My Yam Curry Recipe

This is a recipe that I put together for my friend Karissa years ago that I decided to rescue from my poor abandoned MySpace account that I should probably just go ahead and delete. This is more of a list of how I make this than an actual coherent recipe and it is definitely possible to reduce the quantity on it.

Ingredients:
2-3 large yams
1 diced large onion
2 diced tomatoes
1 cup fat free plain yogurt
mustard seeds
peanut oil - you can use other oil here, but this recipe is good w/ peanut
4 Thai chillis (you might wanna go fewer than that)
4 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of ginger
red chilli powder (to taste)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tsp ground corriander
5 or so curry leaves
1 clove or a little bit of ground cloves - don't go crazy with cloves or food=yuck
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
black mustard seeds
cumin (ground or whole)
These next ingredients are things you may have trouble finding anywhere but an Indian store. Dal doesn't add anything to the flavor really. It's more texture.
35g jaggery - You can use brown sugar to taste instead
urad dal
chana dal

1. Peel and cube yams. Cook in boiling water for 6-7 minutes until pretty much cooked but not mushy. Drain water and set yams aside
2. Food process garlic, ginger, and chillis together (this is not a normal thing to do. It's just what I do because it's easy. Don't breathe over the top of the food processor because chillis will burn the crap out of your lungs.)
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. of peanut oil over medium-low heat. Add a tsp. or so of mustard seeds. Add a few tsp. of urad dal if you have it. Also add cumin if you have whole cumin. When the urad dal is a little brown, or after a minute or so if you don't have urad dal, add curry leaves.
4. Add onions and food processed stuff and sautee for about 10 minutes/till onions are translucent.
5. Add salt, pepper, cumin if using ground, corriander, turmeric, cinnamon, clove, and jaggery/brown sugar
6. Raise heat to medium. Add tomatoes, about a cup of water, and chana dal if you have it. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, measure out yogurt and stir until smooth. Allow to sit out of fridge and come to around room temp.
7. Stir and cook for another 10 minutes adding more water if necessary. Continue cooking until tomatoes are mushy.
8. Lower heat to medium low. Stir in yogurt and cover. Let cook for about 5 minutes.
9. Stir in yams and cover, allowing to cook for another 10 minutes or so so that the yams absorb the flavor.

Rasam

Rasam is a South Indian soup that I love. It's great for colds...especially when you have a sore throat and can't taste anything because it's so spicy I guarantee you'll be able to taste it. This is the recipe I got from my friend's mother and it's awesome. I always make a ton of the rasam powder at once so that I have it ready when I get sick. I also always double the amount of rasam I make.

RASAM POWDER

1) DHANIA (coriander)--250 gms
2) PEPPER--------------------------------------50 gms
3) JEERA (cumin)-----------------------------------------50 gms
4) THUVAR DHALL----------------------------50 gms
5) DRY RED CHILLIES ----------------------20 NUMBERS

SLIGHTLY ROAST EACH ONE OF THE ABOVE INGREDIENTS. ITEM NO 4. THUVAR DHALL ROAST TILL SLIGHTLY REDDISH
GRIND EACH ITEM COARSELY EXCEPT JEERA. MIX ALL THE POWDER WITH JEERA AND GRIND ALL THE ITEMS TOGETHER. RASAM POWDER IS READY! STORE IN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER.



MAKING RASAM FROM RASAM POWDER

FIRST COOK 30 gms THUVAR DHALL WITH A PINCH OF TURMERIC POWDER IN WATER IN A PRESSURE COOKER.
PREPARE TAMARIND EXTRACT USING TAMARIND PASTE OR SMALL GOOSEBERRY SIZE TAMARIND ( 200 TO 250 ML TAMARIND WATER)

PREPARE TOMATO PUREE ONE BIG RED TOMATO

MIX TOMATO PUREE AND TAMARIND WATER IN A VESSEL AND HEAT IT .

ADD ONE TABLE SPOON RASAM POWDER AND LITTLE SALT

KEEP STIRRING WHILE HEATING THE CONTENTS IN SIM POSITION

IN ABT 10 TO 15 MINTS RASAM AROMA WILL COME

NOW MASH THE COOKED THUVAR DHALL AND MIX IT WITH THE LIQUID RASAM

HEAT FOR ANOTHER 5 MINUTES

THEN IN A SMALL PAN HEAT ONE SPOON OIL . PUT MUSTARD (black mustard seeds) , ASAFOETIDA ( IMPORTANT), JEERA SMALL QTY, AND ONE RED CHILLY (dried) AND FEW CURRY LEAVES. (In this part of the instructions she's talking about making popu)


MIX IT WITH RASAM

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Notes: I often add the juice from a few limes, or some okra or extra diced tomatoes when they're in season to the soup. You will need to go to an Indian grocery for many of these ingredients. Thuvar dahl is the same as toor dahl. Also, it is possible to use pre-ground coriander, cumin and pepper if you need to. I use more than one red chilli and some fresh ground pepper when making the actual soup because I like my food really spicy.

Serving suggestion: Pour over white rice