Rasam - The South Indian Dal Fry

Rasam is an everyday stuff for all the south Indians. The Lunch or the dinner is not complete without it. Rasam is a nutritional soup made of pulses (Dal), tomato/tamarind, curry leaves and seasonings. There is a variety of Rasam (Saaru – In kannada,Rasam in Tamil) prepared, but here I am going to take you through the basic and the most common variety of rasam.

Ingredients you will need

1 cup tur dal

1 medium size tomato/ ¼ cup tamarind juice

3- 4 sticks of curry leaves

Half cup coriander leaves

2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon rasam powder

2 cloves

2 black pepper

1 small piece smashed ginger/grated ginger

½ cup coconut milk

1 green chilly

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 teaspoons ghee

¼ spoon Asafoetida

Salt for taste

How do I prepare

1.       Cook tur dal, and tomato in pressure cooker with a pinch of salt and turmeric.

2.       Once the cooker cools down pour the dal into a big pan n add tamarind juice (if you have not used tomato), 1 teaspoon rasam powder and ½ cup coconut milk and bring to boil.

3.       Simultaneously take a frying pan and add 1 tablespoon of oil and heat it

4.       Add half sliced green chilly, smashed or grated ginger, cloves, black pepper and curry leaves, fry for 2 minutes n pour it into the boiling dal.

5.       Keep boiling this mixture for 10 to 15 minutes

6.       Then take a fryng pan add 2 teaspon of ghee and then add mustard seeds and asafoeitida(Hing) fry n pour to the dal.

7.       Put off the burner and add coriander leaves and the lemon juice. Rasam is ready to serve with steaming rice with any vegetable.

Mysore Pak

MYSORE PAK

Mysore Pak, the name itself links this delicacy from the city of Sovereigns, Mysore a beautiful city from Karnataka. This delicacy is rich in ghee combined with sugar and chick pea powder (Besan).Be it any ceremony or it is to serve guests at home or to shower love on our loved ones this is one of the most wanted cuisines.

Here is the simple way to Mysore Pak

Ingredients you will need

·         1 cup Chick Pea Powder (Besan)

·         2 cups Sugar

·         3 cups Ghee

Preparation time: half an hour to forty-five minutes

Now Get Set Go:

·         Roast the besan in a thick pan till you get a sweet fragrance and set aside in a plate. Ensure there are no lumps; break all the lumps if any.

·         Heat a pan with 1.5 cups of water with sugar, stir until sugar dissolves.

·         Pour a cup of ghee n stir until you start seeing bubbles.

·         Pour the besan into the pan n stir continuously to avoid lumps.

·         Once the besan gets mixed pour another cup of ghee n keep stirring under low flame.

·         Cook till the mixture becomes frothy and 1 more cup of ghee

·         After few minutes the ghee will start separating from the mixture

·         Pour the mixture into a greased pan, and cut into pieces once the mixture gets firm

Now the MYSORE PAK is ready to serve. This tastes best with Bisi Bele Bhat.