Lemon ginger rasam

This version of lemon ginger rasam was concocted (by myself) when I fell severely ill due to catching a stomach bug and flu. I had severe nausea for several days with very high fever until I had the first serving of this rasam. The first serving of this rasam proved that it is anti-emetic, thus restoring my energy back from a debilitated being. It was great in reducing my flu symptoms too restoring life back to normalcy. It is super easy and super quick to make and heavenly to taste.


Ingredients


Lemon                                                   - 1 big one
Ginger                                                   -  4 inch piece
Salt                                                        - To taste
Water                                                     - 1.5 cups


To temper

Oil                                                       -   1 tsp
Mustard seeds                                     - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies                                     -  4 nos broken to two

Method

1. Grate ginger.
2. Heat a saucepan on stove. Add oil and mustard seeds to splutter. 
3. Add green chillies and stir for 1/2 minute
4. Add water.  Add grated ginger and salt.
5. Let the mixture come to a boil. Boil for 3-4 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and immediately juice lemon and add the juice to this mixture and mix well.

Lemon ginger rasam is ready to be had with just rice  or anything as side dish if you wish to have one.

Red chili paste ( Indian style)

Red chili paste is very easy to make and it gives a nice colour without adding any food colour especially in recipes like pav bhaji. I feel that it gives better flavor than its powder counterpart and the taste is delightfully distinguishable.

Red chili paste

Ingredients

Dried kashmiri red chillies                                                     30 nos
Water                                                                                       Just enough to immerse them
Lemon juice/ Vinegar                                                             1 tsp

Method

1. Add red chillies to a saucepan and add enough water just to immerse them
2. Add vinegar/lemon juice to it. Presence of acid helps extracting the colour from red chillies.
3. Let it come to a boil and cover the saucepan with a lid. Let it boil for 15-20 minutes in medium heat.
4. Grind it to a very thick paste. If there was any water left after boiling and if it is very little, use it in the paste. 

Red chili paste is ready to be used in anything that you want it to be used.

Mysore rasam

Mysore rasam is a delectable rasam that is very quick to make and have. I have some wonderful memories of my childhood days with this rasam. Delving into the details would be a good idea than getting bored reading about me. So,

Ingredients

Tamarind pulp/ paste                                                           1 lemon sized ball/ 1.5 tsps
Sambar powder                                                                   1.5 tsps
Asafoetida                                                                           1 pinch
Salt                                                                                      To taste
Water                                                                                   2.5 cups

To grind

Dhaniya/ Coriander seeds                                                 1 tsp
Red chilli                                                                           1 nos
Toor dal/ Thuvaramparuppu                                              1 tsp
Shredded coconut/ Dessicated coconut powder                 2 tsps / 1 tsp
Cumin seeds                                                                        1 tsp

To temper

Ghee                                                                                    1 tsp
Mustard seeds                                                                      1/2 tsp
Curry leaves                                                                         1 sprig

Method

1.  Soak tamarind pulp in hot water to extract syrup for 15 mins.
2. Extract tamarind syrup. Use 1.5 cups of water to make the syrup. If using tamarind paste, dissolve it in 1.5 cups of warm water to make the syrup.
3. Add sambar powder, salt and asafoetida to it  and let it simmer for 10 mins until the raw smell of sambar powder transforms into an intoxicating aroma.
4. Simultaneously dry roast dhaniya/ coriander seeds, red chilli and toor dal together until toor dal turns golden brown. Now add shredded coconut/ dessicated coconut powder and roast it until it becomes golden brown and remove from stove. Now add cumin seeds and give it a good mix. 
5. Dry grind all the roasted ingredients together to a powder. Add remaining cup of water to it and mix it with the boiling rasam. Bring the heat to low and let it froth.
6. Simultaneously, heat a tsp of ghee in a small stir fry pan. Add mustard seeds to splutter and curry leaves.  Pour it on top of rasam and remove it from heat.

Mysore rasam is ready to be had with hot rice and pretty much any veggie side dish or just plain appalam/papad.

Multi grain adai

I was recently into a "mode" where I was thinking about how to expand the nutritional spectrum to achieve a balanced diet every single day, if possible without the use of vitamin supplements, deriving what we need from what we eat. That resulted in formulating new recipes, modifications and adding new twists to the age old dishes our mom and grand-moms made. This is one such recipe.

