Instant Pot Rasam Rice | One-Pot Quinoa Rasam Rice

When we can make one pot sambar rice or sambar sadham, why not rasam rice/rasam sadham? Here comes my easy-peasy comforting Instant Pot rasam rice with quinoa—a simple, one-pot and healthy rasam rice recipe with a hint of dried neem flowers.

Rasam Recipes

The blog needs no introduction to my love for rasam. You can find over 15 rasam recipes on my blog. But it took me this long to post this humble one-pot rasam rice or rasam sadham as we say in Tamil. Wondering why?

We end up using all the rasam. That’s it. Raghav and I love drinking the rasam, and also I love the rasam mandi (the thick part of the rasam with dal) with idli, upma, and other tiffin items. So I prefer making rasam separately.

But during our kitchen renovation, I was resorting to all one-pot recipes like these Instant Pot soyabeans, spinach rice etc. Also, it was during that time my Instagram friend Arch posted her one-pot rasam rice with black nightshade berries, turkey berries (manathakkali and sundaikai vathal) tempering. I gave it a try right away, and we all enjoyed it. I know, rasam rice is not something new, and hey, I need to share mine for the posterity, right?

So here I am. Let’s dive right into the one-pot rasam rice ingredients and the recipe.

Ingredients Required For Rasam Sadham

Sadham or sadam in Tamil means rice, hence the name rasam sadham for rasam rice.

Grain & Dal –

For the traditional paruppu rasam recipe, you need rice and toor dal. But instead of rice, I went with quinoa. You can use any other rice varieties or millet varieties instead of quinoa. Also, I included only 2 tbsp of toor dal. I didn’t add more as it would become more like sambar rice or bisibelebath.

You can even skip the toor dal or add masoor dal or moong dal. I did not soak the quinoa or the dal. Rinsed them thoroughly and used it. There is no harm in soaking for about 15 minutes.

Rasam Powder –

Let’s talk about the essential ingredient, the rasam powder. I used my homemade rasam powder. I know every household in South India will have its unique rasam powder recipe. So adjust the amount according to your preference. I used one heaped tbsp of rasam powder and freshly grated ground pepper.

You can also use store-bought rasam powder or quickly make your own. Just follow the ground masala paste in my cumin pepper rasam with slightly modified measures. You can dry roast ½ to ¾ tbsp whole pepper, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, ten curry leaves, and ½ tbsp toor dal and grind it coarsely. Or soak them in water and grind it to a coarse paste by adding water.

Tamarind Paste –

I used homemade tamarind paste for this recipe, and with the slightly sour tomato, I went ¾ tsp of tamarind paste. If you can’t source tamarind paste, you can skip it and add more tomatoes, or you can add lemon juice after the pressure cooking is all done. It will be more like lemon rasam rice.

Tempering-

Ahhh, the major question of when to do the tempering? I want to keep it as an exact one-pot recipe, so I started with the tempering. But you can skip the tempering part, cook the rice and dal with rasam powder and add the tempering towards the end also. As mentioned earlier, along with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, you can also add sun-dried turkey berries, black nightshade berries and dried neem flower. A tsp of each should work for this measure.

But for today’s recipe, I just used ½ tsp of dried neem flowers and made it more dried neem flowers rasam rice or vepampoo rasam sadam. Trust me, folks, half tsp of dried neem flowers doesn’t impart a bitter taste. You can go up to 1 tsp. Just make sure to saute until it turns brown. If you are preparing the tempering the end, then let it brown a bit longer and make sure it’s crisp.  

As always, I wrote a lot. Now here is the video and the recipe details.

Watch me make rasam rice in Instant Pot-

How to make rasam rice in Instant Pot?

Prepare the tempering-

• Set the Instant Pot in saute mode, and when the display shows “hot,” add the ghee. Let the ghee melt and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and hing. Then add the dried neem flowers if using and saute until the neem flowers turn brown or for about 45 to 60 seconds.
• Now add the chopped tomato and mix. Then turn off the Instant Pot.
• Turning off the IP and adding other ingredients helps to prevent the burn signal in the newer models.

Add the other ingredients-

• Now we need to add all the other ingredients one by one. There isn’t any specific order. :-)
• First, add the rinsed and drained quinoa and toor dal. Followed by rasam powder, ground turmeric, salt, tamarind paste, curry leaves, and cilantro.
• If you are using ground pepper, add it as well. I went with freshly grated pepper.
• Finally, add water. If you want mushy rasam sadham/rice, you can add 3.5 cups to 4 cups of water. I added a little over 3 cups of water for this recipe.

