Quick and Easy South Indian Style Rasam

To be very frank, South Indian delicacies are not my favourites - even though I am a South Indian, by birth. Though I grew up on South Indian staples like Idli, Dosa, Sambhar, Rasam and Coconut based curries, my taste-buds are more partial towards North Indian, Oriental and Continental flavours. However, there are days that I crave for a piping hot and satiating meal from the South. And the lazy person I am, (a total Garfield sometimes) I would rather make a quick and easy version of the otherwise seemingly arduous delicacies from the South of India.

And so, for the days when I crave a satiating rasam rice with a dollop of ghee on top, this recipe is what I stick to. I bring to you a classic, the quick and super easy recipe of South Indian style rasam.

Serves: 2

Time: 15 mins

INGREDIENTS:

For the rasam:

1-2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
2 teaspoon sambhar/rasam powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 pinch asafoetida powder or concentrate, diluted with water
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 teaspoon mustard seeds
6-7 fresh curry leaves
Coconut oil

METHOD:

1. Quarter the tomato and blend until lump-free and runny.
2. Transfer into a bowl. Add equal amounts of water, or till desired watery consistency.
3. Add the masala powders and salt. Mix well and set to boil for about 5-7 minutes.
4. Later, add the chopped coriander.
5. In a tempering vessel, heat 2-3 tsp coconut oil. When hot add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add curry leaves and switch off the heat.
6. Add the tempering to the rasam mix. 
7. Mix well and serve hot with steamed rice, poppadoms and ghee.

Mushroom Peas Masala with a peppy twist

Food, in my opinion, can be associated with various emotions. It goes beyond becoming a delicious dish. It turns into an emotional connection.

Be it satiating like a paneer or chicken tikka masala, dull or uninteresting like bottle gourd (lauki) ki sabzi, or be it foodgasmic like hot gulab jamuns on a cold winter’s day.

And when it comes to the peppy emotion, it need not be pasta or pizza. But can be indian based gravies too!

Whenever I cook at home, I usually end up making pasta and noodle based dishes. And usually, when we order in, we call for Indian gravies that are milder in the spice quotient. So, I thought of recreating an order in peppy favourite – Mushroom Peas Masala.

Mushroom Peas Masala is a mildly spiced gravy with tomato and onion based but is creamier due to the addition of cashew paste. It is a main course dish. A hit with the kids as they tend to love both mushrooms as well as green peas. I’ve tried this adapted recipe from Tarla Dalal’s recipe book several times and it has been a hit.

So here’s the recipe:

Preparation Time: 15 mins   

Cooking Time: 30 mins   

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cashewnut (kaju) paste

1 1/2 cups green peas (frozen peas are fine too)

200 gms mushrooms (khumbh), cleaned and cut into halves

2 tbsp oil

4 black cardamom pods

1 stick of cinnamon (dalchini)

1 cup finely chopped onions

2 tbsp ginger-garlic (adrak-lehsun) paste (you can even ground 6 cloves of garlic with 1 inch cubed piece of ginger instead)

1/2 cup tomato puree (you may use fresh 4 medium sized fresh tomatoes, blanch them, peel and blitz in blender for homemade puree)

1 tbsp chilli powder

2 tsp coriander (dhania) seeds powder

1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

1 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

For The Garnish

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (dhania)

Method

Heat the oil in a pan, add the cardamoms, cinnamon stick and onions and saute till onions turn golden brown in colour.

Add the ginger-garlic paste, mix well and cook for 2 minutes on a medium flame.

Add the tomato puree, chilli powder, coriander seeds powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt and cook till the oil leaves the masala.

Add the cashewnut paste dissolved in 1 cup of water and mix well. You can also use powdered cashewnuts and add water to it to use it like a paste.

Add 1/2 cup of water and bring it to a boil.

Add the green peas and mushrooms and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or till the green peas are cooked.

Serve hot garnished with coriander.

You can have it with steamed rice, jeera rice, phulkas, rotis, naan or bread.

Do try out this recipe and let me know how you liked it.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Sevaiya Kheer - No fuss, One Pot Dessert

Honestly, I do not possess a sweet tooth; OK maybe only for chocolates. And perhaps that is the reason why I create fewer sweet dishes. Yet, I love the concept of sweet endings to a meal – a dessert – which is best eaten when created with minimal fuss, in my honest opinion. 

Thanks to my sweet-loving family, I have now learnt to whip a sweet dish quickly and ones especially that require no to minimal preparation time. And today I share one of the first desserts I learnt when started taking interest in cooking – a one pot dessert : Sevaiya Kheer. It is simple - and that is why I hold this recipe close to my heart.