Ingredients

Oats                                                                - 1/2 cup
Bajra (Kambu) flour                                      - 1/2 cup
Ragi flour                                                       - 1/2 cup
Wheat flour                                                    - 1/2 cup
Channa dhal ( Kadalai paruppu)                    - 1 handful
Mung  dhal ( Payathamparuppu)                   -  1/2 cup
Toor dal ( Thuvaram paruppu)                       -  1 cup
Green whole mung beans (Paasi payaru)      -   1 cup
Ginger                                                            -   2.5 inch piece
Curry leaves                                                   - 2 sprigs
Asafoetida powder                                         - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies                                                    - 10 nos (depending on your spice level)
Salt                                                                 - To taste

Method

1.  Soak channa dhal, mung dhal, toor dhal, green whole mung beans together for 3-4 hrs.
2. Simultaneously, mix bajra (Kambu) flour, ragi flour, wheat flour together to a thick batter . It should be of dosa batter consistency.  Let this batter remain like this for about 3-4 hours.
3. Soak oats separately for 10 mins.
4. Grind oats and the soaked dhals together with ginger, salt, red chillies, curry leaves to a coarse batter.
5. Mix this with the flour batter that has been left aside for 3-4 hours, add asafoetida and give it a good mix.  Adai batter is done.
6. Heat  tawa and make delicious multi grain adais.

If using whole grains instead of flout  (bajra/kambu, ragi ), soak it along with dhals and grind into a coarse batter.

Multi grain adais are delicious and superior in taste compared to the normal adais and very light on the tummy. They can be had with ghee, jaggery, avial, plain yogurt, butter, honey or anything you prefer to have it with. 

French green beans rice

This recipe comes under travel cooking/ one-pot cooking/ Easy cooking series. I have decided to give it the name salt and pepper series because, in the recent past due to back to back travelling (not that I am complaining here), I had to cook a lot but with very limited resources. I couldn't carry a lot of things and had to rely on just the local supermarket for resources. So what I ended up with is cooking with just salt and pepper. Most of the times I had access to only canned stuff and was a novice in that department. Now, I have explored that world too :) . So the ingredients will include canned stuff.


Ingredients

Canned french green beans                                  1 can
Salt                                                                        As needed
Black pepper powder                                           1.5 tblspns
Basmathi rice                                                        1 cup
Oil                                                                          1 tsp


Method

1. Add oil in the electric cooker and let it heat.
2. Drain the beans and wash it thoroughly
3. When the oil is hot, add drained and washed beans and mix well.
4. Add basmathi rice and add 2 cups of water.
5. Add salt and pepper to it and close the lid and let it cook until done.

French green beans rice is ready to be had with natural yogurt and potato chips (crisps) as side.

Tuvar lilva vengaya sundal/ Tuvar lilva onion sundal

When I was young, my mom used to make fantabulous mochai vengaya sundal. Mochai as everyone knows is very healthy and very rich in iron.  I couldn't find mochai in both UK and US so easily. When I found a packet of frozen tuvar lilva beans, I thought I could replicate the mochai sundal with tuvar lilva beans and it worked wonderfully well.

Ingredients

Frozen tuvar lilva beans                                      1 whole packet
Onion                                                                   1 large
Red chilli powder                                                 1 tsp
Salt                                                                        As required

To temper

Canola oil                                                            1 tsp
Mustard seeds                                                      1/2 tsp
Curry leaves                                                         1 sprig


Method

1. Pressure cook tuvar lilva beans with just the amount of salt for it.
2. Dice onion as small as you can.
3. Heat a stir fry pan on medium heat and add oil and mustard seeds to splutter
4. Add curry leaves to splutter too. Add diced onions. Reduce the heat to low add required amount of salt for just the onion and mix well. Increase the heat to medium.
5. When the onion becomes translucent (like in the first 5 mins), add red chilli powder, mix well and add the cooked drained tuvar lilva beans and mix well too.
6. Leave it on stove for around 5 mins for the flavors to infuse. Remove from heat and the sundal is ready.

Tuvar lilva onion sundal/ Tuvar lilva vengaya sundal is great to be had as such as an evening snack or goes excellent with sambhar saadham, rasam saadham and curd rice too.

Mixed fruit jam

This is the jam that I made myself,  as I was left with half lb of strawberries which if I had left it for a day would  have become rotten. I would dive and delve into the ingredients straight.

Mixed fruit jam

Ingredients

Strawberries                                        1/2 lb washed and hulled

Apple                                                  1/2 nos

Plum                                                   1 big ripe one or 2 small ones

Sugar                                                  1 cup

Lemon juice                                         1 tblspn

Method

1.  Wash and hull strawberries. Cut it to small pieces.
2. Wash, peel, remove seeds and dice apple as small as you can
3. Wash, remove seed and cut plum
4. Add everything to a saucepan and add lemon juice.
5. Keep stirring on medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
6. Add entire amount of sugar to completely dissolve while stirring continuously. Let it come to a  full rolling boil again. Boil hard for 1 minute.
7. Remove from heat immediately and pour it into prepared jam jars. Let it completely cool down to room temperature. Jam will be set. Close the jam jars and refrigerate for later use.

The above jam is spreadable on toast and can be had with anything.

The below jam is my version of chunky mixed fruit jam. This consistency is achieved when the apples are not peeled . This below version of jam is great to be had with pooris and adais (south indian lentil pancake)

Chunky mixed fruit jam