Homemade Rasam Powder/Rasam Podi

Indian basics is the theme for the second week of Blogging Marathon#18 and today's recipe is rasam powder.
Rasam is a very comforting food and it is made on almost everyday in most of the South Indian families for lunch or dinner menu.
We make rasam everyday and without rasam our meal won't be complete and satisfied.I always keep the rasam powder in my pantry to make the rasam in a jiffy.
Each family has their own signature recipe to make the rasam powder and rasam,this is my mom's recipe.Now on to the recipe.......

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Toor dhal/thuvaram paruppu	1/2cup
Coriander seeds/varakothamalli	1/2cup
Red chilly/varamilagai	10nos.
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	3/4cup
Black pepper/milagu	3/4cup
Curry leaves/karivepillai	4-5sprigs

Method

• Sun dry all the ingredients separately for 2 hours or dry roast all the ingredients separately without changing the color.
• Powder the toor dhal,red chillies,coriander seeds in a blender to a coarse then add the cumin seeds and pepper to it.Grind it till it becomes grainy.

Store it in a air tight container.

• Do not grind it to a very fine powder,it should be grainy.
• First grind the dhal,coriander seeds and red chillies,after adding the cumin seeds and pepper pulse it.
• While roasting the ingredients make sure it doesn't change the color it should get warm for easy grinding.
• Instead of roasting or sun drying it can be kept in the microwave for 2 minutes to get crisp.
• This powder can be stored in room temperature for a month and in the freezer for 6 months.
• To maintain the freshness and flavor store it in an air tight container or a zip-lock bag.

Simple Rasam using the homemade Rasam powder

                   
This is a very simple rasam which can be made in no time without using any cooked and mashed dhal as the powder has dhal.I make this rasam when I am in a hurry or want to have a comforting dinner.This rasam tastes good with rice along with some potato fry or raw banana fry or some pickle and chutney.

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Tomato	1no.(medium size)
Tamarind paste	11/2tsp(diluted with 11/2cups of water)
Rasam powder	2tsp
Garlic/poondu	2 cloves(crushed)
Red chilly(broken)	1no.
Curry leaves/karivepillai	1sprig
Coriander leaves	as needed
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2tsp
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/8tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil	1tsp

Method

• Chop the tomatoes to fine pieces and in a bowl take the tamarind water,add the chopped tomato.
• Add in salt,rasam powder,crushed garlic,coriander leaves and mix it well.
• Heat a pan with oil and do the tempering with mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds,add a pinch of asafoetida,turmeric powder,broken red chilly and curry leaves.Then add the prepared tamarind water to it and cook it for one boil.
• Transfer it to a bowl,add coriander leaves and close it with the lid.
• Simple rasam is ready to serve.

• Do not cook the rasam for a long time,it will change the taste.
• Here I used the store bought tamarind paste,if you are using the tamarind a big gooseberry size can be used for the given measurement.

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Jeera Rasam /Milagu Jeera Rasam with Paruppu Thogayal

Today's recipe is a comforting and ultimate combo,quiet popular in most of the households.Usually this combo is made,the day after a heavy or  party meals as it aids digestion.Also it is considered as a home remedy for cold and cough.Though rasam is a part of everyday meal in South India,this rasam and paruupu thogayal is a divine combo.

This combo is my all time favorite and I make it when no vegetables in stock.In olden days during the monsoon its often made as there were no veggies available.

Coming to the recipe,this simple rasam has so many variations in each households.Some use tomato and rasam powder along with the pepper and cumin powder.This one is my grand mothers version and she used freshly ground spices and a small tomato.In the original recipe,no coriander leaves are used,but for the picture sake I used it.As my kids prefer potato fry with rasam,I served their meal with it.

