Posts Tagged ‘Ginger’

The month Margazhi is fast approaching.  After singing thirupavai it is usual to to do Venpongal as naivedyam to Aundal. Here I am giving you the method of doing the ven pongal.

Ingredients

Raw rice – 1 cup

Moong Dhal – 1/2 cup

For Seasoning

Black Pepper – 1 tsp

Jeera – 1 tsp

Fresh Curry leaves – 15-20 nos

Ginger – 1/2 inch (cut into small pieces)

Cashew nuts – 10 to 15 nos ( break it into half)

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Procedure

-Soak the rice and dhal for half an hour.

-Pressure cook them by adding 3 1/2 cups of water.  Allow 4 whistles in high flames and simmer  it for 10 minutes.

- In a thick bottomed pan apply 1 tsp of ghee and fry the cashew nuts till they are golden brown.  To uniformly fry the cashew nuts break it into 2 halves and then fry.

-Again add 1 tsp of ghee and fry jeera and pepper one by one and atlast add curry leaves and  ginger and fry them too.

-Take 1/2 a cup of milk (hot) and add hing and allow it to dissolve.

-Soon after the cooker gets released add all the fried ingredients and then the milk with hing and the required amount of salt and mix it such a way that the rice – dhal mix is well smashed.

Tasty ven pongal is ready for serve.  For each and every serve you can add melted ghee to enhance the taste.

Chutney,  sambar,  gotsu, paringikai- mochaikottai pulikuzhambu and thalaga kuzhambu are the best side dishes for this ven pongal.

if you want the flavor of hing to be heavy, then add the hing to the rice -dhal mix and pressure cook it.

Here I am giving another sundal  made out of green peas ( both dry and fresh)

If you are going to use dry peas then soak the peas for 7 to 8 hours.  If fresh peas is used then it can be directly cooked.

INGREDIENTS

Fresh Green Peas / Dry Green Peas / Pachai Pattani – 1 cup (If dry soaked overnight)

Grated coconut – 1 table spoon

Oil – 1 table spoon

Green chillies – 3-4 nos (To taste)

Grated ginger – 1 tsp

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Fresh curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp (perungayam / hing)

PROCEDURE

- Soak the peas for about 7 to 8 hours.

- Pressure cook ( just leave 1 whistle and switch off the stove) adding enough salt and water .  As I already mentioned in kondaikadalai sundal for cooking any pulses and legumes it should be fully immersed in water.  Drain the excess water. Now the cooked peas  is ready.

For Neivedyam purpose

- Add 1 table spoon of oil to the pan.  Allow the mustard seeds to splutter.  Add the green chillies, grated ginger  and curry leaves and 1/2 tsp of  hing.

-Then add the cooked peas and season it for 5 minutes then add the freshly grated coconut.  Season it for 2 more minutes.

Neivedyam sundal is ready.

If the sundal has to be stored for more than 5 hours,  then  after the mustard seeds splutter,  add the coconut along with green chillies and curry leaves.  Season it for 2 to 3 minutes so that water in the coconut dries up , then add the cookded peas.

Thengai Mangai Pattai Sundal

As I mentioned above cook the green peas and strain the excess water

Cooked  green peas – 1 cup

Onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Finely chopped green chillies – 1 tsp

Finely chopped green mango – 2 table spoon.

Finely chopped corainder – 1table spoon

Grated ginger – 1 tsp

Grated coconut – 2 tbsp (optional)

Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp

Red Chilly Powder – 1/2 tsp (optional)

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Fresh curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Cooking Oil – 1 table spoon

Procedure

-Add the cooking oil to the pan and allow the mustard seeds to splutter.

- Add the finely chopped chillies, onion, ginger and the curry leaves and cook till the onion is soft.   Add the turmeric powder, chilly powder and the cooked peas and season it for 2 to 3 minutes.

- At last add the coconut,  season it for a minute.  Switch off the stove and then add the chopped mangoes. Garnish it with finely chopped coriander.

