Saturday, March 28, 2009

Recipe to a perfect Rassam and Tamarind Rice

Well if you would have asked Little Johnny he would have said "isme kya naya hai babua! yeh to kisi bhi Tarla Dala cookery book mein mil jayegi" but then the Rassam that I am talking about is different.
It is different because it's not just a meal, it is an idea of enjoying your time with friends... So, this is how you go about making it.
Wake up real late in the weekend. This is a must, else the Rassam wouldn't taste yum!
Get some friends.... any number above four would do.
Get two of them to go to the market to get the ingredients.
If they forget to get some things that you had asked for.... don't worry, send them again :)
Once you have everything in place, get one of them to chop three tomatoes.... and if they seem to be taking eternity, which in all possibility they would, get the knife and do it yourself :)
Ask the guy, who was earlier making futile attempts to chop tomatoes, to wash the kadhai and put some oil to heat.
When the oil is hot ask the other guy to get some rai (mustard seeds) and when he picks up any random masala give him one of those killer single-liners... Soon he would pick up the right jar :)
By now the oil would have got hot enough for the rai.
Add some curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric and red chilly powder.
Add tomatoes and ask either of the idle fellows to stir it till the tomatoes get cooked to a paste.
Don't forget to add some hing to this. It would give that typical aroma to your recipe which you would have imagined for a perfect rassam. Your friend would definitely not know what hing is... so explain it to him again.... no need of one liners here :P
Now ask this same person to put some tamarind to boil... and get the pulp separated from the seeds thereafter.
Boil some arhar daal in the cooker and then blend it.
Add this daal to the tomato masala that you have prepared.
Add Rassam powder to taste.
Add some sugar. Very little amount.
Add water and tamarind juice and bring to a boil.
When done, add a tadka of ghee, rai and dried red chillies.
A perfect rassam should have a watery consistency with very little traces of daal and taste more or less like the sambhar.
Well Well..... if you think you are done... you are not.. The rice is yet to be prepared..
So while you are making rassam you may prepare the seasoning for the rice.
While you were preparing the rice and rassam, your other friends (who do not stay in you apartment) would have prepared a potato recipe (for which I would ask the readers to contact them).
For the rice seasoning, heat some oil in a pan. This can be done by your friend who has been standing idle for quite some time now.
Add dried red chillies, rai, curry leaves, green chillies, chana daal, udad daal, groundnuts, little bit of turmeric and red chilly .
If you see some strange crawling creatures in the packet where you had stored chana daal, probably you would have to throw away this seasoning and prepare a new one without the chana daal.
When the lentils get crisp, set it aside.
By now your rassam would have got ready and the burner can be used to put on the rice.
When the rice is ready, mix the seasoning, salt and tamarind juice for a delicious tamarind rice.
Hit the shower, get fresh and when you are ready - Bingo! - find your living room full of friends all fighting for the limited plates and bowls that you have.
Duly acknowledge any compliments that you get :)
Slip into sweet slumber induced by the rice and the rassam....
When the maid comes in the evening for cooking.... remain asleep and don't open the door for her.... to get a phone call from her later in the evening after you have made plans for gobhi paratha for the dinner :( .....
Call up your friends (who do not stay in your apartment) to appraise them of the situation only to know that an awesome dinner awaits you at their place!!
Put the recipe on your blog to make your oter friends feel J!!! :)

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Strong Man or Weak!!

I am not pro-Advani or anti-Manmohan Singh, but a recent article got me thinking. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh(MS) has accused the UPA Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani for being an incompetent home minister; that in his (Advani’s) times there were incidents of Gujarat riots and Parliament attacks and also that he played an important role in the Babri Masjid demolition.
Coming back to the modern times, why has our competent Prime Minister forgotten the bomb blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and the terror attack in Mumbai? Why does he not remember the recent trouble in Sikkim created by the Maoists?

To quote MS from the article “Is he (Advani) a strong man or a weak man, let the records speak for themselves”. What is his take on the advices of Madamji to which he very strongly complies…. Should he not answer to the public if he is a strong or a weak man??

They say in Hindi - jinke ghar sheeshe ke hon, woh auron par patthar nahin phenka karte....