Tasty Combo(Potato Fry + Tomato Rasam)

      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...:) :)