Tomato Saaru (Soup)

Introduction
This is a recipe originally from the exhaustive AayisRecipes page, which I've tweaked a bit.

Main ingredients
Whole tomatoes (skinned, from a can) quartered - 4 small
Garlic, crushed - 4-5 cloves
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Water - 3 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - about 1 tsp or to taste
Sugar - 1-1.5 tsp depending on taste
Coriander (cilantro) leaves - about 10
Sambar powder - 3/4 tsp (if unavailable, replace with 1/3 tsp red chili powder)

Optional ingredients
Asafoetida - a pinch
Cream - 1-2 tbsp

Time: about 10 min
Servings: 2-3

Method:
1) Heat the oil and sputter add crushed garlic and cumin and mustard seeds. Fry until the garlic starts to turn brown.
2) Add water and quartered tomatoes and cook covered on a medium high flame until the colour from the tomatoes starts to blend with the water.
3) Add the sambar (or red chili) powder, salt and sugar and cook for another minute or two.
4) Blend in a food processor and filter. The resulting soup has a rich orange colour and is delicious! Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a dollop of cream. Tastes great with French bread!

Source: inspired by this post at AayisRecipes.com
Author: Sundar