chunky tomato rasam

A couple of days back my friend moved to india and she gave me her mom made rasam powder which is just fabulous and nothing can be better then a mom-made stuff and so these days im hooked upon to make rasams as my side dish which is also perfect for this windy/rainy/winter season of melbourne ;).You can also mash or blend the tomatoes while making this rasam but i like my tomato rasam with tomato chunks in it and hence the name i thought would be apt ,as this rasam is quite filled with tomato chunks it was also tasting palatable on its own ,it also gave the lovely dark colour to it.Sending this to pj for hosting this months healing foods-tomatoes event started by siri.Also sending this to suma for her event ,side dishes.

serves for approx 2 ppl
ingredients :
2-3 finely chopped ripened tomatoes
21/2-3 cups of hot water
1 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
1-2 tsps rasam pwd
2-3 garlic cloves crushed
salt to taste
ingredients for tempering :
1 tsp ghee /oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida
3-4 broken curry leaves
method :
Chop the tomatoes finely or you can even mash them,mix them in hot water and keep it on low flame till it comes to boling point, add turmeric pwd,tamarind pulp,rasam pwd,salt and crushed garlic in it.Heat oil in another pan ,splutter mustard,cumin seeds,ural dal,curry leaves and hing and add this tempering to tomato rasam,simmer for atleast half an hr or till the tomatoes are pulpy and tender enough.Serve hot with rice.