Amma's Carrot Rasam

This is one of the quick and easy recipes which my mum makes quite frequently and goes down well with both children and adults alike.It is somewhat like carrot soup but only better tasting and spicier.It probably takes around 30  minutes to prepare from scratch. If you are on a diet may be you can have it with some brown rice as the only course .
Ingradients

5 Carrots   around 420 grams
4 Tomatoes
2 Onions
2 green chillies
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon sugar
2-3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon tamarind paste (optional)
fresh coriander leaves

For tempering

1 clove crushed garlic
2 dried red chillies
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon mustad seeds
pinch of turmeric powder
few curry leaves

First chop the vegetables into large chunks

Leave the green chillies but put everything else in a pressure cooker along with 3 cups of water and cook it for 3-4 whistles .If you don't have pressure cooker you can cook it in a pan but it just takes longer.Need to cook the vegetables until they are soft enough to put in a blender.

Let the vegetables cool for a few minutes and then blend them into a paste.

Transfer the paste into a large enough pot for the rasam and add 2 more cups of water  and 2 slit green chillies.

Then add 4 ingredients  1.A teaspoon of tamarind paste 2. 2-3 teaspoons salt. 3. one teaspoon sugar.4.one teaspoon crushed peppercorns.

Let it simmer for 10minutes.

Then prepare ingredients for tempering as above which are teaspoon mustard seeds,1 teaspoon cumin seeds,1 clove crushed garlic,few curry leaves, 2 dried red chillies and a pinch of turmeric powder.

 take a teaspoon of oil or clarified butter in a small pan and once it is hot add the tempering ingredients to it.Once it sizzles add it to the rasam mix and switch the flame off.I usually add fresh coriander at the end as it retains the colour and smell better.