to be roasted separately one by one.  Most of the ingredients are easily available at home.  Rasam powder can be made in half an hours time.

HOW TO MAKE OR PREPARE RASAM POWDER RECIPE

Heat a pan on low flame.  Add 1 cup of coriander seeds.  Dry roast on low flame for 3-4 minutes till it gives a nice aroma and slightly changes colour.

Transfer them to a plate.  Next add 3/4 cup of cumin seeds.  Dry roast on low flame for 3 minutes.

Transfer them to the same place.  Next add 3/4 cup of black peppercorns and dry roast for 3 minutes on low flame.

Transfer to the same plate.  Then add 2 tablespoons of toor dal and roast for 2 minutes on low flame.

Lastly add 50 gms of red chilllies.  Roast the red chillies for 2 minutes on low flame.  Let all the ingredients cool down completely.

Once cooled down, transfer the ingredients to a mixer grinder.  Grind to a smooth powder texture.  Once ground, let the powder cool down completely.  Store the rasam powder in an airtight container or a dry glass jar.

Homemade rasam powder is ready to be used in any rasam recipe you prepare.

NOTES/TIPS

Dry roast all the ingredients on a low to medium flame to ensure there is no moisture in it.

Ensure to roast the ingredients separately one by one, so that they are all are evenly roasted, as roasting time is different for each ingredient.

Let the ingredients cool down completely before grinding them to a smooth powder.  Once ground, let the rasam powder cool down before storing them.

Store the rasam powder in an airtight container or a clean dry glass jar.

Do not use oil at the time of roasting the ingredients.  Ensure to dry roast all the ingredients so that they remain fresh for a longer period of time.

Rasam powder can be stored for upto 2 months at room temperature. No need to refrigerate it.