Vegetable (Soup) Rasam

I came up with this recipe when my son fell sick 2 weeks ago, with fever and throat infection... long story short, he refused to eat anything. Tried making soups for him and he did not like them.. then since he likes rasam, I thought OK, rasam might be soothing to his throat and be nice to taste while sick. But  had to come up with a healthy alternate to Rasam; to make it a little nutritious for him. Rasam is tasty and good for digestion, but in the end its just tamarind water. So, I incorporated the vegetable soup I had made for him in the rasam and he liked the tangy taste and ate a little. This will be a good way to incorporate veggies into children's and adult's  diet too.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind - Soak a small lemon sized ball of tamarind in 1/2 cup of warm water
• Cumin seeds - 2 Tsp
• Pepper Corns - 1 Tsp
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato - 1
• Mustard seeds - 1Tsp
• Dry red chilis - 1
• Curry leaves - 1 Strand
• Coriander leaves - Finely chopped, handful or less

For Vegetable soup:

• Vegetables : Whatever you have at home, except bitter ones. Here is a list of what I use, I had these at home, nothing specific.
• 1/2 Onion
• 1/2 tomato
• 1 Potato
• 1/2 Zucchini
• Handful of Spinach leaves
• 5 florets of Broccoli
• 1 stick of Celery
• 1 Carrot

• Tumeric - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Cumin Seeds- 1Tsp
• Ginger - Small piece, chopped roughly
• Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves
• Water -3 or 4 cups

Steps:

The steps are easy. First make soup, then use the soup to make rasam.

•  Make the soup: In a Presuure cooker, put all the ingredients listed under 'For Vegetable soup:' and add enough water to cover all the vegetables.
• Cook on medium high until you hear 3 - 4 whistles. We want to all the vegetables to cook and disintegrate in the water.
• Switch off cooker and wait for pressure to release. 
• Then open the cooker and strain the contents, into a big vessel. Nicely press and mash them thru the strainer and get all the water out of the cooked vegetables. Don't throw the mashed vegetables just yet. 
• Put it back in the pressure cooker and add just a cup or 2 of water and pressure cook it once more for 1 or 2 whistles.
• Repeat the whole straining process. This way we have not left any valuable nutrients in the vegetables.

•  Prepare for rasam: In a mixer grinder, grind together cumin seeds, pepper corns, garlic and asafoetida into a course paste.
• Heat oil in a wok. When hot add mustard seeds. When they crackle add Dry red chilli and the ground mixture and saute.
•  Then add the tamarind pulp (Squeeze the tamarind soaked in water to get pulp, use the soup to dissolve the tamarind a second time and squeeze again, repeat until all the flavor is extracted from the tamarind). 
•  Now add the soup into the wok and stir well. Cut the tomato into big chunks and add into the rasam. You can squeeze the juices into the rasam as you add it. Add salt as required.
• Add rasam powder if you like, I did not. 
• Bring the contents to boil.
• Now add the curry leaves and coriander leaves. Let boil for a min and switch off. I like to add curry leaves in the end as it gives out more aroma than when adding first. 
• Your done.

Fresh Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs is one of those not-so-frequently used ingredients. In the past I used to buy big boxes to make something and would have more than half the box full of bread crumbs sitting in my pantry for months together and finally end up in the garbage. But in the last three years or so I have started making my own bread crumbs with the end pieces of a bread loaf that no one wants to eat or left over pieces of bread. 

Once a loaf of bread gets over I just wrap the end pieces and pop it into the freezer. And when I need bread crumbs I take those end pieces from the freezer and make bread crumbs. It is super easy and its a nice way to avoid wasting precious food.

Ingredients:

Bread - Any kind. (bread ends or old bread, but not spoilt ones) 

Steps:

•  Toast Bread: Toast bread till brown on  both sides. I use a toaster to do it, its easy and fast. You can also pop the bread into the over at 400F for sometime or use a pan on stove top and toast the bread on both sides till. If using bread from the freezer, let it thaw before you toast it. Or is if toaster has option to toast frozen bread go ahead and toast it directly. 

•  Grind the toasted Bread: Once the bread is cool, break it into chunks. Use a mixer grinder or food processor to grind the bread chunks into desired texture. If you want it extra dry, just spread the ground crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for couple of mins.

Here's a recipe I used these bread crumbs on  Baked Tilapia