Delicious tengai , mangai pattani sundal is ready. This again is a mini snack

If you want to make it little more spicy then add a pinch of garam masala or a pinch of chat masala.

METHOD II

Here is another simple,fast  way of making mixed vegetable kurma. I think this procedure will serve good for morning hurry- burry.

Ingredients to make paste

Coconut – 1 tbl spoon

Chutney dhal – 2tsp ( instead of this you can use 5- 7 almonds)

Saunf (fennel seeds ) – 2 tsp

Green chillies – 1-2  nos ( according to taste )

Cinnamon bark -1 piece

Cardamom and clove – 2 each

Dry fry the cardamom , clove and Cinnamon bark before grinding it.

Make a fine paste, by little water  using the above mentioned ingredients.

This is another variety of vada which involves three types of dhal.

Ingredients

Chenna Dhal}

Thoor Daal } together 1 cup

Urud dhal }

Take all the three dhals in equal quantities to make up 1 cup full ( appx 200 gms)

Red Chillies – 4 Nos

Green Chillies – 4 Nos

Salt – 3/4 tsp

Ginger -1/2 inch

Hing 1/2 tsp

The above mentioned ingredients are meant for grinding and preparing the batter.

Onion – 1/2 cup finely chopped

Curry leaves – 15-20

Croiander – 2 tsp finely chopped

Sonuf – 1/4 tsp (just crush it and add to the batter)

Procedure

-Soak the dhal for about 1 hour.

-Grind it into a coarse batter along with salt, chillies and ginger.

- Mix the finely chopped onion, curry leaves, chopped coriander and crushed sonuf and pinch of baking soda with the batter.

-Heat the oil in the kadai. Take a small ball of batter in your hands. Either you can flatten it in your hands or use a plantain leaf or polythene sheet, drop it into oil and fry till it is golden brown. Depending upon the quantity of the frying oio you can make upto 5-6 vada at a time

-Pierce a knife into one vada to see if it is cooked. If the batter sticks then it needs more cooking.

Serve it hot with chutney and sambar. Even the tomato ketchup is a good combination.

Along with finely chopped onion you can also add finely chopped cabbage and grated potato.

It is one of the easiest snacks made from besan and rice flour. Again this a beginner’s recipe and takes less time for preparation.

Ingredients

Besan – 2 cups

Rice flour – 1 cup

Chilly powder – 2 tsp

Asafoetida -1/2 tsp

Butter – 1 tbl spoon

Table salt – 1 tsp

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

-Mix the besan and rice flour along with chilly powder, asafoetida, salt and butter with water into a thick paste but a soft one.

-Heat oil in a kadai. Test how hot it is by dropping a pinch of dough into it – if it sinks, the oil hasn’t become hot enough. If the dough springs to the top with bubbles all around it, then the oil is just ready.

-In your murukku press, place the pakoda plate and load the dough and press it directly into the hot oil. Fry it untill it is golden brown and crispy.

Hot and spicy ribbon pakoda is ready.

You can made small alterations to bring different taste.

Instead of adding chilly powder alone you can add the extract of the following.

Red Chilly – 3 to 4
Fennel or sonuf – 1 tsp
Garlic – 4 flakes
Ginger – 1/2 inch (Grind these coarsely and take the juice from the mixture. Adjust the spices as per your taste)

To make the ribbon pakoda more crispy instead of instead of adding 2 cups of besan

add 1 cup of besan, 1 cup of pottukadalai mavu, 1 cup of rice flour.

Enjoy doing ribbon pakoda and post your comments.

As I already told rasam is one of the delicious south Indian soups. Here I have explained the preparation of rasam, and small tips to make it all the more tasty.

Ordinary Dhal Rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lime size
Tomato – big one
Rasam Powder – 1 tsp ti 1 1/2 tsp ( depending upon the strength of the rasam powder)
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 Tbs with its water
Asafoetida powder -1/2 tsp

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure

-Strain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the color of the rasam.

-Add the rasam powder, turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of the rasam powder vanishes

-Now smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves add it to rasam. Finally, after the whole procedure is over add asafoetida and immediately close it at least for 10minutes so that the flavour is not lost.

