I know this is the most common item for lunch in almost all south Indian homes and even a new one to the kitchen would have tried it. Whatever menu I would have cooked and however tasty it will be, they will take only a second position in the favorite food list in our home. The most preferred by all always will be Rasam and potato fry. So I boldly try out different recipes of Rasam. But first I will give the simplest version of rasam which will take just 5 minutes to prepare but at the same time satisfy everybody at home right from the small kid to the most elderly person at home.(The experienced people in the kitchen please bear with me for posting this simplest recipe. I am posting this recipe because many who are new to cooking are confused about the quantities to be used)

Ingredients
Tomatoes-2 medium sized
Tamarind paste-1 teaspoon
Red chillies-2
Curry leaf-little
Coriander leaf-little
Water -4 to 5 cups

To crush in mixie
Pepper corns-1 teaspoon
Garlic-4 to 5 pods(without peeling the skin)
Small jeera-1 teaspoon
Procedure
If your tomato is hard, it will be difficult to crush. In that case cut the tomatoes into pieces. Crush the tomatoes in 4 to 5 cups of water along with tamarind and salt required. Many use stored pepper jeera powder for rasam.But I feel if you can crush them fresh every time it will do much good to the flavor. Remember that you have to just crush them all together and not powder them. As you are adding garlic along with pepper and jeera it will not get powdered also.
Keep the kadai in the stove. In one teaspoon of oil season the rasam with a teaspoon of mustard seed,2 red chilies broken, a teaspoon of small jeera and little curry leaf. Once the mustard seed splitters, pour the dissolved rasam into the kadai. When the rasam is about to boil add the crushed mix into the rasam and bring it to a boil. For this kind of rasam too much boiling is not needed. After switching off the stove add some chopped coriander leaves. Transfer the rasam to a serving bowl immediately and close it. If you keep the rasam in the kadai open for a long time without closing the rasam will loose the flavor.
This rasam will be excellent with potato fry