Rasam Powder | Rasam Podi Recipe
Updated: November 2, 2022, By Swasthi
Fresh aromatic Rasam Powder made with roasted lentils, spices and herbs. Also known as Rasam Podi in Telugu and Tamil, this super fragrant spice powder is easy to make at home and gives incredible results every time you make the South Indian Rasam. This post will show you how to make the best aromatic Rasam Powder at home and how to store it well for 6 to 12 months without losing the freshness & flavor.
Rasam – that invigorating and aromatic lentil-based thin soup-like dish from South India that tickles and excites your taste buds. A warm broth mixed in with rice & ghee is all you need on hot summer days and chilly wintry days alike.
Ever wondered what makes such a simple dish so damn delicious and bursting with flavor notes from tangy to spicy and hot? A not-so secret ingredient – rasam powder.
About Rasam Powder
Rasam Powder is a traditional South Indian spice mix (condiment) made with roasted lentils, whole spices and fresh herbs. It is used to flavor and thicken the South Indian soup-like dish known as Rasam.
Just like garam masala adds flavor to vegetable gravies and stews, Rasam Powder is the key ingredient that adds depth to your steaming pot of Tomato Rasam.
In Telugu & Tamil, Rasam means liquid essence (juice) and Podi means powder. Rasam Podi is nothing but ground powder made with a mix of dry lentils, dried red chilis and certain spices.
Basic or classic rasam powder has six ingredients, namely, toor dal, peppercorns, cumin, coriander seeds, red chilies and hing.
You have Udipi saru powder, Andhra charu powder, and Iyengar rasa podi built from the basic recipe with minor tweaks. Mysore rasam powder has ground mustard seeds, while Kerala style rasam podi requires equal amounts of toor and chana dal. Chettinad style uses twice the amount of toor dal as the classic recipe.
While every family and region have their own version of rasam powder, the basic ingredients remain almost the same. The proportion varies slightly with new ingredients added according to personal taste & preferences.
The commonly add-ons include chana dal, curry leaves (fresh or roasted), methi or fenugreek seeds and turmeric.
While tamarind, tomatoes (when used), cooked lentil, coriander leaves, and a tempering of mustard seeds enhance the broth-like rasam, the dry powder gives it that distinctive taste.
And, unlike sambar powder with its long list of ingredients, this simple spice mix requires 6-8 pantry staples found in most Indian kitchens.
My Recipe
In this post I share my Mom’s decades old Rasam Podi recipe, something that is enjoyed by my family and friends. In addition to showing you how to make this powder, I have included tips to easily customize the recipe to suit your taste buds.
For years I had carried fresh homemade rasam powder from my Mom. I would keep it in the fridge and use for about an year. Since we are a larger family now, I began to make my own rasam powder.
So this rasam powder is something which we have made it time & again, shared with friends & relatives. Always got a positive feedback on how aromatic it is.
While you can use commercial powders when you’re short on time, nothing beats the authentic taste of homemade podis. This applies to most powders and spice mixes used in Indian and other ethnic cuisines.
A quality rasam podi can make your rasam taste like nectar. On the other hand, an average one will have you go meh and wonder what the fuss was all about!
Making your own fresh rasam powder is easy and takes very little time. You measure out the right amount of each ingredient, dry roast them in a specific order, cool well, and finally grind them into a fine powder.
For more Spice powder recipes
Sambar powder
Bisi bele bath powder
Garam masala
Biryani masala
Chutney Powder
Cumin Powder
Photo Guide
How To Make Rasam Powder (Stepwise photos)
Roasting lentils
1. Dry roast chana dal and toor dal on a medium heat. Since I made in small quantity I have roasted both the dals together. If making in larger quantity, dry roast them separately.
2. Keep stirring and fry until golden to light brown and aromatic.
3. Pour the coriander seeds and red chilies.
4. Keep stirring and roast until the coriander emits a nice aroma. The red chilies will also turn crisp. Set them aside to a plate.
5. To the same pan, add methi seeds and roast until they turn aromatic.
6. They will turn slightly dark in color.
7. Add jeera and pepper. Very soon jeera turns aromatic. Transfer these as well to a plate.
8. Add the curry leaves and roast. You can also fry them in little oil. I always avoid using oil for any spice powders including for rasam powder.
9. When the leaves turn crisp, remove them.
10. Cool all these completely.
Make Rasam Powder
11. Transfer all the cooled ingredients to a mixer jar.
12. Make a fine rasam podi. If needed sieve it and blend the coarse grains again.
Store rasam powder in a clean and airtight steel or glass jar.
Pro Tips
Red chilies: We do not eat very spicy and hot foods. So my rasam powder is not spicy but is high on flavor. So do adjust the red chilies used in the recipe.
