Rasam

Ahem…tangy rasam with a hint of sweetness? Now that’s how we get to be different and unique..yeh?

Tuar Dal (yellow lentils) -3/4 cup
Ripe pineapple – 1/4th portion
Tomato -3 nos
Turmeric – 1/8 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves
Lime juice -1 tbsp

For tempering (tadka): mustard -1/2 tsp, asafetida- 1/8 tsp, curry leaves, ghee or oil – 2 tsp.

For Rasam powder: Pepper-1 tsp,Cumin (jeera) -1 and1/2 tsp, Tuar dal-2 tsp, dry red chilli-2,curry leaves – Grind all ingredients to a fine powder

1. Clean and cut half the quantity the pineapple into small pieces
2. Grind rest of the pineapple in a blender and extract the juice
3. Add turmeric powder, salt and ½ cup of water
4. Heat ghee or oil and add mustard, asafoetida, curry leaves, cooked dal and some water
5. As it boils add rasam powder and lemon juice
6. Garnish with coriander leaves

Well, that was the last in the rasam series…. hope you tried and liked few of these..

Till next time….happy cooking !

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Rasam

After tomato rasam if there is another preparation of rasam which is quite common or rather to say popular is Tuar dal rasam…

Tuar dal / yellow lentils – 1/4 cup
Tomato -2 nos
Tamarind – small lemon sized ball
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Turmeric powder (haldi) -1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – less than ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Rasam powder* – 2 tsp

1. Soak tamarind and squeeze out the pulp and add 1 glass of water and filter it
2. Add tomato, asafoetida and boil it till the raw smell of tamarind goes
3. Then add rasam powder, curry leaves, salt
4. As it boils add cooked and smashed dal and sufficient water
5. Then boil it for few seconds
6. Once it rises up take it off the flame and close it with lid
7. Temper
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and curry leaves

For tempering (tadka): heat 1 tsp of oil; add mustard – 1/4 tsp and let it crackle then add one dried red chilli

To get a variation to this rasam you can add green chili slit in length wise -1 no, ¼ tsp of sambar powder, 2 flakes of crushed garlic

*[To make rasam powder: Powder Tuar dal (yellow lentil) -2 cup; pepper -1cup; cumin -1cup; red chili -3 cup; coriander seed - 4 cup; turmeric – 6 pieces, asafoetida – 25 grams – Grind all to a fine powder and store it in a air tight container]

Coming up tomorrow quintessential Pineapple Rasam Recipe!

Till tomorrow…happy cooking

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Rasam

As promised I have two recipes for you.

Horse gram dal is supposed to be good to control the cholesterol besides other health benefits. You can make a simple dal preparation from it or make a delectable rasam out of it!

Horse gram dal – 1/2 cup
Tamarind – a small marble sized ball
Tomato – 3 nos
Turmeric powder (haldi) – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnishing

For the paste: Pepper-1 tsp, Cumin (jeera) – 2 tsp, coriander seeds-2 tsp – grind with little water to form a thick paste

Crush roughly the following ingredients
Garlic- 3 flakes
Dry red chilli – 2 nos,
Small sambar onion – 3 nos (or 1 small normal onion)

1. Soak horse gram dal previous night
2. Next day morning cook it in 4.5 cups of water with turmeric and salt. (horse gram dal takes longer to cook as compared to the other lentils. Ensure it is cooked nicely)
3. Strain it and retain water.
4. Keep 3 tsps of cooked gram aside
5. Add to retained horse gram water, tamarind water and prepared paste and boil
6. Then add the crushed ingredients and 3 tsp of cooked gram.
7. Add finely chopped / crushed tomato, turmeric, salt and boil till the raw smell of tomato and tamarind goes off completely
8. Add curry leaves
9. Then add tadka as usual
10. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Tempering / Tadka – heat oil in a pan and add mustard, dry red chilli and add to the prepared rasam.

Are you beginning to wonder what happens to the rest of the cooked horse gram?

Heat little oil in a pan, add mustard, 1 dry red chili (chopped), ¼ tsp urad dal (white lentils) and add the remaining cooked horse gram dal. Season.. Add desiccated coconut and curry leaves. This preparation one can either have it as is with tea (substitute for snacks), with rice or chapatti.

Coming up tomorrow Tuar dal (yellow lentils) Rasam Recipe.

Till then ..happy cooking!

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Rasam

Tuar dal (yellow lentils) -1/4cup
Tamarind – a small lemon sized ball
Asfoetida – ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder (haldi) – ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp (chopped)
Tomato – 2 nos (big)
Black pepper – ½ tsp
Cumin (jeera) – ½ tsp

For tempering (Tadka) – clarified butter (ghee) or oil 12 tsp; mustard – 1/2 tsp and curry leaves – 1 sprig

For Rasam powder
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Gram dal (channa dal) -2 tsp
Dry red chilli -2 nos
Grated coconut – 2 tsp
Oil -1-2 tsp

1. Fry all the ingredients for rasam powder and grind it to a fine powder. (Powder 1)
2. Dry fry black pepper and cumin seeds separately and powder it. (Powder 2)
3. Cook dal. Strain and keep the dal water separately
4. Add 1 and 1/2 cup of water with tamarind and squeeze out the pulp then boil it with tomato, turmeric powder, curry leaves, asafetida and salt.
5. After some time add the cooked dal boil it for 2 seconds followed by the separated dal water.
6. Add both of the powders and coriander leaves
7. Temper* the rasam and serve

*temper – in a small pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Post it crackles add curry leaves and immediately take off the flame

Coming up tomorrow… healthy horse gram dal rasam recipe along with some quick  snack…stay tuned

happy  cooking!

