Our Simple 'rasam' Of South India

Dear Shri Sokanasanah,
Some six years back I happened to go through a small book wriiten around 1920 about'thanjavur Aranmanai kurippugal'.-extract from saraswathi mahal library.
( I have visited Saraswathi mahal library once.It has got very good recors of Chola kings as wellas maratha rulers who renovated Tanjore palace. The novel'Udayar' in Tamil written by Shri Balakumaran in 6 parts contains rich information about King Rajaraja as observed from records.But since it is a novel ,it is enriched with frills and imaginations.)
As it was very much interesting I just noted down in my notebook.We had so many wonderful books on Carnatic music,Tamil Quartite and so on.But unfortunately around 80% of the library books were lost during Dec 1,2015 floods.Library was closed for long months .and recently opened.All old books and some of the new books also were just washed way,since the library was immersed in 12 feet deep water.Now the library has very few books,printed in recent years.
Jayasala 42

 

Thank you very much for the response.Dharmashtala rasam is of udupi type and it is very thick like sambar.But in Tamil nadu, rasam is very thin, dilute and crystal clear and that is preferred by everyone.

jayasala 42

 

Dear Balajee,
Thank you for the response.The kal satti sambar and eeya sombu rasam are very famous.I don't know whether the vessel really adds flavour or it is our obsessed thoughts about the vessel.
Eeya sombu had been the cause of many separations of DIL s from the family.The speed with which eeya sombu melts is a sight to be seen.within seconds there will be no sombu, no rasam and the flame is gone.It will vanish without trace.
Lead vessels are very costly and in T. Nagar Chennai, there is a shop which sells eeya vessels alone.

Kal satti is a cottage industry in our place and during Srirangam Vaikunta Ekadasi festival special shops will be there in Ranga Vilasam for kal satti alone.In a house where there are four or 5 daughters, Amma has to buy kal satti of different sizes.It cannot be straightaway used for making samabar or vathal kuzhambu.It has to to acclamatised or tamed by boiling water for 3 days with turmeric powder, cleaned with cow dung, boiled with cow dung water,then clean it with chaff,rice flour .It will be nearly 15 days when the kalsatti gets ready for making sambar.Amma will struggle to give a trouble free kalsatti to her daughters.I do have a kalsatti gifted by my mother in1963.

The stone is nothing but magnesium silicate stones found in many parts of Tamil nadu. Magnesium silicate is the basic material for preparing talcum powder which we use.During science exhibition in our college we had to do project.All the seven belonging to our group could not contribute more than Rs5 each.It was a big money in 1960.I went to the small scale scale factory where heaps of broken kal sattis were lying on the garbage.I brought home two sacks full of broken kal satti free, made into a smooth powder in a grinding stone,sieved it well,mixed with some drops of scent filled the powder in colgate tooth powder empty tins well decorated outside with fancy names pasted on it and exhibited around 30 tins for sale.The entire expenditure was less than Rs 40 only.Our project won the first prize .
The word kalsatti brings before my eyes the kalsatti shop with torm thatched shed and our rag picking experience of taking out small kalsatti bits amidst heaps of garbage,our strenuous efforts in grinding into powder etc -all are screened before my eyes,all that happened 58 years back.Thanks Balaji for kindling nostalgia.

jayasala 42

 

Thank you Pushpa. My husband likes rasam a lot.As you say, meal without rasam is no meal at all.My elder grandson likes thippili rasam very much.He got used it when my DIL delivered the 2nd child in US and when I prepared Thippili rasam for my DIL for pathiya saappaadu.Whenever he comes to Chennai he would request me for making special white soft doasai,thippili rasam, vaazhaippoo usili, nonbu adai,thiruvathirai kali etc and kozhukattai of course .He keeps ready the menu before he leaves
US.

Jayasala 42