Comfort Foods - FMR - Rice with Rasam, Dal and Egg Curry

Mashed rice with rasam, dal with egg curry - My comfort food - My entry for From My Rasoi #7

I had not left home until I was 23. At 23 I was sent to Germany for some client implementation. I was very scared to stay alone let alone speaking in german and helping in the implementaion. I was so naive to tell my client that I cannot stay in a hotel after I reached there. My client was such a nice person and offered to take me to his home and stay there for the rest of the trip. He and his wife, took such good care of me but I just could not eat german food. I was even scared to ask him to take me to a grocery stores because he was the person signing contracts for our company and I dare not mess up with him.. And he has made a big favour and let me be in his house as a guest...The entire trip was for just 12 days - so I survived on apple juice and whatever little german food I could eat !!

When it was time to go home, I called up my mother and I guessed my mother read my mind through the phone that she asked me what I wanted to eat - when I reached home.
Pat came the reply -

Amma, paruppu sadam rasam muttai poriyal ma ( dhal rice with rasam and egg curry ) !!

I reached home around midnight and did I sleep without eating !!!!! What else could be my comfort food ???

Its the simplicity of rasam and its uniqueness that each amma has a different recipe - An ideal way to connect to home for me is through food especially rasam. Here is my mothers' recipe for rasam.

Ingredients :
- juice extracted from one lemon sized tamarind

- one large tomato preferably vine-ripe

- two red chillies ( more if u need more spicy )

- 1 tablespoon jeera, pepper powder

- two garlic whacked

- fistful of coriander
- 1 tablespoon gingelly oil
- for seasoning a tsp each of cumin, mustard, curry leaves

Ingredients of rasam ( above ), rasam boiling in chatti-clay pot ( below )

1. Heat oil and season it with cumin, mustard, curry leaves and red chillies
2. Crush and squeeze together with your hands - whacked garlic, tomato, tamarind juice and two cups of water.
3. Add the squeezed mixture to the seasoned oil, add the jeera pepper powder and allow it to boil
4. When the rasam foams on top add coriander
5. Mash cooked rice with rasam and daal and enjoy with egg curry .

So what is your comfort food ??