Prune Tomato Rasam and Kadai Bhendi with a Surprise!

Prune Tomato Rasam and Kadai Bhendi with a Surprise

I opened my pantry door wondering what to cook for lunch when my eyes fell on a bunch of Prunes. I  got them mainly for my toddler, as her Doc advised me to give her heaps of fruits and veggys especially fruits that begin with 'P' - prunes, plums, peaches, pears ...

Ha! Easier said than done. My toddler shuns all fruits and veggys. No amount of stories, songs, recipes, or presentation styles can get her to swallow anything remotely fruit or veggy!! The one thing she likes guzzling though is rasam!  

We've seen so many types of rasams like beetroot rasam, pineapple rasam, mango rasam etc. so I thought why not prunes? They are mildly sweet and can't be all that bad mixed with the other flavours.   The result was surprisingly awesome! The prunes did not stick out or anything and blended well with the tastes, and in fact, even added an nice touch of flavour to the rasam rasam. The rasam was guzzled not just by my toddler, but the adults at home as well.  

Prunes

Since I had too much prune and tomato puree made, I just used some of it in a Kadai Bhendi as well. So now you know what the surpise is! Yep! Prunes!  

Prune Tomato Rasam
Ingredients
Prunes - 2 or 3
Tomatos - 2 medium sized
Curry Leaves - a few
Black Pepper and Cumin Seeds coarsely crushed - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Rasam powder - 1 tsp
Garlic pods - 2 crushed
Corriander Leaves - a few
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp



Method
1. Soak prunes for about 10 minutes till soft. Grind the prunes and tomatos with a little water into a paste.
2. Add rasam powder, curry leaves and salt into this paste and bring to a boil.
3. Once the mixture boils well, add the black pepper and cumin powder, as wel as crushed garlic and stir.
4. Once the mixture simmers again, pour in 1.5 glasses of water. Pour in a manner that you get a nice  froth on top.
5. The mixture will slowly rise, at which point switch of the flame. Don't let the rasam boil, as that spoils the flavours.
6. Heat the ghee and sputter some mustard seeds, and add this seasoning to the rasam.
7. Garnish with corriander leaves.

Prune Tomato Rasam

Slurp away with some rice and ghee, or just guzzle it down in a tall glass!

Kadai Bhendi
Ingredients
Oil - 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1tsp
Prune Tomato Puree - 2 tbsp
Onion Paste - 1tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1.5 tsp
Cumin powder - 1tsp
Corriander powder - 2 tsp
Chillie powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1tsp
Ladies Finger / Okra -  250 grams with tails and heads removed!

Bhendi (Okra) Cooking Away!

Method
1. Heat oil, and add the cumin seeds.
2. When the cumin seeds sputter, add onion and ginger garlic paste.
3. Keep stirring so that the pastes don't burn. When the colour turns brownish, add cumin, corriander and chillie powders.
4. Fry for a few seconds until you get a great aroma.
5. Add the prune and tomato puree and salt and cook well.
6. When the paste is cooked, and the liquid is reduced such that you have a paste left, add in the okra.
7. Keep stirring on a low flame for a few minutes and cover with a lid.
8. Stirr now and again to prevent burning, until the okra is nice and soft.

Kadai Bhendi with a Surprise Ingredient

This a a yummy side dish with rotis  or rice. Of course, my toddler didn't touch the okra, but she did check out the prune tomato masala gravy, and was licking her fingers away!

Bottom line, I just discovered that Prunes lend themselves very well to many Indian dishes! Maybe, I'll try the other 'P's one by one too!

Avacado and Spinach Salad

Eating healthy is very important. In the present day scenario, everyone is leading a very busy and a fast life. It has become a burden for many to cook, go to work and manage home well. Salads come in handy in similar situations. Chop a couple of fresh veggies, empty a pack of store bought greens and toss it well with a few other ingredients from the pantry. Trust me, you will end up with a delicious and a wholesome dish that will satisfy your appetite.

Avacadoes are one of my favorite fruit and I live to have it as a milkshake and enjoy eating it with salads. The fruit is very buttery and smooth. The fruit can turn brown on exposure to air due to oxidation. To prevent this just coat with with lime juice and I will stay fresh. It has a lot of health benefits associated with it and considered to be very healthy (though it is high in its fat content).

Here is the recipe to a healthy and a delicious salad.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
Avacado - 1 Ripe
Baby spinach - Cleaned,washed and chopped - 2 cups
Spring onions - 4 stalks
Red onion - Medium sized -1
Ripe tomatoes - medium sized - 2
Salt - To taste
Lime/Lemon juice - from 1large lime/lemon
Chat masala - 1/4th of a tsp
Ground black Pepper - 1/4th of a tsp

Method:

• In a large bowl add the chopped spinach, red onions, tomatoes and spring onions.

• Then add ground black pepper, chat masala, salt and lime juice.

• Toss the salad and serve it with avacadoes.

• Enjoy the salad.

Notes

• You can use cherry tomatoes if you like.
• You can use spring mix, arugula or watercress instead of spinach or with spinach.
• You can prefer to add or skip chat masala.
• Use raw veggies of your choice to make the salad more interesting.

Venn Pongal

Its been a while since I cooked patiently, clicking away pictures and doing things at leisure. Just got back from a beautiful short vacation and still in the holiday mood. DH wanted to have vathakuzhambu. Luckily had butternut squash at home and made it in a jiffy. The best complement to vathakuzhambu couldn't be better than a plate of hot venn pongal. Realized quite late that I had not posted pongal on the blog and was just in time to click a couple of pictures for the same.

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

Moong dal - Split - 3 tbsp
Rice - 1 cup
Black peppercorns - 1 tbsp
Crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Grated ginger - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - A few
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies - A couple (optional)
Butter / Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste

Method:

• In a pressure cooker or a pressure pan, heat the butter / ghee and once it gets hot add cumin seeds, black peppercorns, grated ginger , curry leaves, green chillies, and crushed black pepper. Then add the moong dal and rice and roast all the ingredients well on medium flame for 3-4 minutes.

• Then add water and salt and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

• Pongal would have cooked well  after 3 whistles. You can adjust the proportion of water depending on whether you prefer it to be semi-solid or solid.

• Serve it hot with coconut chutney , tomato gojju or vathakuzhambu..

• Enjoy the hot and tasty pongal.

Notes:

• Adding green chillies is optional. If you prefer spicy pongal you can add it or you can omit it.
• Addition of crushed red pepper gives it a real pepper taste. You can add it according to your preference.
• You can cube up ginger and add or you can julienne it. Grated ginger blends well with rice and will not be felt while eating.