Though I am into blogging world long back ago I feel this
post kind of special in terms of appetite world as this is my first post
relating to cooking. Apart from Blogging, Cricket, Movies even Cooking is also
my cup of tea. I want to start my cooking carnival with one of my fev Aloo fry
and Tomato Rasam. Whenever my mother used to serve this combo with hot rice, I used to felt
heavenly because of aromatic exposure of rasam and tasting buds which delights me.
About my cooking History
Before going into cooking recipe let me give a short brief
about how I included cooking as integral part of my life. During childhood days
and Engineering days if I feel bored I used to help my mother in Kitchen like
cutting vegetables, grinding the stuff necessary for particular recipe and
that's how I used to observe how she used to cook different items in her own style.
Apart from that I used to watch my fev Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana.
My experiments on part time cooking started on my friends
during bachelors days. After coming to US it has became full time where I leant most of the recipes from my family(Mother and Sister),
Sanjeev Kapoor, online cooking friends(Mostly my online sister Sailus food,GayatriVantillu
and vahrevah.com) and finally my friends.
Myself Busy in Chopping
Aloo
Fry(Potato Fry) Ingredients
Medium sized
Potatoes 5-6 ( Boil and cut into medium
sized cubes)
2 Tb Spoon
Oil
1 Onion
(Sliced )
1/2 Cumin
Seeds, 1/2 Mustard Seeds
2 Tb Spoon
Urad Dal
5 Green
Chillies(Slit)
8-10 Curry
Leaves
1 Tb Spoon
Coriander Powder
1/2 Tb Spoon Turmeric Powder
Salt to
Taste
Coriander
Leaves(Chopped)
Gram Flour/Besan (Optional)
Method of
Preparation
In a large Pan, heat oil. When the pan gets heated add cumin
and mustard seeds. Once they splutter add Chillies, Urad dal and curry leaves
(stir for 3-4 secs). Add onions and salt. Once onions become golden brown add
turmeric and finally add Potatoes. Mix well all the ingredients so that all
gets combined for a fine taste. Fry the potatoes well till it turns into brown.
Finally garnish with chopped coriander.
N.B - We can do Aloo fry eaither with or without gram flour.
I followed my mother's recipe so I used gram flour in my recipe. For that
initially roast the gram flour in different pan. After the roasting process,
add the flour before potatoes are added in above process(So that the flour gets
connected well with the oil and make sure there will not be kind of lumps).
Tomato
Rasam
Rasam can be prepared in different styles. Everybody has
their own style of making with variations in ingredients and method of cooking.
From my side before preparing Rasam, I followed the method prepared by Gayitri
Garu. The rasam which we are going to prepare gives a unique flavor(having the
taste of pepper, Tomato and Tamarind).
So whatever
the ingredients and method I am producing here are relatively same as
GayitriVantillu recipe . Here is the video of that recipe @ Gayatrivantillu Tomato Rasam recipe.
Ingredients
5 cups of Water
Salt to taste , 1/2 tsp Sugar
Rasam Powder(Home made Rasam powder or we can get in Super
Markets)
Rasam Powder Ingredients
1and1/2 Tb spoon Coriander Seeds, 2 Tb spoon of Pepper Corns,
1 Tb spoon Cumin Seeds, 1/2 Red Gram, 1/2 Channa Dal, Pinch of Fenugreek
seeds(Methi)
Roast all the above ingredients and grind for a fine rasam powder
3 Large Tomatoes (Slice one tomato into small parts and micro
oven for 1:30 mins),Once done mash well and keep aside. Cut the remaining
tomatoes into large cubes and keep aside
1-2 Tb spoon Tamarind Paste( For tamarind paste, soak the
tamarind in water and microwave for 30 secs and keep aside. Then extract the
pulp to get the thick paste)
Coriander Powder, Turmeric Powder
Corriander Leaves(Chopped)
For Seasoning(Tadka)
1 Tb spoon Ghee
1/2 Tb spoon Cumin Seeds , 1/2 Tb
spoon Mustard Seeds
8-10 Curry Leaves
2 Red Chillies
Asafoetida (Hing)
3-4 Garlic(Peel and Mash)
Method of Preparation
In a large bowl add water along with sugar and salt. Boil the
water very well. When you see kind of bubbles add turemric powder and Rasam
powder.Then add tomatoes(micro-ovened) and Tamarind paste. Finally add
remaining chopped tomatoes in the hot boiling rasam.
In the meanwhile grind the pepper corns into fine powder. Add
the grinded pepper powder in the rasam and keep the plate covered over the bowl
and remain to boil for 3-4 mins( The reason for placing a plate on top is that
the aroma of pepper will not come outside and all the pepper will be blended
well to rasam).
Finally its our task to do seasoning
Take small pan, Heat ghee and add mustard, cumin seeds and
then red chillies and curry leaves. Stir for 3-4 secs. Finally add
hing(Asofetida) to the above and stir again for 3-4 secs.(make sure all the
seasoned ingredients will not burnt). Add the tadka to the rasam and garnish
with coriander leaves. The yummy rasam will be ready by then. Serve hot with rice.
As we are adding pepper powder in the rasam, this recipe acts as a curing
recipe for the people who are suffering from cold.
Finally to say the output of whole process went pretty well. At
least I can say that my friends who ate these items are survived...:) :)Hope my
cooking process made you delightful and
mouthwatering. So why delay ..? Act fast
and get into kitchen to prepare the stuff...:) :)
