Kaffir Lime Rasam

I've been on bit of a Thai food kick this past month. Which means that the fridge is also chockfull of Thai ingredients. So I started to think what else I could do with them. Which means there have been a few experiments. Here's the most successful of them thus far: a kaffir lime rasam.

As far as fusion foods go, this isn't too much of a stretch. Lime rasam is already a thing and kaffir lime adds a lovely new dimension to flavour and fragrance of this rasam. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 tbsp arhar dal
4-5 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of turmeric powder
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1 tbsp rasam powder
1 tbsp lime juice

In a pressure cooker, add arhar dal, 2 kaffir lime leaves, salt and turmeric with 3 cups of water. Boil until the dal is fully cooked and you have a watery stock.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add hing, cumin seeds and rai. Wait a minute for all the seeds to start sputtering, then add the kaffir lime leaves and the rasam powder. Stir fry the spices until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the cooked dal with all the cooking water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes for all the flavours to meld in.

Turn off the heat and add the lime juice. Taste and add more salt/lime juice if needed.

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