Garlic Rasam

One of my all time favorites!  My version! Hope you like it

Anyone who wants to make this, get a Pressure Cooker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, its a genius piece of art work, technology and whatever else you want to call it! Its worth the investment believe me (now if you don't want to invest or don't have a pressure cooker, then I shall give instructions). Cooking Dal without a pressure cook is of course possible, but will take twice the amount of time.

Measurements:

• 1) Tuvar Dal (1 Cup)
• 2) Onions ( 3 medium sized)
• 3) Garlic (6 to 7 medium sized ones, if you would like less, use as many according to your taste)
• 4) Large Green Chilies (3 chopped finely)
• 5) Tomatoes (3 medium sized ripe ones)
• 3) Oil (3 tbsps for frying)
• 4) Rasam Powder ( 2 tbsps)
• 5) Tamcon (2 tsps)
• 6) Salt to Taste
• 7) Coriander leaves (hand full finely chopped)

Cooking Instructions:

• Prepare the Dal First. Add the Dal to a pressure cooker along with 3 1/2 cups of water and cook for about 4 whistles on medium high to high heat. 

• (NOTE) Turn the heat on, set the pressure cooker on stove and make sure it is tightly sealed, and then wait for the steam to come out in a steady stream first before putting the cap on. After cap is on, wait for four whistles and then shut heat off.  If however you have a pressure cooker where the cap does not come off,  then just put cooker on heat and wait for the four whistles.

• Now turn off heat after fourth whistle and let sit for about 20 Minutes.  (DO NOT OPEN PRESSURE COOKER DURING THIS TIME!)   

Now while Dal is Cooking Prepare the Following:

• Add oil to a medium sized Khadai on low to medium high heat
• Chop the Onions into 4 large pieces each & add to Kadai once oil is hot
• Fry Onions till they get a yellowish tinge to them, make sure they don't brown.
• Add the Garlic & stir for another 2-3 minutes
• Now add the Chilies, stir and fry for another 1-2 minutes
• Now add the tomatoes and stir and fry all till tomatoes are soft (don't soften them too much as they will cook more in the Dal)
• Now open the pressure cooker and mash up the Dal as much as possible so that it looks like a liquidy soup and if it is still to dry add a little bit more water so the Dal can be mashed properly to a liquid consistancy.  
• Now add all of the fried items in the Kadai to the Dal & stir in nicely. 
• Add an additional 1 to 2 cups of water depending on how watery you like your Rasam and let the dal come to a boil.
• Once water is boiling, add Tamcon, Rasam Powder, & Salt to taste. Stir well, lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 to 7 Mins.
• Last add the Coriander leaves chopped finely at the very end. Let it simmer for another 2-3 mins and your done!

Masala Rice (I honestly don't know what the bloody hell else to call it)

Hey Guys this is the another recipe I came up with last night, (good for all veggies and will go great with the Egg Fry Recipe I made! Have fun and contact me if you have trouble).

Recipe for 2 to 3 people

• Rice ( 1 Cup) 
• Oil (6 tbsp)
• Onions (5 small to medium sized, half cut into half and thinly sliced, other half chopped finely)
• Giner Garlic Paste ( 1 tbsp)
• Green Chilies (3 to 4 large cut in half and sliced to slivers)
• Tomatoes (4, cut in half and chopped into chunks (NOT SLICED!)
• Cardamom Pods (4 small ones)
• Bay Leaf (1)
• Cinnamon Stick (3/4 inch)
• Chili Powder (to taste)
• Coriander Powder (1 tbsp)
• Turmeric Powder (1 to 2 tbsp, depending on how much you want)
• Salt to taste
• Coriander Leaves (hand full chopped finely)
• Note that yu can add any vegetable to this dish as you like, I like it just with the tomatoes.

Instructions to make Masala Rice: NOTE: You can make this in a Karahi or in a pot big enough to boil rice, no need for a pressure cooker.

• 1) In a large Karahi or Kadai, heat the oil on high heat till really hot. 

• 2) Once oil is hot add sliced onions and stir making sure onions separate, reduce heat to medium high ( and make sure you watch this carefully! Very important!).  Fry the sliced onions till they are a dark golden brown, not black, please understand the difference. And they should be somewhat crispy. Then on a plate put some paper towels, and place the fried onions to cool and drain for a while, while cooking the rest

• 3) Now add chopped onions and fry on low to medium heat till translucent (should have a golden colour to them)

•  4) Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry for about 2-3 minutes (till they brown a bit as well)

• 5) Now add the Green Chilies, fry for another 2 minutes

•  6) Now add the Cardamom Pods, Bay Leaf, and Cinnamon stick and fry for another minute or so

•  7) Now add the Coriander Powder, Chili Powder (to taste), & Turmeric Powder, stir and fry all for 2 minutes, and then add some water to let the Masala cook properly ( add at least half a cup as you will need more to cook the rice so need to worry on it reducing too much.

•  8) Once the Masala is cooked well, add the Tomatoes, stir and fry for about 5-6 minutes on high heat (Do Not Cover and Cook yet).

•  9) Now add the rice and stir with the Masala for about 3 minutes on low heat. Then note 1 cup of rice requires 2/12 cups of water. Add the water bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer with a cover (letting some gap with the cover) for about 20 minutes. If by any chance you added too much water then keep checking till the rice has some air holes in it, means its close to being done. Know however if you still see the air holes and then you stir the rice and their is still too much water cook it for a few more minutes (don't worry its not going to be over cooked and keep it covered while watching this).