With the amount of chilies I have mentioned even young kids & toddlers will be able to enjoy it. Usually the store bought rasam powder uses a lot of red chilies to give it a color and to cut down the cost.
Basic rasam powder is just made with toor dal, pepper, coriander, jeera, red chilies and hing. To make it flavorful and tasty, one can use the following ingredients:
Chana dal lends a unique aroma and slightly thickens the rasam.
Fenugreek seeds or methi seeds add a unique aroma and is also healthy. But you can skip this if using whole methi seeds for the rasam during tempering. I add them in the podi as well in the tempering, after all they are very healthy for the body.
Roasted Curry leaves also add flavour that is different from the fresh curry leaves. This is another healthy ingredient. But this one too can be skipped, if you do not have.
The color of the rasam powder can differ based on the type and amount of red chilies used. To make rasam for kids, do add less or skip red chilies from the recipe. Pepper alone yields a good amount of spice and heat to the rasam.
How to make in large quantity?
I have shared in detail how to make rasam powder just good enough for a month in the recipe card below. Here is how to make rasam powder in larger quantity that lasts for an year.
1. Clean all the ingredients first and roast them one by one on a low to medium flame until aromatic. Do not combine 2 ingredients and roast.
When done in small quantities like I have done below, they can be added one after the other & roasted. But when made in large quantities they have to be roasted separately as the roasting time is different for each ingredient.
2. Cool the ingredients in a large wide plate. Make sure no moisture from steam is trapped in them.
3. Send the entire mixture to a flour mill to make the rasam powder. Do not cover the container until the rasam powder is completely cool.
We usually spread a muslin cloth on the container and bring it home. Cool it completely.
How to store Rasam Powder
For many years I used aluminum foil to pack all the foods I would bring from India. In the recent years I have stopped that as well and began to use washed & sun dried small cloth bags. Pack the foods & then wrap the bag in cling wraps so that the rasam powder does not come out.
I pop these rasam powder packs in the fridge or freezer when I reach Singapore. The key to step to keep rasam powder fresh is by making several small packs of the rasam powder. Open as and when needed.
Normally I would make 6 packs, each would last me for 2 months. Every time I open a new pack I transfer it to a glass jar.
This rasam powder can be used to make Tomato rasam, lemon rasam or mysore rasam or any other south indian rasam recipes.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Rasam Powder Recipe | Rasam Podi
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- ¾ cup Coriander seeds (Daniya or Daniyalu)
- ¼ cup Toor dal (split pigeon peas or kandhi pappu)
- ¼ cup Chana dal (Bengal gram or senaga pappu) (optional)
- 2 tbsp Cumin (Jeera)
- 1 to 2 tsp Pepper corn (adjust to suit your spice levels)
- 4 to 6 red chilies broken (adjust to suit your spice levels)
- ¼ to ½ tbsp. Fenugreek seeds or Methi or menthulu
optional
- ½ tsp. hing
- Handful fresh curry leaves
Instructions
Preparation for rasam powder
- Wash curry leaves and spread them on a cloth for the water to dry off completely. Otherwise the water splutters while frying them.
- Clean all the ingredients, one after the other.
- Heat a pan, add channa dal and toor dal. Fry till a nice aroma comes. They will also turn golden in color. Transfer this to a plate.
- Lower the flame. To the same pan add coriander seeds and red chilies. Fry till they turn crunchy. Switch off the stove. Transfer them to the plate.
- To the pan add pepper, cumin and methi. Stir for 2 minutes till the cumin and methi smell good. Move this to the plate as well.
- Add the curry leaves to the pan and fry till crisp. Using few drops of oil to fry them, helps to bring out the aroma of the curry leaves. Do not use more.
How to make rasam powder
- Cool the fried ingredients completely. Powder them in a grinder jar. If you do not have a powerful grinder, sieve the rasam powder. Powder the coarse grains again.
- Store the rasam powder in a clean and dry jar.
Notes
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
This post is from the Archives. First published in March 2013. Updated and republished in November 2022.
About Swasthi
Iโm Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโs Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
Follow Swasthi’s Recipes
Comments
must try, definitely tomorrow!
Hi Swasthi Garu,
Please share the recipe of making spicy red chilli powder.
As I donโt prefer store brought chilli powders.
Thank you very much in advance.
