Rasam powder

I have been taking my stash of spice-mixes for granted. And then, one fine day, when I was scraping at the bottom of the rasam-powder-bottle, I nonchalantly walked over to the fridge and opened the freezer to retrieve a nicely packed  bag of home-made rasam-powder. Except this time, my hands groped at nothing... no more bags labeled "rasam powder" showed itself. Horror of horrors! I had actually run out of home-made rasam powder! But before I let myself panic, I just called my resourceful mother-in-law and noted down the recipe to make some rasam-powder at home. 

And here is the actual recipe!

Ingredients:

1. Coriander seeds / Dhania - 250 grams
2. Dried red chillies -  100 grams
3. Cumin seeds / jeera - 50 grams
4. Black pepper corns - 50 grams
5. Bengal gram dhal / Kadala paruppu - 50 grams
6. Turmeric - 50 grams

Dry roast each spice separately until they roast a little and emit their essential oils and flavors. Grind, mix, and store in an airtight container!

This makes a big bottle of rasam-powder. Just to approximate, I equated 50 grams to 1/4 cup.

Some families don't really use separate spice-mixes for sambar and rasam. One versatile powder is used for sambar, rasam, and other dishes that take curry powder. But, I think the addition of cumin and pepper in rasam powder makes a delicious difference in the way your rasam turns out. 

Rhubarb Chocolate Brownie

It's that time of the year when we start receiving and (hopefully harvesting) some local produce. Anand's colleague faithfully gives us some fresh rhubarbs from his garden. And every year, I wonder what to do with them. Rhubarbs are quite sour, so they are mostly used in sweet preparations. Rhubarbs and strawberries are a favorite combination. It is cooked down with strawberries and sugar to make compote (sort of like jam), baked with strawberries in a pie crust to make awesome pie, or made into crunchy, delicious crumbles/crisps. But I chanced across this recipe which uses rhubarb compote to make chocolate brownies! I was sold!

I did make some changes to the recipe. For one, the brownies were not Mexican, they turned Indian, of course. Instead of Mexican chilli powder, I added 2 teaspoons of cardamom powder. Secondly, I had two cups worth of cut rhubarbs, so I used all of the resulting compote in the brownie batter (instead of just 1 cup worth) - and it arguable made the batter & brownies more moist and fudge-like (my rhubarb compote was prepared by cooking 2 cups of peeled and chopped rhubarb in 1/2 cup of water and 4 tablespoons of sugar until soft and mushy. I then add pureed the cooked rhubarbs). Finally, instead of melting 4 ounces worth of chocolate bars, I used 1 cup of Ghirardelli's unsweetened cocoa powder. Due to these changes and additions, the brownies took 80 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes) to bake at 350 F. Even then, the center of the brownies remained a tad fudgey, so my cake tester never came out clean.

So, my version is more of a fudge-brownie. Vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, and chocolate baked with the sour rhubarb compote has conjured up a uniquely tasting moist brownie! I am hoping this would be a good sweet to welcome a newly-married-chocolate-loving friend and his wife!