In Sickness until Health :)
Vani's Miriyala Chaaru (Pepper
Rasam)
We finally have a weekend to ourselves and Tapi is down with fever =( It is really distressing seeing him lying on a couch, not being himself. But we watched a lot of TV together and it was fun. We really liked Night Shyamalan's The Village. Not sure why it got dissed by the critics. I thought it was super brilliant. It had a very intriguing storyline, it was suspenseful as hell, and had an unexpected ending. I liked everything about it, the look, the feel, the eeriness.
As we were watching The Village, Tapi suddenly started craving miriyala charu. In the five years that we've lived together, this is the first time I heard him mention it, let alone miss it. I learnt that it is "very peppery" and "quite good". So with these two important clues, I set out to look for an authentic miriyala charu recipe. This one, on Vani's Batasari blog had an interesting bit about how pepper was THE indian spice before the Spanish brought red chillies to the subcontinent. As I read it, I thought Vani either knows her chaarus or must love them to death. So I tried hers and it came out quite well.
I am terrible at following instructions and always end up doing my thing, but I think I followed her "roasted and ground coarse powder" steps to the word. I couldn't bring myself to add garlic to rasam (even if it is called chaaru, such sacrilege as adding garlic, no can do!). I also added a teeny bit of my mother-in-law's chaaru powder because the recipe seemed to lack a certain something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. In the end, it was AWESOME! Thanks Vani, you have earned one more fan to your blog. :)
Tapi's Aloo (Potato) Fry
I also made Tapi's favorite Aloo Fry, which is basically fried potatoes seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper. Good Stuff.
The version I grew up eating also has a teeny pinch of turmeric and asafoetida.
Chai
(i forgot to take a picture :( )
Typically, when either of us are sick we have loads of chai. I think it is a superstitious belief that it relieves sore throat, but I think it only soothes the throat as long as you are drinking it. So here's what it takes to make awesome chai
Loads of ginger
Loads of cardamom
Indian Mamri Tea
Loads of milk
Loads of Sugar
All boiled to perfection and served with Indian biscuits.
* I noticed how most people add cinnamon and black pepper to the tea. But I'm not a big fan. I do add honey sometimes, but Tapi doesn't like it.
We finally have a weekend to ourselves and Tapi is down with fever =( It is really distressing seeing him lying on a couch, not being himself. But we watched a lot of TV together and it was fun. We really liked Night Shyamalan's The Village. Not sure why it got dissed by the critics. I thought it was super brilliant. It had a very intriguing storyline, it was suspenseful as hell, and had an unexpected ending. I liked everything about it, the look, the feel, the eeriness.
As we were watching The Village, Tapi suddenly started craving miriyala charu. In the five years that we've lived together, this is the first time I heard him mention it, let alone miss it. I learnt that it is "very peppery" and "quite good". So with these two important clues, I set out to look for an authentic miriyala charu recipe. This one, on Vani's Batasari blog had an interesting bit about how pepper was THE indian spice before the Spanish brought red chillies to the subcontinent. As I read it, I thought Vani either knows her chaarus or must love them to death. So I tried hers and it came out quite well.
I am terrible at following instructions and always end up doing my thing, but I think I followed her "roasted and ground coarse powder" steps to the word. I couldn't bring myself to add garlic to rasam (even if it is called chaaru, such sacrilege as adding garlic, no can do!). I also added a teeny bit of my mother-in-law's chaaru powder because the recipe seemed to lack a certain something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. In the end, it was AWESOME! Thanks Vani, you have earned one more fan to your blog. :)
Tapi's Aloo (Potato) Fry
I also made Tapi's favorite Aloo Fry, which is basically fried potatoes seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper. Good Stuff.
The version I grew up eating also has a teeny pinch of turmeric and asafoetida.
Chai
(i forgot to take a picture :( )
Typically, when either of us are sick we have loads of chai. I think it is a superstitious belief that it relieves sore throat, but I think it only soothes the throat as long as you are drinking it. So here's what it takes to make awesome chai
Loads of ginger
Loads of cardamom
Indian Mamri Tea
Loads of milk
Loads of Sugar
All boiled to perfection and served with Indian biscuits.
* I noticed how most people add cinnamon and black pepper to the tea. But I'm not a big fan. I do add honey sometimes, but Tapi doesn't like it.
