Pineapple rasam.

My friend had been talking about pineapple rasam. And I knew I wanted to make it soon. So one morning ,I decided to go & buy pineapple that is available on streets.The pineapple slices-6-7 pieces in a   plastic packet which sells for 10 bucks.I got one packet for this rasam.

I googled & found this recipe on veg recipes. I made it like the recipe with some differences.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup tur dal, 1 packet pineapple slices ( cost Rs 10 ), 1-2 tsps rasam powder, 1 /2 tsp jeera, 1/4 heaped tsp black peppercorns, 1 large tomato chopped fine & pureed in mixer, 1tbsp ghee, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 red dry chilly, 1/4 tsp powdered hing, 1/4 tsp haldi, few kadipattas,salt to taste.

Method : Pressure cook tur dal with haldi & hing for two whistles & then on slow gas for up to 10 minutes. Put off gas.after the cooker has cooled off, mash the tur dal Keep aside.

Take half of the sliced pineapple pieces & puree in mixer. Keep aside.

Remaining slices of pineapple are chopped finely & kept aside.

In small grinder jar, grind the jeera & black peppercorns to a coarse powder. Keep aside.

In a vessel, add 1 tbsp ghee.Put on gas. As the oil heats up, add mustard seeds. After they crackle, break the red chilly into some pieces & add to the oil.Add the curry leaves now. Now add the pureed tomatoes to the vessel.Allow it to come to a boil.Add salt. Mix nicely. Add the coarsely ground jeera black peppercorn mixture to the vessel,.Mix nicely with the tomato puree .Let it cook for a minute or two.Add the pineapple puree now. Mix nicely. Add the mashed tur dal now .Mix nicely.Add rasam powder now. Add water depending on the kind of rasam that is needed...thin or thick.

Add the finely chopped pineapple pieces to the rasam now. Bring it to boil.Put off gas.

Serve pinapple rasam with rice .

I forgot to add jeera pepper powder to the ghee in vagar & hence, added after tomato puree had boiled. And I added pineapple pieces at the end. In the recipe, these are added after tur dal is added.Maybe , if you follow recipe, it would turn out more flavorful.I have used smaller quantities of jeera & peppercorns as I am not used to very pungent flavours.

Vegan Lemon Cake

I had been thinking of making a lemon since a pretty long time. I had gone through many recipes. When I finally got down to making it, I choose two recipes....a vegan version & another an eggless version.

I took some steps from both the recipes & tweaked a little. Here is  my recipe.

Ingredients  :

Cake 
1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup maida , 2 tbsps flax seed powder, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup jaggery sugar ( Patanjali brand ) , 1/4 cup oil,1tsp lemon zest, 3 tbsp lemon juice, 1tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, a pinch of salt.

Icing : 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 cup powdered white sugar .

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.Line a baking vessel with butter paper. Keepa side.

Add 6-8 tbsps warm water to 3 tbsp flax seed meal .Mix nicely &  keep aside.This is the flax seed egg mix.

Mix all dry ingredients ..whole wheat flour, maida, baking powder, baking soda, salt.Mix all these with a spoon or fork or whisk many times over so that they get nicely mixed. This is the dry mix Keep aside.

Mix oil, apple cider vinegar nicely. Add the jaggery sugar to this mix. Some chunks of sugar may have to be broken up & mixed nicely. Add the lemon zest & lemon juice to the mix. Add the flax seed egg mix to this mix. Mix al;l nicely.This is the wet mix.

Make a hole in the dry mix & pour the wet mix into it .Mix both wet & dry mix nicely so that a batter is obtained.If the batter is not getting formed, add some water drop by drop. The batter formed must have idli batter consistency.

Bake in convection mode at 180 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes or till a toothpik inserted in cake comes out clean. I bake in microwave mode for 4-5 minutes  after this convection baking to ensure that cake is fully baked.

Take 2 tbsps lemon juice & add 1 cup powdered sugar to it. It will become like a white grainy liquid. Pour this over the cake after the cake has cooled & reached room temperature.The icing got so much that it was poured over the whole cake & so much so that not even a little space of cake was dry .

I should have used just 1 tbsp lemoin juice with 1/2 cup white powdered sugar. Cut the cake into desired shapes & serve.

The cake turned out fluffy, moist& soft. Yet, I found lemon zest wanting. Of course the lemon sugar icing taste makes up somewhat for the lemon zest !