Simple, quick and full of flavours, it is the best dish for beginners to learn. And I can make it under 10 minutes if all the ingredients are available. So here, I recreate the recipe as guided by my dear mother-in-law.

Sevaiya Kheer/ Roasted Vermicelli in Milk

Serves: 6 (Makes 6 bowlfuls)

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

125 gm Sugarfree Natura powder – a natural sweetening substitute.
(The original recipe calls for sugar, you can use either of the two)

125 gm Roasted Vermicelli (Easily available in the market)

2-3 strands saffron soaked in 2-3 tsp of water

4 each of cashewnuts, almonds and raisins - roughly chopped

750 ml Milk (I used skimmed milk)

½ tsp cardamom powder

Procedure:

Pour all of the milk in a vessel and heat it on medium heat. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Add Sugarfree Natura or Sugar and mix well.

Then add the chopped dry fruits and the vermicelli and mix well.

Add the saffron strands and the cardamom powder and mix well.

Just as the milk starts to boil, take it off the gas and cover with lid. Let it rest for 5-7 minutes.

This step will allow the vermicelli to cook.

Serve hot with slivers of soaked almonds as a garnish.

Alternatively, after the kheer has cooled down to the room temperature, you can refrigerate it for an hour or so and serve cold as well.

If you use Sugarfree Natura – a natural sweetening substitute- instead of sugar, you will perhaps not notice the difference in sweetness. But as compared to sugar, it is known to lessen the amount of calories consumed. So consume your sweet dessert guilt free, minus the calories!

Do try this recipe and let me know how it tasted.

This post has been written for the Sugar Free Dessert Challenge contest on IndiBlogger. 

Recipe: Ricotta Spinach filled Tortellini on a bed of Mushrooms

I happened to attend the BNLF - Blog Now Live Forever Conference earlier this month. As a part of redefining an experience of a conference, hosts IndiBlogger asked the talented Chef Kumar of Trendz restaurant of The Lalit to conduct a special MasterClass on an Italian cuisine dish.

Yours truly was invited to this class and here's the Italian masterpiece that we learnt:

Ricotta Spinach Filled Tortellini on a bed of mushrooms

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

25 gm Ricotta Cheese

50 gm Baby Spinach

50 gm Farina Flour 00'

15 gm Semolina

1 Egg

5 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

50 gm Button Mushrooms

25 gm onion

25 gm Asparagus

5 gm Sage butter

10 gm Sun-dried Tomatoes

10 gm Pine nuts

1 cherry tomato

Chives for garnish

Salt to taste

Cracked black pepper for seasoning

1 whisked egg as pasta sealing agent

Method:

For the tortellini pasta:

Make a soft pasta dough using the Farina flour, whole egg, salt, olive oil. Keep aside for resting the dough. 

Sheet the pasta using a pasta maker. Make  the pasta sheet with thickness up to 1.5 mm.

For the pasta filling:

Make a mixture of the ricotta cheese and chopped spinach for the filling.

Kitchen Secret: Grate some nutmeg to decrease the bitterness of the spinach

Watch the video of Chef Kumar explaining the secret of using Nutmeg:

Shaping the Tortellini:

Lay the sheet of pasta flat. Use a cutter to cut circles into the sheet of pasta.

Add a spoonful of the spinach filling into the centre of the pasta circle like in the video:

 

Brush some egg around the edges of the pasta circle and seal the pasta in half. The egg acts as a sealing agent.

Tip: (If want to skip eggs, you can use potato starch as the sealing agent)

Now, the crucial step. Fold the edges of the tortellini to make the shape like so. Watch the next video that explains this step in detail:

Blanch the spinach filled pasta in salted water or in a steamer for 8 minutes.

For the bed of mushrooms:

In a pan, heat EVOO. Add chopped onions and chopped mushrooms. Arrange it on a plate as the base for pasta. In the video, the chef explains how the mushrooms are prepared:

For the sauce:.

In another pan, saute sage butter, chopped onion, garlic till translucent. Then add chopped sun-dried tomato and chopped pine nuts. Garnish with chopped parsley and fresh sage,

Toss the blanched pasta in the sauce.

Plating:

Arrange the pasta on the plate with the bed of mushrooms.

Use the butter poached asparagus and balsamic reduction as a garnish along with chopped chives and sun-dried tomatoes.

Watch the video on how to plate:

On tasting it, I could feel the crunch of mushrooms along with the tangy-ness of the sun-dried tomatoes. Both go well with the velvety ricotta cheese spinach filling in the pasta.

What do you think of this recipe?