Sometimes when I am alone at home, I feel very lazy to cook for myself. Even eating same type of food makes me boring. I am sure each one of you feels the same way one or other time of life. That too for people who are in job; working for long hours and travelling in heavy traffic gives a monotonous stress making one crave for rest. At those times, we will want somebody else to cook for us.
Hotel or Catering food is always not a good choice. Remedy for this problem is instant cooking at home. This happened to me today. With lot of cold and headache, being alone at home I wanted something hot and fast. Thought of cooking some simple Rasam and immediately I remembered my Aunt’s Instant Toor Dal Rasam without the necessity of cooking Toor Dal in cooker. It was quite easy to prepare with her instructions. I enjoyed eating this Instant Toor Dal Rasam with hot rice. Later at dinner everyone at home liked this Rasam.
The recipe is very easy one. Just fry all the Ingredients with Oil including Toor Dal. I have used Coconut Oil which you can replace with any other cooking Oil. Then grind the fried ingredients with grated coconut; mix that paste with Tamarind water, Salt and Jaggery. Finally add a tsp of Ghee to it. One good boiling makes the Instant Toor Dal Rasam ready. It goes well with hot rice. I prepared this Rasam little thick, if you want it to be thinner reduce the quantity of Toor Dal and Coconut. Adjust the Salt, Jaggery and Spicy as per your taste. I have used only 2 Red Chillies and few Pepper corns as we eat less spicy. Adjust according to your taste and flavour the simple yet tasty, nutritious Instant Toor Dal Rasam with hot rice.
- Tamarind – 1 Small Lemon sized
- Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
- Jaggery – 1 tsp
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Curry Leaves
- Coriander Leaves
- Ghee – 1 tsp
Frying and grinding Ingredients:
- Toor Dal – 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp
- Grated Coconut – 3 Tbsp
- Coriander Seeds or Dhaniya – 3 tsp
- Jeera / Cumin Seeds – 1 and 1/2 tsp
- Fenugreek Seeds – 4 Seeds
- Black Pepper – 3
- Red Chillies – 2
- Curry Leaves – 6
- Asafoetida / Hing – 1/4 tsp
- Coconut Oil – 3 tsp (Gives more taste, any cooking oil can be used)
Time to Prepare: 10 minutes
Serves – 5
How to Make Instant Toor Dal Rasam:
1. Soak Tamarind in 1/4 Cup water for 15 minutes before you start the process. If you are in hurry soak it in hot water. Squeeze it properly and strain the Tamarind water by discarding the Tamarind waste. Meanwhile, heat Oil in a pan.
2. Add Toor Dal and fry for a minute. Then add Coriander Seeds and fry for a minute stirring with spoon.
3. Now add Jeera and Fenugreek Seeds, sauté well over very low flame See that the ingredients don’t turn dark.
4. Then add Black Pepper Corns and Hing to the pan.
5. At this stage, add Red Chillies fry for 2 minutes. Then Curry Leaves and fry till the Curry Leaves shrink. By then the Toor Dal roasts to golden colour.
6. Now add Grated Coconut and fry little to make it warm and switch off the flame. Transfer these fried ingredients to mixer jar. Add sufficient water to it and grind to make paste out of it. Ensure that the grinding ingredients have turned to smooth paste.
7. In a vessel, add Tamarind water and Salt to it; boil for a minute.
8. Now add Jaggery, Turmeric Powder and boil it for 3 to 4 minutes.
9. Then add the paste from mixer jar to it with 2 Cups of water and cook for about 7 to 8 minutes over low flame.
10. Now add Curry Leaves and Coriander leaves to the Rasam, mix well.
11. Mix the Rasam using ladle and finally add Ghee, cook for a minute.
