Rasam - Simplicity at its best..

Rasam is the staple side dish in south Indian cuisine and is a must in every household. There are many different varieties of rasam like adding dal, lemon, and so on. This is served as a appetizer or with hot white rice.

My dad drinks one hot cup of rasam when ever it is made and so I am. Now my daughter does that. I usually make a not- so- spicy rasam for her and she enjoys it.
This is my MIL’s version of Rasam. It tasted so good even without adding any rasam powder. She keeps the ready made spice powder in a bottle and when ever required she makes rasam out of it :-)

Ingredients:

1. Tomatoes (chopped)- 2nos
2. Garlic cloves- 6-7nos
3. Shallots- 5nos
4. whole pepper- 1tbsp
5. Cumin seeds- 1tsp
6. Coriander seeds- 1tsp
7. Red chilli- 1no
8. Tamarind juice- ½ cup
9. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
10. Fenugreek seeds- 1tsp
11. Curry leaves- few
12. Oil- 1tbsp
13. Coriander leaves (chopped)- 2tbsp
14. Salt- as per taste
15. Asafoetida- a pinch

Method:

1. Crush the garlic and shallots and keep it aside.
2. Powder the whole pepper, cumin seeds, coriander seeds in a mortar and keep it aside.
3. In a heavy bottom pan heat oil and splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and red chilli.
4. In the above add crushed garlic, shallots and salt, stir till the raw smell disappears. In this add the powdered spices and mix well.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, coriander leaves along with tamarind juice and let it boil till the tomatoes become soft. At last add asafoetida.
6. Add required amount of water and let it boil for 5 to 10 minutes.
7. Serve hot with steamed rice, pappad and pickle.

Potato and Egg salad- Light and Creamy

There are wide varieties of salads, including vegetable salad,with pasta, eggs and so on.

We have seen lot many potato and egg salads along with mayonnaise which is very famous, but in this salad yogurt along with cream is added which is quite easy to make.

I got this recipe from a magazine. I made a few changes to the original recipe with the ingredients I have. The flavours of minced garlic and dried rosemary will awaken your senses. This salad is very light and creamy and goes well with anything grilled.

Ingredients:

1. Potato ( boiled and cubed)- 2nos
2. Egg (hardboiled)- 1no
3. Sweet Corn (boiled)- ½ cup
4. Yogurt- ½ cup
5. salt- as per taste
6. pepper powder- 1tsp
7. Cream- 100ml
8. Garlic cloves (minced)- 2nos
9. Dried Rosemary- 2tsp

Method:

1. Place the eggs, potatoes and corn in a bowl and toss lightly with salt and pepper powder.
2. In another bowl mix the yogurt, cream and garlic cloves stir until well mixed.
3. Add this dressing  over the potatoes and eggs and mix well. Sprinkle with dried rosemary and serve.

Jam squares

I never knew that something like Jam squares exists :) I simply made a cake and as my little one loves jam a lot I spread the jam over the cake and cut it into small squares and when she asked me for the name, I just told her that these are called “Jam squares”.

When I googled for jam squares, there were a lot of recipes in this name and I was really surprised.

My little one was finishing them quite fast and I was hurrying to get the snaps :-) My in-laws and granny were here at the time when I made this and they loved the taste and I am sure that this will be an instant hit among the kids and as well as elders.

I am dedicating this recipe to our very own “Jammy” for his brilliant 100 at the Eden Gardens :-)

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour / Maida- ½ cup
2. Corn flour- 1tbsp
3. Baking powder- 1tsp
4. Vanilla Essence- 1tsp
5. Eggs- 2nos
6. Castor Sugar- ½ cup
7. Mixed Fruit Jam- 3tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C and line a baking tray with greased butter and all purpose flour. keep it aside.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar till pale yellow colour and creamy texture.
3. Sift the flour, corn flour and baking powder well and mix this in the above egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla essence and mix well.
4. Spread the prepared batter in the greased tray and bake for about 15 minutes.
5. When it is done, cool it on a wire rack. Trim the edges of the cake.
6. Mix the jam well and spread it on the cake and cut in the form of squares and enjoy.

Note:

• As a spread you can use any jam of your choice.
• Sprinkling some nuts on top of the jam will make a difference.

I am sending this to the bake fest event hosted by Vardhini and also to Christmas Delicacy an event hosted by Julie.