Tasty yummy rasam is ready.

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Lime Rasam

Ingredients

Tomato – 2 big one
Rasam Powder – 1/2 tsp
Green Chilies – 2 Nos
Ginger – a small piece about 1″
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 Tbs with its water
Asafoetida powder -1/2 tsp
Lime – 1 in nos

Procedure

-Finely chop the tomatoes. Slit the green chilies longitudinally and chop the ginger into small pieces.

-Mix the chopped tomatoes, ginger, chillies rasam powder, turmeric powder and salt in 1 1/2 cups of water and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of the rasam powder vanishes.

-Now smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

-Remove the rasam form the fire and then add the juice of one lime and serve.

-Lime should be added only after removing rasam form the fire. Lime juice will turn soar when cooked.

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Pineapple Rasam

Pine Apple Rasam Variety
Pineapple rasam is the delicacy of SouthIndia.

The procedure is same as that of doing lime rasam.

The only difference is you have to reduce the quantity of lime juice to half and add a cup full of chopped pineapple. You can also extract the juice of the pineapple and add to it.

After rasam is done , garnish it with ripe pineapples.

Orange Rasam

The same procedure can be followed in preparing orange rasam .
Add orange juice instead of pineapple juice.

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Mysore Rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lemon size
Tomato – 1 big in size
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp along with water

To fry and grind

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, Thoordhal – 1 tsp, ChennaDhal – 1 tsp, Red Chilies – 4 (or 6, if u need a spicy rasam)Nos, Black pepper – 1/2 tsp, Methi seeds- 1/4 tsp, Asafoetida -1/4 tsp. Roast the above in a spoon of ghee or oil. Add 1/2 tsp of jeera and Coconut – 1 Tbl spoon, grind it to a smoot powder.

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure

-Strain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the color of the rasam.

-Add turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of tamarind vanishes. Now add the powder you prepared.

-Smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

Lime Mysore Rasam

Instead of adding the tamarind in the beginning add the lime juice at last, as you did for the lime rasam.

Brinjal Mysore Rasam

Slit the small brinjals into four without fully cutting them.

Cook the brinjal in tamarind water and repeat the same procedure.

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Pepper – Jeera Rasam

Already in my previous post I have explained to you about the preparation of pepper – jeera rasam powder. Always keep it handy.
This can be done with or with out tomatoes.

Ingredients

Tamarind – size of small lemon if you are using tomato
size of a big lime if tomato is not used.
Rasam Powder – 2 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 Tbs with its water

Procedure

Strain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the color of the rasam.

-Add the rasam powder, salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of the rasam powder vanishes.

-Now smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

For this rasam asafoetida & coriander are not required. Instead just crush few fresh curry leaves with a pinch of salt and garnish the rasam.

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Poricha Rasam

This rasam is done without tamarind. But it is very tasty.

Ingredients

poricharasam variety
Tomato – 1 big in size
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp along with water

To fry and grind

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, Thoordhal – 1 tsp, ChennaDhal – 1 tsp, Red Chilies – 2 Nos, Black pepper – 1/2 tsp, Asafoetida -1/4 tsp. Roast the above in a spoon of ghee or oil. Allow it to cool and grind the ingredients with 1 Tbl spoon of fresh coconut.

For Seasoning

Cumin’s seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure

-Grind the tomato and boil it just for 2 to3 minutes by adding little water, so that its raw flavour will vanish.

-Fry the things given above and make it into a paste. Mix the paste with the boiling tomatoes.

- Let it forth. Switch of the stove. This rasam need not be boiled for a very long time like other rasams because all the ingredients are already cooked.

-Saute cumin’s seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

- Garnish the rasam with chopped coriander and finely chopped ripped tomatoes.

