Tomato Rasam # 1

Tomato Rasam is a famous South Indian variety. There are 2-4 different varieties of ways in which Rasam can be done. One of them is given below. Will post the rest soon.

Ingredients
Tomato - 1/2
Tomato Paste - 1 Table spoon
Oil - 1-2 Table spoons
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 Table spoon
Jeera(Cumin Seeds) - 1/2 Table Spoon
Red Chillies - 2-3
Asafoetida - a pinch
Chana Dal - 1 Table spoons
Turmeric - 1/4 Table Spoon
Chilli Powder - 1/2 Table spoon
Garlic Cloves - 3-4
Rasam Powder - 1-2 Table spoons (depending on quantity)
Salt to Taste
Tamarind - small piece

Method of Preparation:
1. Soak tamarind in water for 1/2 hour or soak in water and microwave for 30 seconds.Remove the pulp/puree from it.

2. Take a kadai or vessel add oil to it. Let the oil heat.

3. Add Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, Asafoetida, Red Chillies, Chana Dal and chopped garlic cloves to it.



4. After garlic turns a little brown add chopped tomato and tomato paste to it.

5. To this mixture add rasam powder, chilli powder and salt.



6. let the tomatos cook for some time. Add the tamarind pulp and water to liquify. garnish with little coriander and your rasam is ready.



Best Combination
Tomato Rasam goes well with Plain dal and Rice.

Variation:
1. People who dont like garlic can avoid garlic.

2. Adding curry leaves in tadka gives it nice flavor too.

3. Adding tomato paste to the rasam, gives it nice color and taste.

Simple Vangi bhaath

Vangi Bhaath can also called as Brinjal/Eggplant Rice. This is the simplest version I made. I have another idea in mind to make this differently. It might be a little bit lengthy. I shall do it next time and share with you all. For now, let me add the simple recipe.

Ingredients
Rice - Cooked
Brinjals - cut lengthwise
Onions - 2 big (cut lengthwise)
Tomatos - 1 big
Oil - 7-8 Table spoons
Green Chillies - 5-6 in number (can add more or less depending upon spicyness reqiquired)
Cinnamon Sticks - 1 piece
Bay leaves - 2
Cloves - 3
Cardammom - 2
Salt to Taste

Method of Preparation
1. Cook rice seperately in a pressure cooker or electric cooker. Spread the rice in a big vessel after it is done. Add a little bit of oil and try mixing from the ends.

2. Put a kadai or big pan on the stove. Pour oil in it. let the oil heat. Then add Jeera, green chillies, Cardammom, Bay leaves, Cinnamon Sticks and fry for few seconds.

3. Add onions and fry until they turn light brown or translucent.

4. Add Brinjals and let it cook. Do not mix the above too much. Brinjal is sensitive so if you stir too many times it might become like paste. let the brinjal almost cook and add tomato.


5. Add garam masala and salt and stir it. Let it cook for 4 more minutes.

6. Add the above Brinjal mixture to the rice and server hot with Raita.

Variations:
1. I used Sona Masoori rice this time but will look even good if we do it with Basmati rice.

2. Do not mix the rice or brinjal mixture heavily. It will not be phool phool if you do it so.

3. Garnish with Coriander, fried onions.

Preparation/Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes
Category: Main Coarse (Rice Varieties)

Pudina Mango Chutney

Ingredients:



Pudina Leaves - 1 cup or 1 bunch
Raw Mango - 1/2 Cleaned, Peeled, Chopped
Sesame Seeds - 100 grams (roasted seperately)
Green Chillies/Red Chillies - 5-6
Oil - 2-4 Table Spoons
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Table Spoon
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 Table Spoon
Chana dal - 1-2 Table Spoons
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method of Preparation:
1. Take a pan/vessel. Put Oil in it. let the oil get heated.

2. Add Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, Asafoetida, green chillies and Chana dal. let chana dal is roasted a little bit.

3. Add Mango and fry for a minute. Then add pudina leaves. fry to 2-5 minutes and turn off stove.

4. Let the mixture cool and grind them. Decorate with Popu/Tadka with curry leaves in it.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes at Max.
Category: Side Dish(Chutney)

Note: This Chutney tastes good with red chillies. Occasionally for different taste we can try addign green chillies also.

Sambar

Sambar is very famous South Indian Recipe. This is a good combination for most of the Tiffins like Idli, Dosa, Pesarattu and also for Rice. There are lot of ways that you can do Sambar. One of the way is explained below. I used home-made Sambar Powder. But if you dont have any then use MTR, it tastes good. I dont have much experiance with other powders so I cannot comment on it. In the near future I shall publish how to do the sambar powder at home. It is pretty simple too. Now lets turn on to recipe.

