Vegan Garlic Rasam Recipe Without Ghee

Warm, spiced garlic rasam to wake your senses and leave you feeling refreshed. Upgrade to food that truly loves you back!

Whole Food Plant Based Garlic Rasam Recipe

Course: Side Dish for Course 3 (Grain Dishes) for Lunch & Dinner Meals, Festival Dishes, Soup, Beverage
Cuisine: Tamil Recipe from South India
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

Garlic Rasam Powder / Poondu Rasam Podi

1 cup Dhaniya / Coriander Seeds
1/2 cup Toor Dal / Split Pigeon Pea
1/4 cup Black Pepper
1/4 cup Jeera / Cumin Seeds
1/2 cup Curry Leaves
5 heads Garlic
1/8 cup Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Asafoetida / Hing / Perunkaayam

Garlic Rasam / Poondu Rasam

2 Large Tomatoes chopped
4 tsp Miso Paste (Healthier Salt Alternative. See Nutrition Science Highlights below)
4 cups Water as required

Seasoning or Tadka

1 sprig Curry Leaves
1/4 cup Coriander leaves chopped
1 tbsp Almond Butter

Instructions

Garlic Rasam Powder Recipe

1. Dry roast toor dal on low flame until lightly browned. Do not allow to brown too much. See Nutrition Science Highlights for Garlic Rasam below for details.
2. Grind garlic to a smooth paste and keep aside for ten minutes.
3. Once garlic has rested for ten minutes, grind all ingredients together into a fine powder.

Garlic Rasam Recipe

1. Blend tomatoes into a smooth paste. Cook until done. Add water and 2 tbsp of Garlic Rasam Powder / Poondu Rasam Podi, and heat to a boil.
2. Switch off stove and mix in miso paste, curry leaves, coriander leaves, and almond butter.
3. Serve fresh with red rice!

Plant Based Chef Pro Tips for Best Garlic Rasam Recipe

1. Adjust the spice and sourness as needed.
2. If you want a tadka, you could dry roast mustard and add to garlic rasam!

Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Garlic Rasam Recipe

1. Why Miso Paste? Miso paste is fermented & salted soya bean paste. American Heart Association Maximum recommended maximum daily salt intake of 3.75 grams per person to minimise risk of high blood pressure, stomach cancer and chronic kidney disease. In addition to helping us restrict salt intake, replacing salt with miso paste also helps by neutralising the negative effects of salt by soya phytonutrients. You can easily make fresh miso paste at home by mixing 100 grams of cooked soya paste with 10 grams of salt, or 10 tablespoons of cooked soya paste with 1 tablespoon of salt. If making at home, ensure to use immediately, or freeze in batches to use later. Or, simply use 3.75 grams of salt or less per day per person and add 18 to 20 grams (dry weight) of soya beans in any dishes, spread through the day!
2. Why not tadka? Tadka, thaaLippu, oggaraNe. Tempering spices in oil is quintessential to Indian cuisine. This practice may have started as a compromise when whole nuts were unavailable, and indeed, is more common in inland, drier areas where nuts do not grow easily, all year round. You can enjoy the taste and fragrance, though, by just dry roasting the spices you require, without the oil, or even better, mixing spice powders directly into your dish!
3. Why crush garlic and wait? When garlic is chopped, crushed, ground or bitten into, two chemicals stored in different parts of garlic's cells combine in a chemical reaction to form allicin. This is a slightly bitter compound that deters insects, but happens to be very beneficial to our health. Allicin helps reduce blood pressure and protect the heart and other organs, fight off lung infections, and reduce inflammation. Unfortunately, cooking destroys one of the enzymes required to form allicin. This can be overcome by crushing garlic and keeping it aside for ten minutes while the chemical reaction takes place. Once allicin is formed, it is heat stable and can be safely cooked. Alternatively, some raw garlic can be added after cooking, to a dish that has cooked garlic in it.
4. Why spices? Spices are among the healthiest foods on the planet in terms of their ability to prevent and reverse chronic diseases. They pack the highest antioxidant:calorie ratio. Just one pinch of spice powders exponentially increases the antioxidant content of any dish. Dishes like these, that have many strong spices, are a great way to amp up the health quotient of our everyday meals. Raw and boiled or steamed spices retain their phytonutrient content better than roasted or baked spices.