Tomato Garlic Rasam

Rasam is something that never comes easy to everyone.Though its one of the most easiest recipe,most of us would fail in meeting the right consistency.And this particular recipe is for Tomato Garlic Rasam. There could be days when you run out of tamarind and wonder how to make a rasam without it.

This is a rasam that does not require any tamarind,but also has a great flavor and is quite easy to make.No one can go wrong making it :)

Time:Making time (15 mins)

Difficulty level: Easy 

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes - 2 medium sized 
• Garlic - 3 to 4 flakes
• Ginger, a pinch ~ optional
• Red Chillies - 2 to 3
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Black Pepper - 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
• Rasam Powder - 1 tsp ~ optional
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves and Coriander to garnish

For Seasoning,

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida, a pinch

Preparation:

1. Cut the tomatoes into pieces and put it in a mixer.
2. Peel the skin of the Garlic pods and add it along with the tomatoes.
3. To this, add the Jeera,Black pepper,Coriander seeds and Red Chillies.
4. Add a little water and grind all the ingredients together.
5. To this mixture, add some more water,a pinch of asafoetida,salt to taste and allow it to simmer for a while until the raw smell disappears.
6. For the tadka,add a spoon of ghee,jeera,mustard seeds and a few curry leaves and allow it to splutter.Add this to the Rasam mixture.
7. Finally, add the chopped coriander leaves for the garnish.

Badam Cashew Cake

 

I like to cook  and have been wanting to blog for quite sometime now.Finally I am successful in getting into blogging and checking out a few food blogs was enough motivation :) I recently tried out a traditional south indian sweet.

Thanks to my aunt for sharing this secret recipe of hers.It came out really well in the first trial itself n am glad it did :)

Time: Making time (1 hr)

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

• Badam(Almonds) - 1 Cup (200 g)
• Kaju(Cashews) - 1/2 Cup ~ optional
• Milk - 1 Cup
• Few drops of food color ~ optional
• a pinch of Cardamom (Elaichi Powder)
• Few strands of Saffron soaked in milk
• Sugar to taste
• Ghee - 1 small sized cup

Preparation:

1. Soak the Badam(Almonds) in water for 8-10 hours and peel off the skin.
2. Add the Kaju(Cashews) and grind them together into a very fine paste.
3. Measure the amount of the ground paste to know the quantity of sugar needed in the making.For 1 cup of the paste, I usually add close to 2 cups of Sugar. This proportion usually works out well.
4. In a thick bottomed vessel, add the ground paste,sugar and the milk together and Mix well.
5. Allow the mixture to boil until it thickens and starts to leave the sides of the vessel.This will take you sometime to thicken...so you need to have some patience here :)
6. Keep stirring continuously by adding ghee as the mixture tends to stick onto the bottom of the vessel. Allow it to simmer for sometime.
7. Once the mixture starts to bubble up, Add a pinch of cardamom powder along with the saffron and mix well.
8. Now switch off the gas when the mixture is of the right consistency. Note : It shouldn't be too watery or too thick as well.
9. Butter up a serving tray and pour out the mixture evenly.Flatten the mixture and allow it to cool
10. Cut it in the desired shape and size and Serve it. Here you go...yummy Badam-Kaju cake is ready :)