Saturday, February 5, 2011

Ginger Rasam ( Allam Charu)


Rasam is a great comfort food especially during winter. We make rasam powder in large amount at home and its a must have. Rasam powder recipe will be posted later.

Ingredients

3 cups water
2 large tomatoes ( chopped)
1/2 cup tamarind extract
1 tbsp rasam powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ginger
2-3 pods of garlic
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
diluted thoor dal water
salt to taste

for tempering

2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a dash of asafoetida
handful of curry leaves

Preparation

There are two ways to make this rasam.

First method is to grind all the ingredients like tomato, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves and curry leaves in a mixer and mix it all with 3 cups of water. Bring this mixture to boil by adding tamarind water, salt, rasam powder and turmeric powder. At last add water of cooked thoor dal and temper with the given ingredients. We call this rasam/charu medicinal(mandula charu) as it helps in clearing cold and fever.

The second method is to add all the ingredients without grinding. In water we add crushed ginger, chopped tomato, coriander leaves, tamarind water, turmeric powder, rasam powder, salt and bring it to boil. Once the rasam starts boiling add thoor dal water and temper with the given ingredients. In this tempering you can add finely chopped garlic. This will give a nice taste to the rasam!


This rasam is being sent to Siri and Sara's Healing Food-Ginger and Garlic!

I am also sending Allam Pachadi to this event!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Baingan-Mooli ki subzi (eggplant-raddish dry curry)



This is a yummy subzi I learnt while in North India. Many of us reject raddish because of its smell. I usually make only sambar out of it! But this subzi goes great with rotis and tastes great.

Ingredients

2 cups diced raddish
1 cup diced eggplant
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
1 tsp cumin seeds
a dash of asafoetida
2 tbsp oil
fresh chopped coriander for garnish

Preparation

Heat a pan and add oil. To the oil add cumin seeds, while they splutter, add asafoetida and onions. Once the onions are sauted for a minute, add raddish, eggplant, salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and at last tomatoes. Mix it all well and cover with lid and cook on low heat for 15 minutes or till the veggies are soft and cooked.
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve warm with rotis!!

This chutney is from Rak's kitchen:) I truly enjoyed the Sutta Kathirikkai chutney

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Best eat outs of 2010!- a visual treat for you!

When Smitha asked me to participate in her event I could not think of anything better than this post. While in Bengaluru for the winter vacation we visited some really nice restaurants as I love to experiment different cuisines:)
This Picture is an authentic Rajasthani thali with poris, rotis, many varieties of subzis, dals, kadhi, rice, kichidi/ghee, papad, samosa, dahi vada, desserts like hot malpua, dal poli, fruit salad and at last sweet pan!!

The speciality about this thali was that they were of unlimited serving. You can ask for more :)

Before and after food we can wash our hands in warm water this way...

This thali is my entry to the event "Best food I have eaten and blogged about" by Smitha

Can you guess what this is??


It is Idly steamed in banana leaf. When we ordered Idly for my little one we were given this soft spongy idly fully packed in the banana leaf!!


Northern Karnataka meals served with Jonna rotti(Jowar roti) at Kamat on the way to Mysore
Men serving food in Traditional Indian khadi clothes..
Bananas, onions, garlics, pumpkins, hanging ....
Fresh hot potato chips being fried...
Who is not familiar with MTR. We ordered masala dosa...
and my favorite Sambar vada:)

It is very difficult to choose one food as favorite. I am a big fan of chinese too. Noodles and Manchurian, I can eat it anytime!!



The following pictures are of a wedding we attended in the North India. This plate is just one porting of my food. There were more than 500 items served in the wedding. There were stalls of India street food like chat, dosas etc and almost all types of north Indian food, Chinese, kid friendly food like steamed corn, icecreams fruit salad, juices too


It was winter and we were served hot milk garnished with pista..
He was making some hot milk for me....
Ya kulfi in the freaking cold winter....
Hot Jelabis with milk is a great combi.....
Hot masala chai being served in small terracota pots... I had plenty....
These were Pan leaves which can be designed as you wish..
Thses are the items which are into the pan leaves ..... ya these many!!!
Hope you all enjoyed the pics......