Udupi Saaru

Udupi thin pepper rasam — the Tulu coastal version of South India's foundational thin soup: toor dal water (the liquid from pressure-cooking toor dal) combined with tamarind extract, tomato, crushed black pepper, cumin, dried red chilli, asafoetida, and curry leaves, simmered briefly until fragrant and tempered with mustard seeds and ghee. The Udupi saaru is sweeter than Tamil rasam (a pinch of jaggery is added) and is typically made without garlic in the temple tradition. Its body comes entirely from the toor dal water rather than a ground lentil base; it is very thin, pourable, and meant to be drunk warm before the meal or poured liberally over the second serving of rice. The black pepper provides all the heat; the asafoetida provides the depth that garlic would in other regional versions.