Ingredients
Toor Dal - 1/2 Cup
Bottle Gourd - 1/4 Cup (Chopped length-wise)
Carrots - 1/4 Cup
Raddish - 1/4 Cup
Red Onions - 1/4 Cup (Can use normal onions chopped length-wise)
Chinese Okra - 1/4 Cup
Tomato - 1/2 piece (Optional)
Tamarind - small piece (Soaked in Water)
Oil - 4-5 Table Spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 Table Spoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 Table Spoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Sambar Powder - 1-2 Table Spoons
Turmeric - 1/2 Table Spoon
Chilli Powder - 1 Table Spoon
Coconut - Grated (4 Table Spoons)
Curry Leaves
Coriander
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation
1. Soak tamarind in water for about 15-30 minutes.

2. Cook dal and vegetables(Raddish, Carrot, bottle gourd) in the rice cooker. Cook until 3 whistles or until toor dal is done.



3. Take a deep pan and add oil to it. Let the oil get heated.

4. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, Asafoetida, Curry leaves and then Onions.
Note: If you wish to add ginger garlic paste then add it at this point.

5. let the onions turn brown or fry for few minutes. Then add Chinese Okra. Let the above cook for 2-3 minutes



6. Now add the cooked dal and vegetables to above.

7. Add Turmeric, Chilli Powder, Sambar Powder, Salt and cook for 2 minutes.

8. Sqeeze the pulp of tamarind in water, so that we can tamarind juice. Add this tamarind juice to the above. If you want it to be more liquid, you can add water also.

9. Cook until it comes to boil. Before removing from flame, add grated coconut and coriander. Cook for a minute and remove from flame. Serve with anything you like.

Rice with Sambar, Beans Curry and Mint Chutney is our dinner yesterday.



Preparation Time:10-15 minutes(Excluding from cooking toor dal)
Category: Main Coarse(Liquid)

Terminology:
Toor dal - Kandi Pappu(Telugu)
Bottle Gourd - Sorakaya(Telugu), Kaddu(Hindi)
Chinese Okra - Bendakaya(Telugu), Bhendi(Hindi)
Raddish - Mullangi(Telugu), Muli(Hindi)
Asafoetida - Ingu(Telugu)
Cauliflower - Gobi(Telugu), Phool Gobi(Hindi)


Variation:
1. Maharastrian people add cauliflower also in Sambar. It tastes good too. :)

2. Can add Tamarind paste if Tamarind is not available.

3. All the vegetables can be optional. You can add most of the vegetables in the sambar or can add only onions and make it too.

Simple Beans Curry

Ingredients:
Beans - Cleaned and chopped
Oil - 4-5 table spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Chana Dal - 3-5 table spoons (depending upon your taste)
Turmeric - a pinch
Red Chilli Powder - 2 table spoons (depending upon your spicy level, this varies)
Coconut - fresh, grated or frozen is also fine
Tomato - 1/2 piece (optional)
Salt to Taste

Method Of Preparation:
1. Clean and chop the beans.

2. Take a pan/kadai and pour oil in it.

3. Once the oil is heated, add Mustard seeds. Let it splutter.

4. Add Cumin seeds, Chana dal. Let the dal change color(or roasted).

5. Add beans and cook for around 5 minutes or until the beans is almost cooked.



6. Add Turmeric, Chilli powder and grated Coconut and stir it.

7. Now add salt and tomato. Garnish with coriander and serve.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Category: Main Coarse (Curries)

Beerakaya Pachadi

Beerakaya is the telugu name for Chinese Okra or Ridge Gourd, is available in chinese grocery stores or in any Indian store. This vegetable contains fibre(Naara in Telugu).

Ingredients:
Beerakaya 2-3 (depending upon the quantity desired to make)
Oil - 3-5 table spoons
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Chana Dal - 2 table spoons
Urad Dal - 1 table spoon
Green Chillies - 5-6 (can decrease or increase depending upon the spicy taste required)
Turmeric - 1/4 table spoon
Tamarind - small piece (Soaked in water)
Salt to Taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Beerakaya - Clean, Peeled and Chopped in small pieces.



2. Take a kadai/pan and put some oil in it.

3. Add mustard seeds, Cumin Seeds, Asafoetida, Chana Dal, Urad dal, Green chillies in the same order mentioned. (let the mustard seeds splutter and then add the rest of the items).

