Rasam powder recipe – Learn how to make rasam powder or rasam podi at home. Rasam is a traditional south Indian soup and podi is a flavorful spice powder. This post will teach you how to make the best aromatic rasam powder & how to store it well for 6 to 12 months without losing the flavor.
South Indian rasam is made in so many ways with almost similar ingredients, same is with rasam powder too. It is made with almost same ingredients but the ratio differs slightly in each recipe.
The recipe of rasam podi varies by region & community. So each home may have a different recipe. For years I have carried fresh homemade rasam powder from my mom. I would keep it in the fridge and use for about any year.
Since we are a larger family now, I began to make my own rasam powder. So the recipe I have shared here is from my mom who has been making it for several decades. She pens down all her recipes in a dairy which we all youngsters follow.
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.
I have included tips to easily customize this rasam podi recipe to suit your taste or to give a flavor you like.
Tips for rasam powder recipe
Red chilies: We do not eat very spicy and hot foods like how the typical Telugu speaking folks eat. 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 rasam powder?
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.
For more masala powder recipes, you can check
Sambar powder
Bisi bele bath powder
Garam masala
Biryani masala
Rasam powder recipe
Rasam powder
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup Coriander seeds or Daniya or Daniyalu
- ¼ cup Toor dal or split pigeon peas or kandhi pappu
- ¼ cup Chana dal or Bengal gram or senaga pappu (optional)
- 2 tbsp Cumin or 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
How to make the recipe
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 blender jar. If you do not have a powerful blender, sieve the rasam powder. Powder the coarse grains again.
- Store the rasam powder in a clean and dry jar.
NUTRITION
Notes
Preparation for rasam powder
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.
How to 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.
Thangam says
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?
swasthi says
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.
Jay says
Receive says 1 cup coriander but does not look like that much in photos. Is it 1 cop?
swasthi says
Yes I halved the recipe and made. All the ingredients are halved. Yes It is 1 cup
Deepa says
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, you’ve mentioned equal amount of coriander seeds and Chana dal.
swasthi says
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.
Anurita says
I made it but the colour didnt come the way its shown in the pic. Its predominantly dhania so colour is brown
swasthi says
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
Anuradha says
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.
swasthi says
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.
🙂
Ashwini HR says
very nice madam
swasthi says
thanks
prasanna lakshmi says
good
swasthi says
Thank you