                                                                      

                                                                                     

                                                                           Jeera Rasam/Milagu Jeera Rasam

                                                              

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time ~ 15 minutes
   Cooking time ~ 6-7 minutes

   Serves ~ 3

   

  Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Tamarind/puli	big gooseberry size
Tomato(optional)	1 (small size)
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp
Salt	1.5 tsp
Oil	1 tsp
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Coriander leaves/kothamalli	(optional)

   Soak in water and grind coarsely

Ingredient	Quantity
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1.5 tsp
Pepper/milagu	1 tsp
Red chilly/varamilagai	1
Toor dhal/Thuvaram paruppu	1.5 tsp
Coriander seeds/dhaniya	1/4 tsp

   For the tempering

  

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2 tsp
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Curry leaves	few

  Method

• Soak the tamarind in water and extract it.
• Soak the given ingredients in water for 10-15 minutes.Grind it to a coarse paste.In a bowl take tamarind water,add in tomato,salt and squeeze it with hand.Keep it aside

• Take the tamarind water mixture in a pan and put on the flame.Add in turmeric powder and few curry leaves to it.Let it cook for one boil.Now add in the ground paste.

• Let it boil till boil for couple of minutes or till the raw smell disappears.Put off the flame. Heat a separate pan with oil and do the tempering.

• Add in the curry leaves and asafoetida.Add it to the rasam and mix it well.Transfer it to a bowl and close it with lid.

• Serve it with white rice and paruppu thagayal, potato fry along with pappad.

• If you want to add garlic,crush 2 cloves of garlic and add it while the rasam is boiling.
• The rasam should not boil for too long after adding ground paste,otherwise the rasam will be bitter.
• While serving the rasam mix it well and serve.

Enjoy................

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Lemon Rasam

For the letter L,I was clueless as there is no Tamil ingredients except Lavangam.One of my friend suggested to make Lehiyam.But some of the ingredients are not in stock in my pantry so changed to make something with lemon.Finalised to make lemon sevai with ready made rice noodles.Couple of days before,I boiled the water and added the rice noodles,covered it.As the noodles  needs to remain in the hot water for 10 minutes.But I forgot to put off the flame,and left the kitchen,the noodles cooked mushy and ended up in making payasam.
At last landed in Lemon rasam,a simple comforting food.This is our family's favorite and make it often.Never thought of sharing it in blog and finally did it for today's post.
We have been following this recipe since years, as this rasam doesn't require tamarind it appears in our kitchen during the summer time.
For this specific rasam we don't use garlic and rasam powder.My mom uses pepper,cumin and sambar powder.Also the addition of green chillies makes this rasam more flavorful.Off to the recipe......

                                                                      

                                                                                     

                                                                                                              Lemon Rasam

                                                                

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time ~ 15 minutes
   Cooking time ~ 6-7 minutes

   Serves ~ 3

   

  Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Toamto	2 (medium size)
Toor dhla/thuvaram paruppu	2 tbs
Lemon juice/yelumichai saaru	2-2.5 tbs
Sambar powder	1/2-3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp
Salt	1.5 tsp
Oil	1 tbs
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Coriander leaves/kothamalli	roughly chopped

   To  grind coarsely

Ingredient	Quantity
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1.5 tsp
Pepper/milagu	1 tsp
Green chilly/pachamilagai	1-2

   For the tempering

  

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	a pinch
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Dried red chilly/varamilagai	1(broken)

  Method

• Cook the toor dhal in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles with enough water.After cooking mash the dhal with 1/2 cup of water and keep it aside.Grind the given ingredients to a coarse powder.If the tomatoes are not soft and mushy,pulse it in a blender and keep it aside.
• In a bowl take the crushed or blended tomatoes and to this add the ground cumin,pepper and green chillies .Then add in the sambar powder,tumeric powder and salt.Add the toor dhal water and coriander leaves.

• Now heat the pan with oil and splutter the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds,then goes in the asafoetida and red chilly.Add the prepared mixture,let it cook for one boil in a medium flame.

• Put off the flame and add the lemon juice to it,sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves.Transfer it to a bowl and cover it with a lid immediately.

