Comfort food

Its fall and along with the leaves, our immune system seems to fall too. This year fall's given way to old man winter rather quickly..no wonder everybody's falling sick. I can almost feel a scratchy throat .. so nothing sounds better than some homemade medicinal preparations that also double as comfort food rendering some spunk & taste to the numb taste buds (which is the first clue that you are coming down with a cold/cough or fever).

Medicinal Rasam

Ingredients :

2 medium-large Tomato's, 1/2 cup Toor Dal( Red gram lentil), 3-4 pieces of Tippali (Piper Longum), 1/2 tsp Black Pepper , 2 tsp Cumin seeds , 2 swigs of Curry Leaves (kadi patta), Asafoetida, 2tsp Coriander seeds , 1tbs Chana Dal(Bengal Gram lentil), 1tbs Toor Dal, lemon size Tamarind (if Tamarind paste / concentrate is used, then 1tsp), 1 Hari Mirch (Green Chili Pepper), 1 Lal Mirch (Dried Red Chili Pepper), Salt to taste, 1tbs Ghee (clarified Butter), Turmeric, 1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste , 1 tsp Mustard seeds , Coriander leaves.

Method :

Soak Tamarind in 1 cup luke warm water for 15-20 mins. In a pressure cooker, cook the Toor dal with 1/4 tsp turmeric and keep aside. Squeeze out the Tamarind juice and pour the juice into a vessel. Add some more water to the Tamarind and repeat the process a couple of times until there is no more juice left in the tamarind.

Heat up a pan with 1tsp ghee and saute Toor dal, Chana dal, Coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, black pepper, Lal Mirch & Tippali. Add Hari Mirch and saute some more . Remove from flame and grind it with 1/2 tsp fresh cumin seeds ,a swig of curry leaves, ginger garlic paste and water to a pan cake batter consistency.

Boil the Tamarind water for 3-5 mins . Add Tomato's, Asafoetida and boil until the tomatoes cook add Salt and the ground paste to this water and let it froth for 5 mins. Now whisk the cooked toor dal and add to the boiling tamarind mixture. Let it boil for 5-10 mins. Rasam is ready. Saute Mustard and the remaining 1tsp of cumin seeds in ghee and drop it into the boiling Rasam. Let it simmer for a minute and remove from flame. Garnish with 1 swig of curry leaves and Coriander leaves. Serve Hot.

This Rasam can be had as a soup or alternatively mixed with cooked (preferably white) rice.

Khichdi

Ingredients :

1/4 cup Moong dal (Whole Green & Brown gram Dal), 1 cup Rice , 1 cup mixed vegetables (Cauliflower, Carrots, Green Peas, Bell Pepper, Beans, Corn, spinach), 1 small Red Onion cut to small pieces (optional), 1 tbs Ghee, 1/4 tsp Garam Masala or doda Masala (if available), 1 tsp ground Black Pepper, Salt to taste, 1/4 tsp ground Cumin Powder, 3-3.5 cups Water.

Method :

Rinse Rice and Dal. Add mixed vegetables, Onion, Salt, Ground Cumin Powder, Garam masala/ doda masala, Black Pepper, 1tsp Ghee and water to the rice and dal and pressure cook. When cooked, add the remaining ghee and mix well and serve hot with some Kadi.