Rasam

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A thin, tangy and peppery soup from South India, typically made with tamarind, tomato, and spices such as cumin and black pepper
2. A light, spiced broth from southern India, usually soured with tamarind and flavoured with pepper, garlic, and curry leaves
3. A watery South Indian soup served with rice, prepared from tamarind juice, tomatoes, lentil water, and aromatic spices

Etymology: Sanskrit "rasa" meant "juice" or "sap," and the same root gave English "rasa" through a different route, making the two a doublet. In South India, the Tamil word "racam" took that sense and applied it to a thin, tangy soup built on tamarind, pepper, and tomato, the kind of broth that is sipped or poured over rice. The word and the dish moved together: the liquid itself was the point, and "rasa" in its older sense of essence or flavour is still audible in it. English borrowed the term from Tamil during the colonial period, when British residents in India encountered the soup and adopted its name. The exact date of entry is uncertain, so the detail that matters is the chain itself: a Sanskrit word for juice, passed through a South Indian kitchen, arriving in English as the name of a spiced broth.

Synonyms: charu