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Garlic Rasam

This rasam can be prepared in 2 ways

I METHOD

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lemon size
Red Chillies- 2 nos
Black pepper – 1/2 tsp
Jeera- 1/2 tsp
Dhania – 1 tsp
Thoor Dhal -1 tsp
Chenna Dhal – 1 tsp
Garlic – 6 flakes

Procedure

-Fry all the above ingredients except tamarind till they are golden brown. While frying add garlic only when the dhal is golden brown in colour colour. Since garlic has water content if you add it first itself, it will get cooked faster and the remaining things will not get fried.

-After adding garlic you should fry till nice aroma comes.

- Grind all these into a smooth paste by adding sufficient water.

-Strain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes after adding salt to it.

-Add the ground mixture to the boiling rasam and again allow it to boil for about 2 minutes.

-If the rasam is strong dilute it with water. Saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

METHOD II

Garlic Rasam Variety
Prepare pepper – jeera rasam as I have explained above.

Saute mustard in ghee & add 10 flakes of garlic, roast it well and add it to rasam. Close the vessel.

As the garlic gets soaked in the rasam, it will give a rich flavour and taste.

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Gottu Rasam or Bachelor’s rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lime size
Tomato – big one
Rasam Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Raw Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder -1/2 tsp

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure

- Cut tomato into small pieces. You don’t need cooked thoor dhal for this rasam.

-Add tamarind, tomato pieces rasam powder, turmeric powder, raw thoor dhal and salt and allow it to boil till the thoor dhal is cooked ( Killu padam i.e you must be able to break the cooked dhal in a single pinch).

- Add water and dilute the rasam to the required quantity.

-Add coriander leaves,saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves add it to rasam. Finally after the whole procedure is over add asafoetida and immediately close it atleast for 10minutes so that the flavour is not lost.

This is very simple but delicious rasam.
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Butter Milk Rasam

You can call it as emergency rasam. Can be done in two methods.

Method I

Ingredients

Butter Milk -2 cups
Red chillies – 4
Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp
ChennaDhal – 1 tsp
Dhaniya- 1 tsp
Methi seeds -1/4 tsp
Coconut -2 tsp
Trumeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/4 spoon

Procedure

- Fry Red chillies ,Thoor Dhal ,ChennaDhal ,Dhaniya and Methi seeds till the dhal is golden brown in colour

-Allow it to cool and make it into a fine paste by adding coconut and asafoetida.

- Mix it with the butter milk and add required amount of salt.

-Saute mustard along with curry leaves and 1 pinch of turmeric powder in 1 tsp of coconut oil (preferable) and add it to rasam. Garnish it with coriander leaves

Method II

Keep 2 cups of butter milk ready.

Add 2 tsp of coconut or cooking oil to the pan. Pre heat the oil.
Add mustard seeds and when it starts spluttering, add 2 tsp rasam powder, 1 pinch methi powder, 1 pinch turmeric powder, 1/4 asafoetida and finally curry leaves and add it to butter milk.
Garnish it with chopped coriander and 1 tsp of freshly grated coconut.

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As I already told rasam is one of the delicious south Indian soups. Here I have explained the preparation of rasam, and small tips to make it all the more tasty.

Ordinary Dhal Rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lime size
Tomato – big one
Rasam Powder – 1 tsp ti 1 1/2 tsp ( depending upon the strength of the rasam powder)
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 Tbs with its water
Asafoetida powder -1/2 tsp

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure
-Stain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the colour of the rasam.

-Add the rasam powder, turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of the rasam powder vanishes

-Now smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves add it to rasam. Finally, after the whole procedure is over add asafoetida and immediately close it at least for 10minutes so that the flavour is not lost.

Tasty yummy rasam is ready.

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Lime Rasam

Ingredients

Tomato – 2 big one
Rasam Powder – 1/2 tsp
Green Chilies – 2 Nos
Ginger – a small piece about 1″
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 Tbs with its water
Asafoetida powder -1/2 tsp
Lime – 1 in nos

Procedure

-Finely chop the tomatoes. Slit the green chilies longitudinally and chop the ginger into small pieces.

