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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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