While all the people at home are watching India-Pak Match, I
am diving into blogging to enjoy my
"Me" time. Already am down with Monday blues and sadly thinking
about my handful of chores in my to-do list for the upcoming week. The weekend was quite stressful as I
accidentally fell yesterday while cleaning home and halfway through cooking. Felt
an excruciating pain at foot for the initial few minutes, later I managed the
cooking and other house chores in slow motion but as the day progresses my
entire ankle was hurting and swollen. I was
not able to walk and felt pain at every step.
DH applied all sorts of home treatment - applying oil, massaging,
ointment, pain reliever spray and nothing worked out. Finally, I was pushed to the stage of taking
over-the-counter medication at night. I
slept uninterruptedly and when I woke up this morning, the pain had
reduced. I was able to walk though felt mild
pain at every step. Am getting better
after the second dose of medication.
Due to the above incident, I kept the cooking on the lighter
side yesterday and prepared only rasam. For the benefit of my international friends
who follows my blog, rasam is a thin soup made with tamarind and Indian spices. It is eaten with rice and acts as a perfect
appetizer. There are many variations of
rasam and I prepared Mysore Rasam yesterday.
It is a recipe from Karnataka Cuisine in which the Indian spices are roasted
and ground with coconut. The aromatic flavor
fills the entire home when you prepare this rasam, stimulates your digestive
system, and acts as a healthy traditional appetizer. I do not remember exactly when I fell in love
for this rasam, I would just drink it as a soup whenever I prepare this at
home.
INGREDIENTS:
Tamarind water (extracted from tamarind pulp) - 2 cups
Cooked Toor dhal - 1/2
cup (small)
Tomatoes - 2
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Ghee - 1/2 tsp
To roast and grind:
Pepper - 1 tsp
Toor dhal - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilly - 1
Coconut - 1 tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 tsp
To Temper:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilly - 1 or 1/2
Curry leaves - few
Preparation:
1. Soak tamarind pulp in warm water for some 10 minutes and
extract the juice from it. Keep aside.
2. Cook Toor dhal in
pressure cooker adding water and mash it well.
3. In 1/2 tsp of oil,
roast the items given under section "To roast and grind" except
coconut and jeera. Add the coconut at
last part of roasting and switch off the flame.
At the time of grinding, add the jeera/cumin seeds and grind it to a
smooth paste adding little water.
4. In a vessel, add
tomatoes and mash it by either squeezing them using a wooden spatula /fingers,
or use a blender. Add the extracted
tamarind water to it. Add the required salt
and turmeric powder to it and keep in flame.
5. Boil for 10
minutes until the raw smell of the tamarind goes off. Gently add the ground paste and mix
well. After a minute, add the cooked and
mashed toor dhal and mix well.
6. When it starts to froth up, switch of the flame and
temper it with mustard seeds, red chilly, and curry leaves in a teaspoon of
ghee.
The aromatic rasam can be mixed with steamed rice or can be
taken as such as a soup.
Below picture is taken at another instance for a special lunch..