-Mix the chopped tomatoes, ginger, chillies rasam powder, turmeric powder and salt in 1 1/2 cups of water and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of the rasam powder vanishes.

-Now smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

-Remove the rasam form the fire and then add the juice of one lime and serve.

-Lime should be added only after removing rasam form the fire. Lime juice will turn soar when cooked.
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Pineapple Rasam

Pineapple rasam is the delicasy of SouthIndia.

The procedure is same as that of doing lime rasam.

The only difference is you have to reduce the quantity of lime juice to half and add a cup full of chopped pineapple. You can also extract the juice of the pineapple and add to it.

After rasam is done , garnish it with ripe pineapples.

Orange Rasam

The same procedure can be followed in preparing orange rasam .
Add orange juice instead of pineapple juice.

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Mysore Rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lemon size
Tomato – 1 big in size
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp along with water

To fry and grind

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, Thoordhal – 1 tsp, ChennaDhal – 1 tsp, Red Chilies – 4 (or 6, if u need a spicy rasam)Nos, Black pepper – 1/2 tsp, Methi seeds- 1/4 tsp, Asafoetida -1/4 tsp. Roast the above in a spoon of ghee or oil. Add 1/2 tsp of jeera and Coconut – 1 Tbl spoon, grind it to a smoot powder.

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure
Stain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the colour of the rasam.

-Add turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of tamarind vanishes. Now add the powder you prepared.

-Smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

Lime Mysore Rasam

Instead of adding the tamarind in the begining add the lime juice at last, as you did for the lime rasam.

Brinjal Mysore Rasam

Slit the small brinjals into four without fully cutting them.

Cook the brinjal in tamarind water and repeat the same procedure.
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Pepper – Jeera Rasam

Already in y previous post I have explained to you about the preparation of pepper – jeera rasam powder. Always keep it handy.
This can be done with or with out tomatoes.

Ingredients
Tamarind – size of small lemon if you are using tomato
size of a big lime if tomato is not used.
Rasam Powder – 2 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 Tbs with its water

Procedure
Stain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the color of the rasam.

-Add the rasam powder, salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of the rasam powder vanishes.

-Now smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.

-Saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

For this rasam asafoetida &
coriander are not required. Instead just crush few fresh curry leaves with a pinch of salt and garnish the rasam.
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Poricha Rasam

This rasam is done without tamarind. But it is very tasty.

Ingredients

Tomato – 1 big in size
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp along with water

To fry and grind

Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, Thoordhal – 1 tsp, ChennaDhal – 1 tsp, Red Chilies – 2 Nos, Black pepper – 1/2 tsp, Asafoetida -1/4 tsp. Roast the above in a spoon of ghee or oil. Allow it to cool and grind the ingredients with 1 Tbl spoon of fresh coconut.

For Seasoning

Cumin’s seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure

-Grind the tomato and boil it just for 2 to3 minutes by adding little water, so that its raw flavour will vanish.

-Fry the things given above and make it into a paste. Mix the paste with the boiling tomatoes.

- Let it forth. Switch of the stove. This rasam need not be boiled for a very long time like other rasams because all the ingredients are already cooked.

-Saute cumin’s seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

- Garnish the rasam with chopped coriander and finely chopped ripped tomatoes.
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Garlic Rasam

This rasam can be prepared in 2 ways

I METHOD

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lemon size
Red Chillies- 2 nos
Black pepper – 1/2 tsp
Jeera- 1/2 tsp
Dhania – 1 tsp
Thoor Dhal -1 tsp
Chenna Dhal – 1 tsp
Garlic – 6 flakes

Procedure

-Fry all the above ingredients except tamarind till they are golden brown. While frying add garlic only when the dhal is golden brown in colour colour. Since garlic has water content if you add it first itself, it will get cooked faster and the remaining things will not get fried.

-After adding garlic you should fry till nice aroma comes.

- Grind all these into a smooth paste by adding sufficient water.

-Stain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes after adding salt to it.

-Add the ground mixture to the boiling rasam and again allow it to boil for about 2 minutes.

