• Pressure cook the thowar dal with turmeric powder, upto 3 whistles, so that the dal becomes soft. Remove from the stove and open the cooker only when the pressure has gone down by itself. Mash the dal well and keep aside till required.

Preparation for festive Pineapple Rasam

• Peel the pineapple and slice it into rings. We need about 3 rings for the rasam, depending on the size of the rings. Slicing into rings first is better so we will get slices of even thickness, which will help in uniform cooking of the pineapple.
  Dice the rings into cubes about 1 cm square.
  Wash the tomato and dice it into cubes of sizes similar to the pineapple.
• Puree ½ cup pineapple chunks in a food processor and transfer to a bowl. Keep the remaining slices for tempering as per instructions below.

  Coarsely liquidise ½ cup tomato chunks by briefly running them through the food processor. Keep the remaining tomato chunks for tempering as per instructions below.
  
• Crush/ grind pepper and cumin seeds.
  Finely mince the coriander and curry leaves.

How to make festive Pineapple Rasam

• Heat 2 cups water and add rasam powder, hing (asafoetida), ground pepper and cumin. Add coarsely liquidised tomato and a little salt. Bring to a quick boil and then lower the heat. The rasam should boil for about 5 minutes or until the raw smell of the rasam powder has disappeared.
• Add the mashed dal to the rasam, boil it for about 2 minutes.
  Add the pureed pineapple and cook on low flame. Once the liquid begins to bubble and froth or after 30 seconds, add the minced coriander leaves and immediately remove the pineapple rasam from the stove. Cover.
  Note that boiling the pineapple for long would make the rasam bitter and reduce the flavours of the pineapple.

How to prepare Tempering for Pineapple Rasam

• Heat ghee and add mustard seeds. After the mustard has crackled, add cumin seeds and then dry red chili after 2-3 seconds. Sauté the chili for 10 seconds on low flame and then add curry leaves.
• Add the remaining tomato and pineapple pieces to the tempering and sauté for 3 minutes on a low flame.
• Pour the tempering on the rasam.
  Serve hot, with hot rice, a dry poriyal or subzi, and appalam (pappad). This rasam does not take kindly to reheating, so have it when it is fresh and hot.