Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Rajma (Red Kidney Beans) Rasam - BM 13 - Week 2 - Day 5

Rajma Rasam:

Rasam with Rajma?? Don’t be surprised yes follow the same method of making Ullavalu Rasam and you have it. It tastes great and it is thick in consistency. Only thing is I made it little lengthy.

Ingredients:
Rajma (Red Kidney beans) – 12 to 15 beans
Tomato – 1/2

Tamarind Water (medium consistency) – 3 tsp
Crystal Salt – 1 tbsp
Rasam Powder – 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Jaggery – a small piece
Water – as required

For seasoning:
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
Curry leaves – few (optional)
Coriander leaves – few (optional)

Method:
Wash rajma and soak it overnight
I wanted to try if it sprouts (ha ha) – optional step – So left them in clean handkerchief and put them in a vessel which contained fresh water in the morning
Drain the water and cook it for 3 to 4 whistles
Add tomato along with rajma and blend it
Heat oil in a kadai and once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add curry leaves
Add tamarind pulp, rasam powder, crystal salt, jaggery, grounded rajma mixture, cilantro and allow it to boil nearly for 10 minutes
Rasam is ready.

Kindly have a look at dishes prepared by other Blogging Marathoners in BM# 13

Monday, February 27, 2012

Red Lenthils Rasam - Day 6 - Week 2 - BM#13

Red Lenthils Rasam - Day 6 - Week 2 - BM#13:
 
Red Lenthils is usually cooked as a dhal in my house. But I tried a different version of Rasam today with them.

Ingredients:
Red Lenthils – 50 g (Cooked)
Tamarind Water (medium consistency) – 3 tsp
Crystal Salt – 1 tbsp
Cumin and Pepper Powder – 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Jaggery – a small piece
Water – as required

For seasoning:
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
Curry leaves – few (optional)
Was playing with coffee powder, so couldn't disturb mom while preparing this rasam



Coriander leaves – few (optional)

Method:
Heat oil in a kadai and once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add currey leaves
Add tamarind pulp, cooked red lenthils, cilantro and allow it to boil for a minute
Once done, add cumin and pepper powder, salt and jaggery. Let it boil for sometime till the raw smell in pulp goes and they all get mixed well.
Healthy rasam is ready.

This rasam was of medium consistency, if required you can add water as per your requirement.

It’s great if you could drop here to check out what other Blogging Marathoners are up with in BM# 13

Belluli Saaru - Day 4 - Week 2 - BM#13

Belluli Saaru - Day 4 - Week 2 - BM#13:

Belluli means garlic in English, Velluli in Telugu, poondu in tamil. Some people in Hinduism and Jainism avoid this herb. Elders used to never cook this in their houses on auspicious day mainly in Brahmin families. But nowadays some have changed due to the medicinal value of garlic. It resembles like a white onion but smaller and it has got bulbs within it. It is rich in vitamin c. This rasam is a part of Blogging Marathon - BM#13, which I have made it for Day 4.

Garlic is also claimed to help prevent heart disease (including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure) and cancer. Garlic was used as an antiseptic to prevent gangrene during World War I and World War II. More recently, it has been found from a clinical trial that a mouthwash containing 2.5% fresh garlic shows good antimicrobial activity, although the majority of the participants reported an unpleasant taste and halitosis. (source: Wikipedia).



Ingredients:
  • Tomato – 1
  • Tamarind Water (medium consistency) – 3 tsp
  • Garlic – 8 to 10 bulbs
  • Crystal Salt – 1 tbsp
  • Rasam Powder – 2 tbsp
  • Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
  • Jaggery – a small piece
  • Water – as required
  • Curry leaves – few (optional)
  • Coriander leaves – few (optional) 
For seasoning:
  • Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
  • Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
  • Oil – 2 tsp
Method:
  • Roast garlic bulbs in ghee
  • Wash and blend tomato along with roasted garlic, curry leaves and coriander leaves
  • Heat oil in a kadai and once the oil is hot, add the above mixture.
  • Squeeze the tamarind and pour the tamarind water along with the above mixture and allow it to boil
  • If required add more water
  • Allow rasam to boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes off
  • Add rasam powder, turmeric, asafoetida (hing), jaggery and salt allow it to boil so that all these gets mixes well
  • Heat oil in a different kadai and once hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and put it on the rasam leave it for one more minute by adding coriander leaves along with it.
  • Healthy rasam is ready.

This rasam was of thinner consistency, if needed you can add water as per your requirement.

It’s great if you could drop here to check out what other Blogging Marathoners are up with in BM# 13

Inji Rasam - BM#13 - Week 2 - Day 2


We all are aware that I am in Blogging Marathon 13, hosted by Srivalli every month between 16th to last day of the month. It is in two groups the first group is from 16th to 22nd and second month is from 23rd to 30th. This month being February it is upto 29th. I have selected my theme as “7 days of rasam”.