Bangalore Food Blogger's Meet

I know most of you are already aware of this. But I am so excited to share this news about the Bangalore food blogger’s meet which was held on Nov 12th at Via Milano in Bangalore. About 26 of food bloggers met under one roof, had lots of fun, yummy food and I got to make new friends :-)

I have been seeing many of these names regularly in various blogs and this was a great opportunity for me to interact with these wonderful group of people.

This was the first meeting of its kind and I am really thankful to Madhuri Kumar for taking the initiative and planning it to perfection.

Altogether, a wonderful experience and I am already looking forward to the next event :-)

Blueberry Cheese Cake

Celebrating Eid and my blog's first birthday.... Eid Mubarak to all my near and dear ones...

Yes, there are two occassions for me to celebrate this week. Id al Zuha and my blog’s first birthday comes on the same day. It has been exactly one year since I started my blog to share my recipes with all you friends. Ever since, I have got to meet very talented and creative people all around the world, got wonderful and lovely friends and learnt a whole lot of cooking, much more than I could ever imagine.

I reckon, my blogging idea started one day when I was preparing something in the kitchen and  my husband came and commented that I should start writing a blog since I spend a lot of my time google-ing recipes and reading the various blogs. At first I laughed it off, but after a few days, he himself took the initiative to start this blog and here I am.

I never imagined that my blog will have any followers or that anyone will comment on the posts :-) But today I am quite excited with the response I am getting from all of you. I would like to once again thank my inspiration and well-wisher, Nagalakshmi.

I got this home made blue berry jam which my husband’s colleague gifted him, when he was in US last month. I thought of making this cake since I always liked blue berry and wanted to do some recipes with it.

In this recipe, we can also use the whole blueberries. Blue berry is an excellent antioxidant.

Ingredients:

1. Blueberry jam / Crush / Whole berry - 4tbsp
2. Cream Cheese- 2cups
3. Whipping Cream- 1cup
4. Lemon Juice- 1tbsp
5. Sugar- ¼ cup
6. Vanilla Essence- 1tsp
7. Marie biscuits- 1pckt
8. Butter (melted)- 50gms
9. Cinnamon powder- 1tsp
10. Sugar- 3tbsp

Method:

1. Crush the marie biscuits with a rolling pin or in a food processor.
2. In this add the melted butter, cinnamon powder and sugar and crumble well till it resembles sand.
3. Press this onto the bottom of greased 9- inch spring form pan and chill in refrigerator.
4. Blend the cream cheese, whipping cream, lemon juice, sugar and vanilla essence until smooth. In this mix 3tbsp of blueberry jam.
5. Spread this over the refrigerated crumb base and smooth the edges with a spatula.
6. Keep this in the refrigerator overnoght or till it is completely set and firm.
7. Run  knive around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Release pan sides and t ransfer to a platter.
8. Decorate and enjoy yummy and creamy dessert.

Note:
If there are no berries, then we can simply make the cheese cake.

Methi Pulao / Fenugreek leaves flavoured rice

I love greens a lot and make it a point to cook it often. These greens are available in all the seasons in abundance.

In this, the leaf is used as a herb and the seed is well known as a spice. The herb grows around 2 feet in height and has slender stems. The leaves will be in light green colour. The leaves can be used fresh and also dried.

Earlier, I was not a big fan of these leaves due to its bitter taste, but later I was introduced to this excellent, easy and simple pulao by my dear friend. That day I realised that these leaves can be transformed into a delicious dish.

This wonder herb is rich in minerals and has several medicinal values. These leaves will add flavor and zest to cooking. This can be added in dal, rice, chapathis and so on. Off late, many of my Sunday lunches consists of this pulao and a side dish.

Ingredients:

1. Methi Leaves / Fenugreek Leaves- 1 small bunch
2. Rasam Powder- 2tbsp
3. Rice (cooked)- 2cups
4. Onions (chopped)- 2nos
5. Garlic (chopped)- 7-8nos
6. Cinnamon stick- 1”piece
7. Cloves- 3nos
8. Cardamom- 2nos
9. Salt- as per taste
10. Ghee- 1tbsp

Method:

1. Drop the cloves, cinnamon, cardomom, chopped onions and garlic in the sizzling hot ghee and stir well till translucent.
2. In this add the chopped fenugreek leaves and salt. Mix well till the raw smell disappears.
3. When it is mixed well add the rasam powder and stir well.
4. Add the cooked rice, mix well and serve hot with raita.