•  10) Once rice is cooked, add fried onions and coriander leaves as garnish and enjoy!

Once again let me know how it is! This dish is great with the Egg Fry and Dahi (Yogurt). This is how I like it, you might want to spice it up with some other dishes of your own and I hope you do!

EGG FRY (my version)

I made this dish last night after having looked up different variations of the same recipe online to get an idea of what I could do.  Needless to say this recipe is a combination of several different recipes that I have incorporated to my own.  Real simple.

Cook Time: 25 to 30 mins or less

• 5 Eggs (boiled) 

• Onions (two to three small onions if in India & one large yellow onion if in the US or elsewhere) The reason I state this is because the onions in India tend to be on the small side, whereas onions in the US and elsewhere I have noticed from my travels can be fairly large in size.  

• Garlice (4-5 medium sized cloves chopped finely) Once again the size of Garlic pieces in India tend to be really small, so depends on how much garlic you want in the dish. In the US two to three large sized cloves should do. Now if one does not like peeling and chopping Garlic then use Garlic paste (11/2 tsps should do it) 

• Ginger (1 inch piece is plenty, and here you can also substitute fresh Ginger with Ginger paste 3/4 tsp)

• Bay Leaves (1 to 2 small leaves)

• Cardamom Pods (3)

• Cinnamon Stick (1)

• Black Pepeercorns (1/4 tsp)

• Chilies (3-4 large green chilies, chopped finely) Mind you, this is meant to be a spicy dish, but if you don't want it too spicy, then please by all means only put in the amount you feel is necessary. 

• Tomatoes (3-4 medium sized tomatoes cut in half and then sliced (not chopped!)

• Cumin Seeds (1/2 tsp)
• Coriander Powder (1/2)
• Turmeric Powder (1 tbsp)
• Garam Masala (1 1/2 tsps)
• Chili Powder ( 1tsp)
• Ground black peper (1/4 tsp)

• Salt to taste (I have a tendency to put alot of salt in and have to be careful when feeding others, so when I say "salt to taste", I literally mean "salt to taste, LOL! 

Instructions to Make Egg Fry:

1) Boil water before putting in Eggs (some people like to start cooking eggs in cold water before bringing it upto a boil, but personally from my experience it makes no difference)- Now, if you don't know how to boil water, then there is something seriously wrong with you, but I wont hold it against anyone who does not.

• Cook the eggs for approximately 10-12 mins (if you want it softer inside cook for 8 or so mins).  Make sure once you add the eggs to the boiling water you reduce the heat to low so its simmering for this time, if you boil it on high for this time you will over cook the eggs and I have done this trust me.  
• Once Eggs are boiled, rinse them in cold water and set aside for about 5 mins and peel off the shells (note one great trick to peeling eggs, softly push down on the egg with a kitchen towel till you hear a crunch, find a cracked spot and make sure when you peel the egg, you get the thin layer of skin below the shell, once you get that slightly peeled, the whole shell should come off without a hitch)

• 2)  Now in a Karahi also known as "Kadai" (and if you don't have one of these use a shallow non-stick frying pan) add about 4 tbsps oil) What oil you decide to use is upto you.  Here (in India) I made this dish with Sunflower oil, if I was in the US, I would have used Olive Oil.  I don't think the taste will be much different as I previously cooked all Indian dishes in the US with Olive Oil.

• 3) Wait for the oil to heat up nicely on medium high heat and then add the chopped onions (you should hear a sizzle when the onions hit the oil).

• 4) Fry the onions till they get a golden translucent colour to them. Should not take more then 5-7 minutes if not less.

• 5) Add the Garlic & fry for about 2-3 minutes

• 6) Add the Ginger & fry for another 2-3 minutes

• 7) Add the Green Chilies & fry all together for about 3 to 4 minutes, (by now raise this heat just a little bit, you will have to lower it again later)

• 8) Add the Cumin Seeds, Bay Leaves, cinnamon stick & Black peppercorns, fry for 2-3 minutes, till Cumin Seeds are slightly browned

• 9) Now add the Coriander Powder, Chili Powder, Ground Black Pepper Powder & Turmeric Powder and stir for about 2 minutes after which add 3/4 cup water and let it boil for about 5 minutes, till all the Masala is cooked. Make sure to stir on medium heat while your doing this on occasion. (DO NOT COVER AND COOK WHILE DOING THIS AS THE LIQUID NEEDS TO REDUCE!)

• 10) Now add the Tomatoes (Please realize Tomatoes hold a lot of water, so be careful how much you add).  Fry the Tomatoes along with the spice mix for about 7-8 minutes, at which time take your spatula or flat spoon to gently press on them till they flatten out (all the while stirring them).

• 11) Now add the boiled Eggs (Note: a lot of people like to put the eggs in whole, I prefer to cut them in half and then add them, it is totally up to you).  Stir the eggs with the Masala, make sure they are fully coated in the Masala, add some more water and let it boil till the Masala reduses and only a little bit of gravy is left, and if you want it completely dry then cook the Masala till all the water is gone, toss the eggs in & fry for like 5 minutes and your done!

This is my first recipe posted, so I hope all of you will try it out and let me know how it comes out! ENJOY! This should feed Two to Three People depending on how big your appetites are.  Its great with the next recipe I am going to post.