Milagu-Jeera Rasam

Since the husband got the cold, I took my chittipaati’s advice and made some hot milagu-jeera rasam today and once more, what impressed me enough to post it is it’s simplicity. And the aroma and taste are probably really good for the cold-infested person and the pepper clears out the nasal passage. So, it’s really a miracle bowl all at once.

Ingredients

1. Whole peppercorns (10-15 kernels)
2. Jeera ( 2 tsps)
3. Tomatoes (2 – 3 mid-sized coarsely chopped)
4. Tamarind (small lemon-sized) – enough to squeeze out 2 cups of juice
5. Rasam powder – 1 spoon
6. Butter (1/2 tsp)
7. Seasoning: Mustard seeds, Curry leaves (6-8 washed thoroughly)
8. Garnishing: 1/2 a sprig of coriander leaves, washed thoroughly
9. Salt to taste.

How

1. In the mixi jar, add all of the peppercorns, the jeera and the cut tomatoes and grind well into a paste. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, allow mustard seeds to sputter on 1/2 tsp of heated butter and add the curry leaves to it.
3. Once the mustard seeds have crackled, add the pulp from the tamarind, roughly equal to 2 cups and allow it to boil.
4. When it starts boiling, add salt and rasam powder.
5. Then add the ground paste to it and allow it to reach a boil once more.
6. Sprinkle fresh coriander over it and take it off the gas…

Serve with steamed rice.

And there you have it.. the perfect comfort meal. This blend of spices lends a fantastic aroma which in itself acts as a blocked-air-passage-repellant, if you know what I mean. And though the steps seem plenty, it takes under 20 minutes over all. As always, give it a shot. Bon appetit!

Dhideer Rasam

This post is dedicated to Priya. Get well soon.

Well I am sure most of us have come home some day feeling all tired and too bored to cook, or sometimes just too late to whip up anything interesting. Times like this though we probably end up binging on some junk there's always the hope that there was some comfort food. This one is mine. It's saved me a lot of trouble many a time and what's more its positively delicious and it's actually on the menu atleast 2-3 times a week among other dishes.

So for all those people who want a 10-minute yummy desi recipe or for those bachelors who wanna cook or just for a lazy evening here's my dhideer (instant) rasam recipe.

Hint - for the impatient, just read the blue-coded words for the order in which to add ingredients to get this done with!

Ingredients

1. A can of tomatoes (if you have fresh ones great... but the can saves time)

2. Butter - 1 dollop

3. One lemon or juice from 1 lemon

4. The usual rasam ingredients - rasam powder (3-4 tbsp), asfoetida ( a pinch), mustard seeds (1 tsp) and salt to taste

5. The extras (if you want) - a few curry leaves and a sprig of coriander for garnish, ginger if you prefer.

How to make it

1. Take a saucepan and melt your dollop of butter (you can use oil but the taste and flavour from the butter are totally worth whatever calories that it may add!)

2. Allow the mustard seeds to crackle and add the curry leaves, ginger and asfoetida and fry for about 30 seconds.

3. Dump the can of tomatoes into this crackling mixture and add salt to the tomatoes for all their water to seep out while cooking.

4. As the tomatoes boil, add water equivalent to the can of tomatoes to them.

5. When you see the whole thing froth from all the boiling (in about 2-3 min), add rasam powder to it. Let it boil for about a minute and turn it off.

6. Now add the lemon juice to it and stir it in and finally garnish with coriander and voila... you are done!

Serve with steamed rice or have it just as a soup. It's quick, light, flavourful and tasty. Try it out and let me know how you feel about it.

Notes:
1. You can always add cooked toor dal just before adding the rasam powder to give it more volume. Take care not to add too much or it'll end up tasting like sambar.
2. You can also add garlic at the stage you add ginger for a different kind of flavour. As it is a strong ingredient, avoid adding too much of it.