-If the rasam is strong dilute it with water. Saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.

METHOD II

Prepare pepper – jeera rasam as I have explained above.

Saute mustard in ghee & add 10 flakes of garlic, roast it well and add it to rasam. Close the vessel.

As the garlic gets soaked in the rasam, it will give a rich flavour and taste.
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Gottu Rasam or Bachelor’s rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind – small lime size
Tomato – big one
Rasam Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Raw Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder -1/2 tsp

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Procedure
- Cut tomato into small pieces. You don’t need cooked thoor dhal for this rasam.

-Add tamarind, tomato pieces rasam powder, turmeric powder, raw thoor dhal and salt and allow it to boil till the thoor dhal is cooked ( Killu padam i.e you must be able to break the cooked dhal in a single pinch).

- Add water and dilute the rasam to the required quantity.

-Add coriander leaves,saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves add it to rasam. Finally after the whole procedure is over add asafoetida and immediately close it atleast for 10minutes so that the flavour is not lost.

This is very simple but delicious rasam.
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Butter Milk Rasam

You can call it as emergency rasam. Can be done in two methods.

Method I

Ingredients

Butter Milk -2 cups
Red chillies – 4
Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp
ChennaDhal – 1 tsp
Dhaniya- 1 tsp
Methi seeds -1/4 tsp
Coconut -2 tsp
Trumeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/4 spoon

Procedure

- Fry Red chillies ,Thoor Dhal ,ChennaDhal ,Dhaniya and Methi seeds till the dhal is golden brown in colour

-Allow it to cool and make it into a fine paste by adding coconut and asafoetida.

- Mix it with the butter milk and add required amount of salt.

-Saute mustard along with curry leaves and 1 pinch of turmeric powder in 1 tsp of coconut oil (preferable) and add it to rasam. Garnish it with coriander leaves

Method II

Keep 2 cups of butter milk ready.

Add 2 tsp of coconut or cooking oil to the pan. Pre heat the oil.
Add mustard seeds and when it starts spluttering, add 2 tsp rasam powder, 1 pinch methi powder, 1 pinch turmeric powder, 1/4 asafoetida and finally curry leaves and add it to butter milk.
Garnish it with chopped coriander and 1 tsp of freshly grated coconut.
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Adai is one of the favourite south Indian recipes which is rich in carbohydrate and proteins. It can also be made more nutritious by adding vegetables.

Adai -Procedure
Ingredients

Boiled rice - 1 cup
Chenna Dhal – 1/2 cup
Thoor Dhal – 1/4 cup
Urud dhal – 1/4 cup
Red chillies – 16 Nos (green chillies can also be used)
Salt – 2 tsp
Asofoetida – 1/2 tsp
Coconut, ginger – 1 cup, 1 inch long ( optional)
Curry leaves
Procedure

- Soak the boiled rice for 3 hours and the all the dhal for 2 hour separately.
- Drain the water and grind the dhal coarsely. Also grind the rice not into a very smooth batter but little bit coarse along with chillies , asafoetida, coconut and ginger. Only then you will get a very crispy adai.

- Heat a tava(griddle) and grease it generously. Now, pour one ladleful of batter on the tava(griddle) and roast both sides till it becomes golden in color.

In general many people like to add finely chopped onion and coriander to the batter. This makes the adai more tasty.

It is better to add ginger because adai preparation involves more usage of dhal.

if you are a vegetable lover then you can even add finely chopped cabbage, grated potatoes, murungai keerai (drumstick leaves) to the batter.

PARANGI ADAI

I devote this preparation to my grandmother from whom I learnt .

All you have to do is prepare the adai batter. Finely chop the Illam parangikai (yellow pumpkin) . Mix with the batter and make the adai dosa. It is will be very tasty.

Adai can be served with pure coconut chutney , tomato ketchup, jaggery and butter ( butter must be fresh) or any pickle like Mangai thokku or tomato thokku. But of all the best combination for adai is aviyal ( made from mixed vegetables ).

Command your kitchen by providing variety but healthy food to your family.