Working and Cooking after marriage is really tough. I am really feeling the pressure during the peek morning hours. So I decided to plan ahead and find some easy ways to solve this problem. My husband is so sweet to get me a huge side by side refrigerator for me as my wedding gift. I didn't start yet to use it completely, but the time has come now. I thought of using the freezer as my friend and take advantage of it completely. I have started to find new tricks and techniques which makes my life easier. I have started freezing everything.
A freezer is the best friend of a busy cook. You can freeze pretty much anything. They will keep everything fresh for a long time. So whenever you feel sick or feel not to cook anything, then freezer comes in handy for you all. I have started to stock foods in my freezer to make my life simpler. One of the saviour is this rasam mix, I am completely love with this idea. During busy morning the first thing which comes to your mind is making rasam for lunch, but due to the constant power cut in the morning I am finding it difficult to grind stuff for that. At first I thought of grinding the ingrediants(garlic, chilli and cumin) needed for the rasam and freeze it. Then I thought why not make rasam mix and freeze it. I got into action and found this method to be very useful.
So thought of sharing this with you all. What is your way of freezing foods, I would love to hear from you all. I will share more of my freezing techniques with you all in my coming post.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 6 large chopped
Tamarind - 1 big lemon size ball
Rasam powder - 3 tblspn
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1 tblspn
For Crushing:
Garlic - 2 whole heads
Dry Red Chilli - 10
Cumin Seeds / Jeerakam - 2 tsp
For Tempering:
Oil - 1/2 cup
Mustard Seeds / kaduku - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds / Jeerakam - 1 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds / Methi - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chilli - 4
Asafoetida / Hing / Kaya podi - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a handful
Method:
Take tomatoes in a blender and make into a fine puree.
Take garlic, cumin and chilli in a blender and crush it, I used my mini food processor.
Take tamarind in a bowl and soak it in a cup of water for 15 mins, Squeeze with your hands and strain it.
Heat oil in a pan. Add all the ingrediants given in the tempering list and cook for a min.
Add in the crushed garlic mixture and saute for a min.
Add in the tomato puree and mix well. Cook for 5 mins.
Add in rasam powder, salt , sugar and tamarind puree. Mix well. Cover and simmer for 20-30 mins.
Cook this mixture till oil separates from this.
Now take it off the heat and allow to cool down.
Now take individual freeze containers and divide this mixture in to that. Cover with the lid and label it with name and the date of freezing.
Transfer it to the freezer.
How to make Rasam using the mix:
When you need, take the container out of the freezer and defrost it for a min in microwave. Transfer it to a kadai and add enough water and seasoning. Bring it to a boil and garnish with coriander leaves. serve with rice.
Important Points to remember before freezing :
1.Don't add too much water to this mixture while cooking. The mixture should be thick.
2.Cook the mixture till oil floats on top.
3.Cool the mixture completely before freezing.
4.Use freezer safe container for freezing to avoid freezer burn.
5.Freeze rasam mix in individual portion, so that it will be easy to defrost.
6.Do not refreeze the thawed mixture.
7.Labeling of the container is a must. This will help you to know about the stuff which you freezed.
8.This can be stored in the freezer for upto a month.