• Serve it with white rice and potato fry along with pappad.

• The amount of lemon juice is personal preference,I used 2.5 tbs to get a nice taste..
• If you want to add garlic,crush 2 cloves of garlic and add it while the rasam is boiling.
• The lemon juice needs to be added after put off the flame.The lemon juice should not boil otherwise the rasam will be bitter.
• While serving the rasam mix it well and serve.

Enjoy.......................................

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Udupi Tomato Rasam/Tomato Saaru

Starting the 4th and final week of Blogging Marathon #66 with Regional recipes.For the regional theme I chose to share some of the Karnataka dishes.Today's recipe is a simple yet comforting rasam.We make rasam in a slightly different way and the rasam powder uses lot of black pepper.Also we grind the the rasma powder to a bit coarse consistency.
But this rasam powder doesn't need any black pepper and the flavor and taste comes from the red chilly and coriander seeds.And the powder needs to be powdered to a fine powder.Lets move on to the recipe................

                                                 

                                                                                                           Udupi Tomato Rasam

                                                                

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time ~ 15 -20minutes
   Cooking time ~ 10 minutes

   Serves ~ 3

   

  Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Tomato	2 (medium size)
Toor dhla/thuvaram paruppu	2 tbs
Tamarind/puli	big gooseberry size
Saaru podi	2 tbs
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp
Salt	1.5 tsp
Oil	1 tbs
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Coriander leaves/kothamalli	roughly chopped

   To make Saaru podi/rasam powder

Ingredient	Quantity
Coriander seeds/dhaniya	4 tbs
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1.5 tbs
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	1.5 tsp
Dried red chilly/varamilagai	7-8
Curry leaves/karivepillai	2-3 sprigs
Asafoetida/perungayam	1/4 tsp
Desiccated coconut powder	1 tbs(optional)
Oil	few drops

   For the tempering

  

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Dried red chilly/varamilagai	1(broken)

  Method

• Cook the toor dhal in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles with enough water.After cooking mash the dhal with 1/2 cup of water and keep it aside.f the tomatoes are not soft and mushy,pulse it in a blender and keep it aside.
• Heat a pan with few drops of oil and roast the coriander seeds,cumin seeds,red chilly,fenugreek seeds and dried coconut till a nice aroma comes out.Add in the curry leaves and fry it till it becomes crisp.Add in the asafoetida and put off the flame.After cooling grind it to fine powder.

• In a bowl take the crushed or blended tomatoes and to this add the tamarind paste,mashed toor dhal,saaru podi and salt .Then add in the some water mix it well.

• Add coriander leaves and green chilly,keep it on the stove top and allow it to boil.Meanwhile do the tempering with the ingredients and add it to the boiling rasam.Let it cook for a minute,add some chopped coriander leaves and put off the flame. 

• Serve it with white rice along with some veggie fry and pappad.

• While serving the rasam mix it well and serve as it tends to settle.
• The saaru podi can be made in bulk and store it in an air tight container.

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Thakkali(tomato) Soup/Masala Rasam - Tanjore Style

Thakkali soup aka masala rasam is a flavorful,slightly tangy soup infused with the coconut milk.This soup goes very well with the steaming rice accompanied with some spicy vegetable fry.
I have no idea why it is called as soup and its a thinner version of kurma.But this soup no way resembles the tomato soup which is served as an appetizer.
This soup can be made with or without dhal stock like rasam as we prefer later,made it without that one.Lets get into the recipe..................

 Ingredients

Shallots(finely sliced )	8-10
Tomato	2(large size)
Garlic/poondu	3 cloves
Green chilly	4
Coconut(grated)	1/4cup
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/8tsp
Curry leaves/karivepillai	1 sprig
Coriander leaves(chopped)	as needed
Salt	11/2tsp
Oil	1tbs

For the seasoning

Cloves/lavangam	5
Cinnamon/pattai	1inch piece
Star anise	2 petals
Fennel seeds/sombu	1/8tsp

Method

Cook the tomatoes with enough water till it becomes soft.Once it becomes cool down peel the skin on the tomato and blend it well in a blender to fine paste.If there is any water left keep it.
Then grind the coconut to fine paste and extract the milk.Pound the garlic and green chillies together to a coarse paste,set it aside.