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Pepper Rasam

Besides accentuating the taste of your dishes; pepper brings you many health benefits like improving digestion, reducing intestinal gas, serving as an antioxidant, fighting against cancer…..

Tamarind – small lemon sized (soaked in water- squeeze to get juice)
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp,
Salt to taste
Curry leaves – ½ a sprig
Water -3 cup
Turmeric -1/8 tsp
Ghee or oil – 1 tsp

For tempering (tadka)
Mustard – ½ tsp
Dried red chilli -1 no
Oil – 1 tsp

For paste

Black pepper -2 tsps
Cumin seed – ½ tsp
Toor dal (yellow lentils)- 3 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Scrubbed fresh coconut – 3 tsps
Dry red chili -2 nos
Ghee or oil – 2 tsps

1. Heat pan and add above ingredients except coconut and fry in slow flame
2. Then add coconut and fry till they become red
3. Bring it to room temperature and grind it to a paste.
4. Add it in tamarind water and boil till it cooked well finely
5. Temper by heating a small pan, add oil, mustard, cumin and then adding it to the rasam

Coming up tomorrow…Mysore Rasam recipe…. till then happy cooking

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Garlic Rasam

Well, most of us are aware the medicinal properties of Garlic. Garlic is more or less an integral part of our daily food habits. As quoted by nature-cure-guide.com following are few of the health benefits of Garlic

Effective in the treatment of high cholesterol and other heart related problems; helps in secretions of digestive enzymes; Garlic works as natural antibiotic by curbing bacterial infection and its growth; helps in reducing infections on open and bleeding wounds and also promotes healing; it has been used since ages as natural de-wormer in children; also very beneficial to cancer patients as it inhibits growth of cancerous cell.

Toor / Arhar dal-1/4cup
Tamarind – small lemon sized (soaked in water- squeeze to get juice)
Turmeric – 2 pinches
Black pepper powder – 1 and 1/2 tsp
Cumin (Jeera) – 2 tsps
Salt to taste

For tempering (tadka)

Fenugreek seeds (methi) – 1/8 tsp
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Dried red chilli – 2 nos
Curry leaves – ½ a sprig
Asafoetida -1/8 tsp
Tomato – 2 nos (medium sized)
Garlic flakes –around 10 nos
Ghee or oil – 2 tbsp

1. Cook dal and separate the dal water.
2. Chop tomato and garlic into small pieces.
3. Heat pan and to it add oil
4. Now add mustard, red chili, fenugreek seeds and garlic.
5. Stir it and add tamarind water and boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes.
6. Then add black pepper and powdered cumin seed, curry leaves, salt and cooked dal.
7. Boil it for 3 seconds and finely add the dal water and again boil it.
8. Once the rasam boils and rises up take off the flame and cover it tightly..

Till tomorrow…happy cooking!

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Quick Recipe

Rasam Pic: Priya Q

This is the most basic of the rasam recipe and quite simple to make. And yes this is the one mom used for pani puris too

Tamarind – 1 small lemon sized (soak in water and extract tamarind juice)

Ingredients for crushing
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Tomato – 2 nos (big)
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Water – ¾ cup
Salt to taste
Rasam powder*

1. Crush the ingredients (mentioned for crushing) and add to it tamarind juice extract
2. Place it in a pan and boil
3. On boiling add rasam powder and simmer the gas for few minutes
4. Temper it by heating little oil + mustard seeds + 1 dry chili + 1 pinch asafoetida and add it to the prepared rasam.

For Rasam Powder*

Cumin (jeera) – ½ tsp
Coriander seeds – ½ tsp
Black pepper corns – 1-2 tsp
Garlic – 2-3 flakes

1. Grind cumin and coriander seeds to fine powder
2. In a blender crush pepper and garlic and add it to above powder
3. Your rasam powder is ready!

Will get back with Garlic Rasam recipe tomorrow…till then happy cooking!

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Homemade baby food recipes

Fruit and Vegetable Combination Soup

This is a variation to the soup with a slightly sweetish tinge to it…

Apple – 3 Tbsp (peeled and chopped)
Carrot – 2 Tbsp (washed, peeled and chopped)
Onion – 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
Potato – 1 tbsp (washed, peeled and cubed)
Oil – 1 tsp
Water – 1 cup

1. Sauté onions for about 2 minutes in a pressure cooker
2. Add all the other ingredients and sauté for few more minutes
3. Add water and pressure cook for 3 whistles
4. Leave aside bring it to room temperature before blending it in a mixer
5. Strain and serve lukewarm (re heat if required)

* straining might not be required if the baby is old enough
* try out different combination with cauliflower, beetroot, tomatoes, bottle gourd, French beans etc

Till tomorrow….happy cooking!

Homemade baby food recipes

Vegetable Soup

Ahem! Feeding kids anything green is no mean feat To check out the chances if they eat what they actually cant see is worth the try!

Yellow Moong dal – 3 Tbsp
Carrot – 2 Tbsp (washed, peeled and chopped)
Potato – 1 tbsp (washed, peeled and cubed)
French beans – 2 nos (stringed and chopped)

1. Combine all ingredients and pressure cook for 3 whistles or simply boil till the dal and vegetables are soft and done nicely
2. Leave aside bring it to room temperature before blending it in a mixer
3. Serve lukewarm (re heat if required)

Happy weekend!

Coming up next …Fruit and Vegetable Combination Soup