Pineapple rasam

   With few pineapple slices, left over, I settled at this recipe , found at Chef Damodharan's cookbook.  The recipe was very simple, though I twisted the rasam masala with few curry leaves and green chillies addition.  The result was delicate, sweet and sour peppery rasam.  Kids would love it because of an different, 'sweet' quotient into them.  And, elders would welcome an new change.

So, do try and let us know.  Moving on to the recipe.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time : 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients required

For the rasam masala

• 21/2 tsp whole cumin seeds/ jeera
• 1 tsp whole peppercorn
• 6-8 tiny garlic pods
• 3/4 tsp finely chopped green chillies
• 8-10 whole curry leaves

Others

• 1 tbspn of oil
• 3/4 tsp of mustard seeds
• Pinch of hing/asafoetida
• Pinch of haldi/turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped pineapple 
• 1/4 cup of finley chopped tomatos
•  1/4 cup of tuvar dal
• Salt, to taste

Method

Coarsely grind all, under rasam masala, without adding water, keep aside.  Soak tuvar dal for atleast twenty minutes and pressure cook them for two whistles with half cup of water.  Blend them , and keep aside.   

Heat oil.  Add mustard seeds and wait till they splutter.

Now, add in hing and turmeric.  Finally add corase paste of rasam masala.  Saute them for an minute.  

Add in pineapple and tomato pieces.  Saute for five to ten minutes, till they turn soft.  

Finally add in mashed tuvar dal, and add salt to taste.  

Let the rasam froth towards the edges.  Switch off the flame and serve hot.  

Enjoy with hot rice  :)

Happy cooking :)

Linking this to Srivalli's CCC Challenge

Verkadalai chutney - Peanut chutney

   Back at Chennai, my mother used to prepare fabulous chutney, depending on the available ingredients.  Everytime, it was different - ranging from onion chutney, mint chutney, peerkankai chutney, dal chutney, verkadalai chutney etc.  Yes, I am still drooling here thinking of her exotic chutneys :D

     For us, it would be always coconut chutney, but for an change, I tried my mother's recipe for verkadalai chutney.  I must say, it resembled an spicy desi version of ' Peanut butter'.  Chutney was soo smooth, soo buttery to have with every bite of dosa.

The next day, I called mom and thanked her for such an unique and tasty chutney.  Bored of regular chutney, please do give them an chance...  :D

Tiffin sambhar / Moong dal sambhar

We plan a lot for our life, isn't it?  Physical work-out, an brisk morning walk, gardening, trying out new interiors or exotic classes like Yoga, embriodery... my list goes on :)  But, time constraint hardly cuts down our options to one out of ten.  Though we plan an lot to do, plenty of our time goes into kitchen, thus sparing none.  Yes, this dish is dedicated to such constraints.... an sambhar, which is more delecious (than traditional) and more easy to make within little time is all I can start with... :P

This sambhar, is my hubby's favourite.  Using moong dal (instead of tuvar dal), tunes up the taste and also reduces the time of cooking.  This sambhar does not need pre-soaking of tamarind, since we are using country tomatos to achieve the same.  They can be aptly prepared for breakfast and served piping hot with idly/dosa.  Well, my husband grew an lot fond of it, that he wants them to replace the normal sambhar made for lunch.  Does that doubt? Well, try for yourself and be surprised with an overwhelming response.

Sambhar

    Hi all.... back from my short vacation.  And since my daughter leaves to her summer camp, my routine life is almost back... Filling up my refrigerator with freshly brought veggies and fruits, cleaning up my partially-messed home, ... list goes on.  Going on vacation sounds much easier, but when it comes to post-vacation work, I always save an huge 'sigh' :/   Yesterday, day went quite interesting watching over election results.  Victory was predicted, as usual, but winning by 1:6 ratio (Congress: BJP) was quite an 'whooping result'.  Similarly goes with Tamilnadu where ADMK gained 37 out of 39 available seats.  Fabulous, isn't it?  Let us see if this decision solves our stagnating economy and deals with the price rise as well....

   Yes and coming back to our post, born and brought up at Chennai, I could'nt miss this special SAMBHAR prepared by my mom.  Infact, this is my favourite and same with my husband too.  Sambhar is south-indian dal preparation, mostly tuvar dal (yellow pigeon peas), with sambhar powder (an aromatic powder made out of chana dal, dried red chillies, curry leaves, whole cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida, few peppercorn etc), tamarind, assorted set of vegetables (like brinjal, drumstick, snakegourd, pumpkin etc), finished with an sweet touch of jaggery.

The trick in preparing an perfect sambhar lies in perfect balance of spice-sour and an sweet taste.  As an first-try, I have messed up by adding more sourness (more amount of imly/tamarind) into my sambhar.  So, I strongly recommend you to add only half of prescribed tamarind during cooking, other half you can wait till you complete the cooking, check the sambhar and add accordingly.  Also, kindly note that this 'sour' factor depends on tomatos you are adding.  Since, I have added hybrid tomatos, I have included tamarind.  In case, I am going with country tomatos ,(which has an higher sour content) I would prefer not to add tamarind as the former itself gives out required 'sour' effect.

Idiyappam - Step by step tutorial from store bought riceflour

   Idiyappam, is commonly found dish in South (Tamilnadu, Kerala, coastal parts of Karnataka) India.  The rice flour paste (or wheat flour/ragi flour) is pressed to noodles, steam-cooked and had.  While sweet ones, are done by dusting  with sugar and coconut flakes, savoury-lovers are free to have them with a dip of any spicy curry.  You can opt for Kadalai curry, Meen kolambu, Chettinadu kozhi kolambu.  Also am having minced meat curry on my draft and will post them soon :D

This dish is highly made by preparing rice flour at home, that is why I presume the name goes, Idi-'appam (Idi meaning 'to crush' in tamil.  'appam' meaning pancake) Here selected rice is soaked, drained and is dried.  They are then crushed to yield very fine rice flour and the process continues.  What happens here is that, I have made them with store-bought riceflour.  Store bought ones may not be suitable if used directly.  The trick is to roast them till they get an fine texture.  Later they are sieved to yield uniform sized and textured rice flour.  Thanks all goes to my, Keralite neighbor who shared this with me :D  Thank you aunty :)

Vathakulambu - Southindian spicy & sour curry

    Vathakulambu is my favourite curry.  I often admire its taste.   Once i saw cooking show which featured menu rani chellam maam cooking this yummy curry,  I was deeply moved by the show and its output.  The best part of her show is that she gives a lot of tips about cooking and also educates us about the dish's contents...  For very instance she said that vathakulambu differs from karrakulambu (another spicy, non-soury curry) a lot.  Former does not require addition of tomato and garlic, wheras latter requires them as their main contents.  Sambhar powder/sambhar masala is main spice ingredient used up in vathakulambu, wheras latter requires chilly powder, dhanya powder etc... I enjoyd watching her show and her valuable tips... Hope they telecast more of her shows....


     The perfect recipe for vathakulambu lies in the balance of imli and sambhar powder.  The best part of balance lies in adding half of  imli first and tasting the final product, lateron as per the taste other half quantity of imli can be added.  Freshers/ those who try vathakulambu and sambhar for the first time can follow the same, bcoz excess use of imli can spoil the taste and health.