Smile Please
Rasam has a great power in digestion and as I told in my house without Rasam lunch/dinner is never complete. Thanks to Wikipedia which gave me more information on this topic along with names. I found a name from this and through google search I am able to get new rasam for my family.

Today I am going to post recipe on Inji Rasam which is good when any dear family member is suffering from cold and fever. Inji is a tamil word of Ginger. It is alam in telugu, shunti in kannada. I got this rasam recipe in Neivedyam.




Ingredients:
Tomato – 2
Tamarind Water (medium consistency) – 3 tsp
Ginger – 2 inches
Crystal Salt – 1 tbsp
Rasam Powder – 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Jaggery – a small piece
Water – as required
Cooked Toor Dhal Water - as required

For seasoning:
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
Curry leaves – few
Coriander leaves – few

Method:
It’s always better to keep all the ingredients ready so that it wouldn’t get missed out and it wouldn’t be added twice (by mistake also). It’s handier while cooking.
Wash and blend tomatoes along with ginger
Heat oil in a kadai and add grounded tomato and ginger to that once the oil becomes hot. Beware of the sizzling sound
 












Squeeze the tamarind and pour the tamarind water along with the above mixture and leave it to boil
Add water as required and leave it to boil till the raw smell of tamarind goes off
Add rasam powder, turmeric, asafoetida (hing), jaggery and salt allow it to boil so that all these gets mixes well
Add cooked toor dhal water and wait till a foam forms or it boils
Heat oil in a different kadai and once hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and put it on the rasam leave it for one more minute by adding coriander leaves along with it.
Healthy rasam is ready.

This rasam was of medium consistency, if needed you can add water as per your requirement.

It’s great if you could drop here to check out what other Blogging Marathoners are up with in BM# 13

Pulichaar - Day 3 - Week 2 - BM 13

Pulichaar - Day 3 - Week 2 - BM 13:

I am able to make the things in weekend but unable to post it on the same day. Let me speed up posting in the next marathon.

Today, is Day 3 of BM#13, my theme is “7 days of rasam” and I am herewith presenting a rasam which is called as Pulichaau. People make fun stating whoever eats this rasam more they are intellectual. I am not sure how much this is truth as I have met different people in my life so far. This Rasam is also called as Milagu Rasam. Milagu means pepper and as it is the main ingredient in this rasam along with cumin seeds.

This rasam is very good for health and it can be consumed directly when there is cold. Yep, my readers might ask, “Hema, your rasams are good for cold. Why so?”. Reason for this is:
  1. In Bangalore the weather keeps on changing. It would be so cold in the early mornings, it would be hot mid day and by evening it would have become chill. Being born and brought up here in Bangalore the weather makes me feel cold and cough once in a week.
  2. “Congress plant” which grows in most of the places in Bangalore by itself, causes cold due to its pollen grains and give raise to diseases like Sinusitis, Asthma, and so on.
To prevent this cold it’s better to have some medicinal food instead of tablets. To cure this it is good to have medicinal food along with the tablets.

My post for today is Pulcharu. “Pul” means puli or sour which is nothing but the tangy taste of tamarind. “Charu” is a telugu word which means rasam in English. So “pulcharu” means rasam made out of tamarind. No tomato is used in this rasam.

Ingredients:
Pulicharu Ingredients
Tamarind – a lemon sized ball
Crystal Salt – 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds + Pepper Powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp (optional, in our house we don’t use this)
Jaggery – a small piece
Water – as required

For seasoning:
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
Red Chillies – 2 nos
Curry leaves – few
Coriander leaves – few

Cumin and Pepper powder:


In our house as we make this atleast once in a week, I powder and keep black pepper and cumin seeds coarsely. Pepper should be less in quantity and cumin should be more. When we prepare this Rasam, just add this powder instead of adding cumin seeds powder and pepper powder separately.





Method:
Pulichaar / Milagu Rasam
  • Take tamarind and leave it in lukewarm water at max for half an hour, so that we could get more pulp
  • Squeeze tamarind and keep the pulp aside
  • Heat oil in a kadai and when oil is hot, add mustard seeds when it splutters, add curry leaves and small pieces of red chillies
  • Then add tamarind pulp, cumin seeds and pepper powder and allow it to boil nicely
  • When the aroma comes, add coriander leaves and leave it just for one minute and turn off the stove, serve it with rice.

Sharing a moment: As my little angel slept on Saturday I started to make this, by the time the pepper powder was ready (within 10 mins) he got up. Having him along with me and cooking was a great experience. See he is giving a smiling and commenting "Hi All, my mom could prepare it having me on her hip". 










I appreciate if you could check out other Blogging Marathoners in BM# 13