Tomato baath

These days I find myself clicking pics and letting them stay in the drafts for a very long time. Work has been busy and even on days when it isn't, I find that I don't have the drive to sit down and type out a post. The blogging marathon seems thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifo be just the thing that brings me out of this phase every other month.
This week, you will find me blogging about traditional dishes with a twist. I took this topic up, because I find it challenging.....and a challenge is just what I need to start blogging again.
Today's recipe is tomato baath.....a very simple, colourful and flavourful dish. Now, you may wonder, what's the twist in this dish? Well, there's no rice in it. Ever since I made Bisi Bele Baath with broken wheat, I have been amazed by how well this grain lends itself to flavours that are traditionally used with rice. I intend to try out different rice dishes, substituting the rice with wheat rava.

What you need:
Wheat rava/samba godambu rava - 1 cup
Tomato - 4 juicy ripe medium sized, chopped
Onion - 1 large, chopped into large pieces
Green chilli - 2 or 3 (adjust to taste)
Ginger - a small piece, julienned
Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves, minced
Cinnamon - a 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 4 cloves
Clove - 4 or 5
Black peppercorns - 3 or 4
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (optional) - This chilli powder gives the dish a nice colour.
Salt - to taste
Oil/ghee - 2 tbsphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Corriander - to garnish

Grind the cardamom, clove, cinnamon, pepper, chillies, ginger, garlic, onion and tomato to a smooth paste. Heat the oil/ghee in a pressure cooker. Add a tsp of mustard seeds and some urad dal to the oil. When the seeds pop, add the ground paste and saute it in the oil for a few minutes until the raw smell is gone. Add the turmeric powder and chilli powder. Mix well. Now stir in the wheat rava. Add salt and four cups of water. Close the pressure cooker and cook until one whistle. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for another five minutes. When the steam settles down, open the lid, stir well and garnish with finely chopped corriander.
Serve hot with raita/pickle.
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Samba rava cutlet

A snack, google search tells me, is a small portion of food, as opposed to a traditional meal. To me, snacks are a meal. I prefer munching on snacks to proper sit down meals. Here is an easy-to-make snack which uses ingredients that are mostly available in an Indian kitchen. The recipe is from a cookery show on Vijay TV.
What you need:
Samba rava(wheat rava) - 1 cup
Potato - 3, medium sized, boiled, peeled and mashed
Carrot - 1, grated
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Green chilli - chopped
Ginger- a small piece, chopped fine
Garlic - a few cloves, minced
Corriander leaves - a few, chopped fine
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Oil - for deep frying

Soak samba rava in water for an hour. Drain. Squeeze out all the water and transfer to a large bowl. Mix all the other ingredients and knead well. Pinch out small balls of the dough, flatten between your palms and deep fry in hot oil until well browned on both sides.

This can be eaten as it is with some ketchup.
I sandwiched it,along with some raw onion, tomato, cheese and ketchup, between two slices of bread.

This goes to Priya's Bookmarked recipes-every Tuesday event.