4. After the dal's are roasted a litle bit, add chopped Beerakaya and turmeric.



5. Cover with the lid and cook it until the beerakaya is done.

6. Add salt to it and turn off the stove. Wait until it cools down.

7. Grind the above with the tamarind water.

8. Take it out in a dish and garnish with popu/tadka/talimpu along with coriander.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes.
Category: Side Dish(Chutney)

Variation:
1. Adding roasted sesame seeds while grinding, adds nice taste and makes it a little bit thick.

2. Red Chillies can also be added to it if extra spicy is required. Also, we can replace the green chillies in the recipe with red chillies. This adds a little reddish color to the chutney.

Note:
Do not grind anything hot in a grinder. This might cause the grinder motor to damage quickly.

Baigan Bhartha ( also Called Baigan Bhaji)

This is one of my favourite recipe. I love this, when made back home on gas stove. But here the problem is first we dont find the brinjals so fat and another is we have an electric stove at home. So this is kind of round about process for the baigan bhartha. If you have a gas stove then do it as mentioned in the Variation point 1, which replaces the first step in the preparation method.

The eggplants used for this recipe is available in any american/chinese stores. The following picture should give you an idea of the eggplant. :)


Ingredients:
American Eggplants - 2
Onions - 2 Big, or 2 medium
Tomato - 1
Peas - 1/2 cup
Jeera - 1/2 Spoon
Oil - 5 table spoons
Baigan Bhartha - 1-2 table spoons
Green Chillies - 5-6 in number
Chilli Powder - 1 table spoon (if desired more spicy)
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Take a pan/kadai put oil in it. Add the chopped brinjal and cover it with lid. let it cook on medium for about 10 minutes or until it turns its color to brown. Stir it in intervals so that the baigan do not stick to the bottom of the vessel. Switch off the stove once the baigan is fully cooked.
Note:You will notice that the quantity will be reduced to more than 1/2 of the original quantity.

2. Take a small pan/kadai. Put very little oil in it.

3. Add Jeera, Asafoetida, Green chillies, onions in the same order. let the onions turn little brown/tranparent.

4. Add tomatos and peas if desired at this point.

5. Add a pinch of chilli powder, baigan bhartha masala powder, salt for baigan also.



6. Now add the baigan that is cooked in the step 1. Mix it and let it be on stove for 2 minutes. Garnish with Coriander and serve hot with Roti or rice.




Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes at Max.(after baigan is done)
Category: Side/Main Coarse

Variations:
1. Those who have gas Stove can apply oil to the baigan around and heat it directly on the flame. Turn it around at frequent intervals. so that it is cooked from all sides and inside. After the baigan is totally done, remove the skin (which will come out easily). mash the inside one with hand or spoon.

2. Tomato and Peas can be added if they like it. They are optional. It tastes good even without the above two.

3. Some people like raw onions with this. But the onions here are hot to eat directly. So I fry them a little bit so that it gives good taste.

4. If baigan bhartha masala is not available, we can add a pinch of amchur powder and dhania(Coriander) powder. That will bring almost same taste as above.
Terminology:
Baigan - Eggplant, Brinjal, Vankaya (Telugu)

Best Combination:
Baigan bhartha will be good with either rice or roti. But I personally prefer with roti.

Tindora Kurma (Dondakaya Kurma)

Ingredients:

Dondakayalu (Tindora) - 15- 20
Onions (cut lengthwise) - 2 medium or 1 large
Ginger, Garlic Paste - 1-2 table spoons
Garam masala - 2 table spoons
Turmeric - 1/2 table spoon
Red Chilli Powder - 1 table spoon (can add more if you need more spicy)
Red Chillies - 4-5
Jeera - 2-3 table spoons
Kuskus (Gasagasalu) - 2-4 table spoons
Coconut Scraped(fresh or frozen)
Curd - 2-5 table spoons
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

Cut Tindora lengthwise or as you cut it for the dondakaya masala curry. Deep fry them in oil and drain it on kichen tissue, so that it absorbs all excess oil. As you do this you can prepare for the gravy on the other side.

Gravy paste:
Take a small pan. fry coconut shredded, jeera, red chillies, kuskus for 3-5 minutes on low flame. or until cocunut color changes slightly. Turn off the stove and grind the above with water to make a smooth paste. Gravy paste is ready.

Take a vessel, and add little oil in it. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. add a small pinch of jeera and then add ginger garlic paste. let it fry for few seconds. Then add chopped onions. fry them until the onions turn light brown or transparent color.

Then add the above gravy paste and let it heat for 10 minutes atleast. stir the above in regular intervals. once the paste is cooked then add fried tindora, turmeric, garam masala, Red Chilli Powder to the above. let it cook for 5-7 minutes. Dondakaya kurma is ready. This can be served with Rice or Roti.

Dondakaya Kurma with Rice and Mamidikaya Pappu is our Dinner.