If your toddler is anything like mine, chances are that travel plans send you in a frenzy of packing food. Did I say travel plans? I meant pretty much any plan that involves taking more than 100 feet outside your home. Like a switch had been turned on, A developed the typical picky toddler characteristics a week before she turned one. We have a vacation to Hawaii coming up, and I’m busy planning out her meals. In the next series, I’ll be sharing with you a bunch of travel-friendly recipes that you can prepare in advance and then use a microwave at your destination for final boiling / cooking, etc.
On a good day, my daughter is happy with a simple meal of rice-dal-rasam and veggies, finished with a bowl of yogurt. On a bad day, of course, she’ll eat anything between nothing and a handful of goldfish crackers. But when I travel, the optimist in me would like to aim at one balanced meal a day, and I believe firmly in a balanced meal of rice (starch), dal / steamed lentils (protein), rasam (spices which aid greatly in digestion), veggies and yogurt (dairy) form the perfect meal.
With that in mind, I’ve come up with an easy instant rasam / saar mix, which you can just mix with water and bring to a boil, and voila! Rasam on the go!
Ingredients:
dhaniya / coriander seeds – 1/4 cup
whole red chilli – 1/2 cup
whole black pepper – 1 tsp
jeera / cumin seeds – 1 tsp
mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
fenugreek seeds -1/4 tsp
toor dal / split pigeon pea – 1/2 cup
tamarind – key lime size ball or 1 tbsp
For tempering:
ghee – 1 tbsp
asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds: 1 tsp
cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Method:
- Roast the toor dal separately.
- Roast all the other ingredients together.
- Once all ingredients have cooled, grind them together to a fine powder
- Heat ghee. Once ghee is hot, add mustard seeds. Allow them to crackle, and then add cumin seeds and asafeotida.
- Mix tempering with rasam powder
- When you want to prepare the rasam, mix 1 cup water, 1 tsp rasam powder (or to taste), 1 finely chopped tomato, salt to taste and bring to a boil.
- Your rasam is ready! Serve with hot rice.