Today's Case:

Legal Seafoods' Rasam Seafood Soup

Re: legal seafoods rassam seafood soup
From: Jayne
Date: 10/28/2023, 12:37 PM
To: Phaedrus 

On 10/28/2023 9:28 AM, Jayne wrote:

good morning!
i dreamt about the rassam seafood soup that used to be 
on the menu at legal seafoods. they stopped making it 
years ago, and i asked them to share the recipe with me, 
but they refused...the bastids...i would love to know if 
anyone has the recipe.
thank you!
jayne

Hello Jayne,

Sorry, I did not have any success finding a Legal Sea Foods recipe for "rasam seafood soup" (only one "s" in "rasam".) Here's what I did find about the soup:

"Rasam soup" is a traditional South Indian Dish. It appears to take its name from "rasam", a blend of spices used in its preparation. Rasam soup is known in Ayurvedic medicine for having curative powers. It is traditionally prepared using tamarind juice as a base, with the addition of Indian sesame oil, turmeric, tomato, chili pepper, pepper, garlic, cumin, curry leaves, mustard, coriander, asafoetida, sea salt, and water. Basic rasam soup does not contain seafood, but there are dozens of variations, and some do contain added protein.

You can buy a shortcut product called "rasam powder" at Asian or Indian specialty shops or online at Amazon: Amazon It appears to be a sort of "instant rasam." Amazon has Mysore Rasam powder: Neotea Rasam Powder

Legal Seafoods' menu describes their rasam soup as "Rasam Seafood Soup: shrimp, scallops and cod in a hot and sour tomato broth."
An article about Legal Seafoods describes it as:
"Mysore Rasam Soup."
“It's an Ayuverdic-influenced recipe inspired by southern Indian cuisine that's tomato-based and includes good sources of protein (shrimp, scallops, and cod) and spices...”

Legal Seafoods has published two cookbooks of their recipes. Their rasam soup recipe might be in one of them. You can buy these cookbooks online at places that sell new and used books, such as Amazon or E-Bay. They are:

"The Legal Sea Foods Cookbook" Hardcover – March 1, 1988 by George Berkowitz (Author)

"The New Legal Sea Foods Cookbook: 200 Fresh, Simple, and Delicious Recipes from Appetizers to Desserts" Hardcover – May 13, 2003 by Roger Berkowitz (Author), Jane Doerfer (Author)

"Mysore" is a geographic location, a city in Southern India. Their version of Rasam is notable for the coconut. There are "Mysore Rasam Soup" recipes on these sites, but they do not call for seafood. If you want them to be close to Legal Seafoods' rasam, you will have to add the seafood to them.

Hebbars Kitchen

Raks Kitchen

Subbus Kitchen

I will post this. Perhaps one of my readers has the Legal Seafoods recipe or can tell us whether the recipe is in the cookbooks or not.

Phaed