• Heat a pan with oil and crackle the fennel seeds,then  add the other spices.Add the curry leaves then saute the sliced shallots for a minute.Now add in the crushed garlic and green chilly,saute it.
• Add in the ground tomato paste and the water left after boiling the tomatoes or regular water

• Now add the salt and turmeric powder,let it boil for5-6 minutes.Add in the chopped coriander leaves and coconut milk at this point.Cook it for one boil and put off the fire.

• Serve it with steaming hot rice along with some spicy vegetable fry.

Enjoy................................... 

• If the sourness is not enough after put off the fire add a tsp of lemon juice.
• Instead of coconut milk,finely ground coconut paste can be used.
• The dhal stock needs to be added before put off the fire and it doesn't need to boil.
• Use well ripe tomatoes to get a nice color and sour taste.

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Simple Everyday South Indian Thali - Egg Pepper Fry /Muttai Milagu Varuval

Starting the second week of blogging marathon #91 with mini thali as theme.Today's version of thali is an interesting one and make it whenever I  have no stock of veggies except onion and tomato.

The thali has
1.Steamed basmathi rice
2.Whole moong dhal fry
3.Rasam
4.Egg pepper fry (recipe follows)
5.Homemade vathal (fryums)
6.Onion Pakora
7.Curd
8.Pickle

Egg pepper fry is a semi dry and quick dish,you can make in it less than 15 minutes,if the eggs are boiled.This fry tastes excellent with simple rasam or dhal rice.

                                                          

                                                           

                                         Egg Pepper Fry / Muttai Milagu Varuval

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time ~ 15 minutes
   Cooking time ~ 15 minutes

   Serves ~ 3

   

 Ingredients

 

  

Ingredient	Quantity
Boiled eggs	4-5
Onion(finely chopped)	1 (medium size)
Tomato(finely chopped)	1 tbs
Ginger&Garlic paste	1 tsp
Coriander powder/dhaniya podi	1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder/milagi podi	1/4 tsp
Garam masala powder	a pinch
Turmeric powder	1/4 tsp
Green chilly/pachamilagai	1(slit lengthy)
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Red chilly/varamilagai(optional)	1(broken)
Salt	1.5 tsp
Oil	2 - 3 tsp
Coriander leaves(finely chopped)	2 tbs

   

 For Dry roast and powder

Ingredient	Quantity
Fennel  seeds/sombu	1 tsp
Black pepper/milagu	1 tsp

 Method 

• Boil the eggs in boiled water with a pinch of salt.One its done remove the shell and make some slits on the egg and keep it aside.

• Heat a pan on a stove top and dry roast the fennel seeds and black pepper till a rice aroma comes out.After cooling coarsely powder it and keep it aside.

• In a  pan,heat the oil ,add in the chopped onion,green chilly,red chilly and curry leaves.Saute it with a pinch of  salt until translucent.

• Add in the ginger& garlic paste and fry it for a minute.Add in the chopped tomato and mix it well.Cook it until mushy,add in all the spice powders and salt.Give it a mix and sprinkle a tbs of water.Cook it for a minute.

• Now add in the boiled eggs and mix it well,now add in the freshly ground fennel and pepper powder.Mix it well and keep it on the flame  for 2 minutes.Add in the chopped coriander leaves and put off the flame.

• Serve it warm with rasam rice or dhal rice.

• The eggs can be halved and added.
• The spices given is for a medium spice level.Alter it according to personal preference.
• Here I used,just a tbs of chopped tomato as i wanted the fry to be semi dry.If you want gravy then add a tomato to get the desired consistency.

Enjoy...............................

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