Mundane Musings

I'm presently sitting contently in front of my laptop, trying to meet some work deadlines. But all I can think of is the delicious lunch I have had an hour ago. If there is indeed a temporary heaven for gastronomically satisfied bellies and stuffed hearts then mine would already have found a place there; instead of trying to sit and make sense of words in a document and put that into some sense. The meal was a simple, home-cooked fare - rice, nachikota keerai sambar , potato fry, tomato rasam and curds. I shall leave humility aside and accept that it was a good day in the kitchen and all items were very tasty. Every element was a lip smacking addition to our meal, which by itself should have elevated the lunch to nirvana status. But for me it was the combination of the various elements on my plate that contributed to a perfect mouthful. The pairing of the right dishes that look ubiquitous on the plate but transcend all expectations when they touch the tongue and give that sock ...

Now that I have started to cook again after a brief hiatus, my blog posts on cooking should get filled up a bit and my camera skills should improve too. It's funny how I almost forgot how easy and satisfying it is to make mundane recipes. So I have started to record my exploits (ahem) in the kitchen and shall post a few recipes which I feel absolutely obliged to share. This thakkali rasam or tomato rasam recipe is mummy's, as is virtually most of the recipes I refer to for regular cooking.. What I love about this rasam is it's tangy taste from fresh tomatoes accompanied by the pungent taste of crushed garlic. Oh and how can I forget? I love it because it is so insanely easy to make and needs practically zero oil. One moment there I was boiling the tomatoes and the next moment I found myself seasoning the rasam. It took me probably 15 minutes to make this yummilicious concoction, despite not having a ready-made rasam powder and having to boil and cool the tomatoes. Ba...