Thanks for the welcome, I've browsed this site for years, so many great recipes, tips and discussions.
Here is a web recipe for the Mysore rasam spice mix, very similar to the one in the book. I never make a big batch like this but it is useful for knowing the ratio of spice amounts depending on how much you are going to use. I made about 4 tbsp since I was making a big batch of soup to use up about a half gallon of whey. Rasam is a very soupy curry so lots of liquid is a good thing. One difference from this recipe is that I use fresh turmeric, very easy to get where I am and I love it, less dusty than the powder, so I adapt the recipe to include this form of turmeric so I don't overdo it. I use about a thumb sized piece and add it to the chopped ingredients of the main recipe, or just smash it a bit and add it to the liquid in which I cook the dals.
http://foodandremedy.com/recipes/powders/mysore-rasam-powder/The main rasam recipe includes dals, which you cook before starting on the main soup. I usually use the little red dal, some moth beans and some little black dal, a total of about a cup dry, and cook them together for about an hour and half in just enough water needed to cook, adding more as they cook if you need to. Some fall apart and others stay toothy, which I like but is not traditional, where each is cooked separately if you use more than one kind. I usually add a chunk of smashed ginger and a few smashed garlic cloves to the liquid, as well as a few cardamom pods, black peppercorns and coriander seeds and dried indian bay leaves, which are more like cinnamon than european bay leaves. I cooked the dals in whey as well, the little bits of curd don't bother me, but if that seems gross you can cook them in water lol.
The recipe also uses tamarind, I use the blocks of pulp you get packaged and just cut off chunks as I need, but you can also use the pods or the concentrate, depending on whatever it is you can find where you are. You soak the pulp or pods in hot water for an hour, easy to do when you start cooking the dal, then strain before adding to the soup later on. The amount depends on the size of your soup, usually a walnut sized chunk or so although I love tamarind and use more, soaked to make about a cup or more of liquid after straining. If using the concentrate that is already a thick liquid just add to taste so its tangy but not too sour.
Like a lot of Indian recipes, you start with tempering medium hot oil, I use a mix of peanut and mustard seed oil for the flavors of both, but whatever you use is fine. The spice mix for tempering is equal parts mustard seeds and cumin seeds, about half as much fenugreek seeds, 10-20 curry leaves, and a quarter as much (or less) of asafoetida powder added right at the end. Not everyone likes this spice so add as desired lol. I used a few tsp each of the mustard seeds and cumin seeds for this big recipe. The mustard seeds often pop, which is great, so keep the lid on until it stops but shake the pot so you don't burn them. After they stop popping, I start the actual soup.
I used chopped onions and saute them until soft and golden, then add lots of chopped garlic, a few inches of chopped ginger, the chopped fresh turmeric, and however many fresh chilis you like of whatever kind. I'm a heat lover so I use red fresnos (ripe red jalapenos) and little thai red chilis most often.
After those have cooked for a few minutes, add dried unsweetened coconut, 1/2 - 1 cup depending on the size of the soup. I used a cup for this recipe. You can use coconut milk which is excellent, but since I was using whey as the main liquid for the soup and didn't want to risk curdling the coconut milk, I used the dried coconut, also very traditional and not a cheat lol. Stir and cook 5-10 minutes.
Then add the rasam spice mix you made earlier and stir that for a few minutes until it is fragrant.
This rasam was mostly tomatoes, a big can of diced tomatoes, much more reliably good where I am than fresh tomatoes any time other than summer. I cook the tomatoes with the rest of the vegetables for 10-15 minutes, then add the strained tamarind. Heat for a few minutes and then add a few spoons of brown sugar, depending on how acid the tomatoes and tamarind are.
Then add the cooked dals and their liquid and simmer together for about 10 minutes.
I also used some early greens from my garden, chard and kale. I use the chard stems and add them back with the onions at the beginning, and the leaves at this point along with the kale.
Then add the whey. I stabilized it with a few tbsp of corn starch (I used a half gallon of whey) and just heat the soup gently to a good steaming simmer, but I don't boil whey soups even with stabilizer. It took about an hour to get to that temperature and then I cooked it another hour, stirring from time to time and making sure it didn't boil.
The longer the soup cooks, the better it gets imho, and it is even better over the next few days, just reheat gently, I don't microwave it just heat it on the stovetop. Just before serving add a bunch of chopped cilantro to your bowl. I also add a bit of thick greek yogurt to the bowl.
The tang of the whey was just fantastic in this soup, one of the best uses of whey I've tried so far. Since the soup is already a mix of sweet and sour, whey just makes it perfect. There are lots of Indian recipes that use yogurt and buttermilk, so adapting them for whey is very simple.
Edit: Just made another big batch of this today with more whey (half gallon again) from making fromage blanc, I realized I'd added two big cans of tomatoes to the soup, not just the one. This makes a lot of soup so making a smaller version is just as easy with a lot less whey and reduced ingredients;)