Bindu
Hi Hima Garu,
We sun dry the dried red chilies on a clean cotton cloth for a day until they turn crisp. In the evening, bring them to the shade and let cool completely as they become hot or warm. Wear disposable gloves and remove the stalks. The stalks affect the color of the chilli powder and not good for digestion. We also discard some of the seeds that come off during this process so the powder is not too spicy. Again the seeds affect the color. Send them to the mill or pounding machine along with some oil. We use the pounding machine. For stir fry recipes, my mom would make another version of the same to which some cumin seeds and garlic was added. The key thing to note is not to cover the container after milling when the chilli powder is hot. This completely alters the color. Hope this helps
A lovely aromatic recipe. How much ie tbsp of Rasam Podi do you use each time you cook a pot of rasam to serve 4 person in one meal.
Hi Sharmini,
I usually add two Xl size tomatoes (or 4 medium tomatoes), 2 tablespoons rasam powder and about 3 cups water for 4 servings. You can add more or less powder depending on how pulpy the tomatoes are.
Amazing and flavourful podi
Thanks Harini
Hi.. what kind of red chillies did you use? Byadagi or kashmiri? Amazing recipe btw.
Hi Priyanka
I am not sure but from the pictures they look like byadgi chillies
Hello Swasthi,
I am a big fan of your recipes – they make me so happy every time I cook as well as when I eat! Today I made Tomato Rasam and I made the Rasam Powder as well. Rasam tasted great and comforting, and I found making the powder such a uplifting experience. It must be the aroma of roasting spices, seeds and dals. I feel so grateful to be able to learn South Indian traditional and authentic dishes like this thanks to your generosity and hard work! Thank you:)
Hello Kaori,
Thank you so much! Very happy to know the recipes help. Sorry somehow forgot to reply you.
Explained as my wife Aruna does. Thank you
.
Thank you we loved the pepper rasam prepared using your recipe of the rasam powder. Thank you
Welcome!
Glad to know! Thanks for the comment
Will you pl. share the proportion of each ingredient used.
Rest all is explained well.
Hi,
You have to scroll down to the recipe card to find the quantities. Hope this helps
Very easy and tasty preparation and much useful for housewives
Thank you!
Hi Swasthi. Thank you for the rasam recipe. Looks good and I wish to try it. So how many teaspoons of the rasam powder should I use for one meal for four persons?
Hi Thangam,
You are welcome. You can use about 1 tsp rasam powder for every cup of water in a rasam recipe. You can try first time and then tweak the quantity to suit your taste. I make my rasam slightly on the thicker side. We usually serve about 1.5 cups (360ml) per serving which is quite large. It depends on how much you want to serve for each person. Go ahead and use 1 tsp per cup water. Hope this helps.
Receive says 1 cup coriander but does not look like that much in photos. Is it 1 cop?
Yes I halved the recipe and made. All the ingredients are halved. Yes It is 1 cup
Should we use 1 cup coriander seeds with 1/4 cup Chana and 1/4 cup toor dal.? That seems like a lot of coriander seeds. In the tomato rasam recipe, youโve mentioned equal amount of coriander seeds and Chana dal.
Hi Deepa
In store bought rasam powder too there is more coriander seeds. Both recipes are different. This rasam powder is from my mother. I guess it is a traditional recipe probably passed on from our elders. This is what I follow to make rasam powder in larger quantity. The quantities I shared on the tomato rasam are my own, experimented for a quick version. It gives thicker rasam. You can try with even with 1:1 ratio of coriander:dal. Hope this helps.
I made it but the colour didnt come the way its shown in the pic. Its predominantly dhania so colour is brown
Hi Anurita
The color of the rasam powder depends on the number and the variety of red chilies used. Yes rasam powder will have more of daniya, methi and jeera flavor. When you boil the rasam with tomatoes, tamarind & jaggery the flavor will come down. Just ignore the color part as mine really looks too dark due to very bright & harsh sunlight. Hope this helps
Thanks Di,
Rasam powder was good but didn’t get the same color like yours. So I add little chilli powder to the grinder it comes out good.
Hey swasthi
I make this mostly once in a month following your recipe. I will be joining work Soon so was planning to mill the rasam powder. Can you please tell me for how Long can i store the milled rasam powder.
Hi Anuradha
Congrats for your new work! Thanks for trying the recipes. Yes you can mill the powder. You can store the rasam powder for about an year in the freezer. But make small individual packs of these and keep to retain the aroma. Hope this helps.
๐
very nice madam
thanks
good
Thank you
Thank you! Turned out perfect.
hello, We have to use this powder with tamarind water for making rasam to babies?Please share yoir way of making rasam to babies?
Hi Vellamji! i have 4 rasam recipes which i used to prepare for my kids when they were babies. just check the links below
moong dal rasam
tomato rasam
tomato rasam without rasam powder
tamarind rasam
thank u for sharing. come out well
Thanks Baby for trying and for the review too.
Nice flavorful rasam Powder… Thanks for sharing…