Pressure cook the quinoa-

• Mix all the ingredients and make sure to scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot thoroughly.
• Close the Instant Pot. Ensure the sealing ring is in place, and the vent should be in the sealing position. Pressure cook this for 12 minutes at high-pressure mode and let the pressure release naturally.
• Carefully open the Instant Pot. Mix and mash it gently. If you prefer a semi-solid porridge consistency, set the Instant Pot in saute mode, add more water and mix. If needed, add salt and let the rasam sadham cook for two minutes. Turn off the heat. Garnish with more cilantro and ghee and serve hot with your favorite vegetable.

Recipe Notes

• I used quinoa in this recipe. You can replace it with regular rice, brown rice, any millets or bulgur wheat or any grain of your choice.
• Adjust the salt, rasam powder, and ground pepper according to your taste preference. Check above for making quick homemade rasam powder.
• Also, I added only 2 tbsp of toor dal. But you can adjust the grain to lentil ratio according to your preference.
• If you have trouble getting a mushy consistency with your toor dal, make sure to soak it for 30 minutes, and you can cook for up to 15 to 18 minutes. You can also use masoor dal or moong dal instead.
• If you can’t source tamarind, you can add more tomatoes or add lemon juice. Check the post above for the details.
• Dried neem flowers are entirely optional. As mentioned above, you can skip it or add other dried fryums also.
• I kept it no-garlic rasam rice. You can add two to three crushed garlic pods.

Explore more one-pot rice recipes

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5 from 4 votes

Instant Pot Rasam Rice | One-Pot Rasam Rice

Easy-peasy Instant Pot rasam rice with quinoa—a simple and healthy one-pot rasam rice recipe with a hint of dried neem flowers.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: South Indian, TamilNadu

Servings: 4

Calories: 212kcal

Author: Srividhya G

Equipment

• Electric or stove-top pressure cooker

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 tbsp ghee you can use oil for the vegan version
• ▢ ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ▢ 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ▢ ¼ tsp asafetida a fat pinch would do, skip for a gluten-free version
• ▢ ½ tsp dried neem flowers optional
• ▢ 1 to mato chopped
• ▢ 1 cup quinoa rinsed
• ▢ 2 tbsp toor dal split pigeon peas, rinsed
• ▢ 1 tbsp rasam powder heaped, adjust according to taste
• ▢ ⅛ tsp ground turmeric
• ▢ 1.25 tsp salt or to taste
• ▢ ¾ tsp tamarind paste
• ▢ 5 to 6 curry leaves chopped roughly
• ▢ 2 tbsp cilantro chopped roughly
• ▢ ½ tsp ground pepper or to taste optional
• ▢ 3 to 3.5 cups water

Instructions

Prepare the tempering-

• Set the Instant Pot in saute mode, and when the display shows “hot,” add the ghee. Let the ghee melt and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and hing. Then add the dried neem flowers if using and saute until the neem flowers turn light brown or for about 45 to 60 seconds.
• Now add the chopped tomato and mix. Then turn off the Instant Pot.
• Turning off the IP and adding other ingredients helps to prevent the burn signal in the newer models.

Add the other ingredients-

• Now we need to add all the other ingredients one by one. There isn’t any specific order. :-)
• First, add the rinsed and drained quinoa and toor dal. Followed by rasam powder, ground turmeric, salt, tamarind paste, curry leaves, and cilantro.
• If you are using ground pepper, add it as well. I went with freshly grated pepper.
• Finally, add water. If you want mushy rasam sadham/rice, you can add 3.5 cups to 4 cups of water. I added a little over 3 cups of water for this recipe.

Pressure cook the quinoa-

• Mix all the ingredients and make sure to scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot thoroughly.
• Close the Instant Pot. Ensure the sealing ring is in place, and the vent should be in the sealing position. Pressure cook this for 12 minutes at high-pressure mode and let the pressure release naturally.
• Carefully open the Instant Pot. Mix and mash it gently. If you prefer a semi-solid porridge consistency, set the Instant Pot in saute mode, add more water and mix. If needed, add salt and let the rasam sadham cook for two minutes. Turn off the heat. Garnish with more cilantro and ghee and serve hot with your favorite vegetable.

Video

Notes

• I used quinoa in this recipe. You can replace it with regular rice, brown rice, any millets or bulgur wheat or any grain of your choice.
• Adjust the salt, rasam powder, and ground pepper according to your taste preference. Check above for making quick homemade rasam powder.
• Also, I added only 2 tbsp of toor dal. But you can adjust the grain to lentil ratio according to your preference.
• If you have trouble getting a mushy consistency with your toor dal, make sure to soak it for 30 minutes, and you can cook for up to 15 to 18 minutes. You can also use masoor dal or moong dal instead.
• If you can’t source tamarind, you can add more tomatoes or add lemon juice. Check the post above for the details.
• Dried neem flowers are entirely optional. As mentioned above, you can skip it or add other dried fryums also.
• I kept it no-garlic rasam rice. You can add two to three crushed garlic pods.

Nutrition

Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 741mg | Potassium: 350mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 317IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.

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