Paal Payasam Recipe

Well this is an adapted version of a recipe that I read some where. I tried it as an experiment and it was awesome. I made 3 payasams for our this year's (2009) onam. Adapradhaman, aval payasam and pal payasam. Everyone liked pal payasam more than the others.
Here it goes.
Take one glass of redrice (matta rice)
I would recommend to wash the rice and soak it a while so that it becomes easy to cook. Otherwise some brands are difficult to cook well. anyways it's upto your choice.

Cook rice with enough milk (instead of water use the same amount of milk) in a cooker. (you can cook it as usual with closed lid and whistle) Once its cooked open the lid and add enough sugar and boil for some more time. This makes the payasam more tasty. The more it boils, the better. You can add milk if you require. Once you feel the rice is cooked properly then add 1 medium size tin condensed milk and boil for 3-4 minutes. Add crushed cardamoms and put off the fire. Heat ghee and fry cashew nuts and raisins in golden colour and garnish.

My family and friends loved it. Hope you will love this too.

Lessons on Life -Moral Story

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and ! come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them ! that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

Simple & Easy Tomato Rasam Recipe

Here is the recipe of a simple and easy tomato rasam. This is been given to me by my friend gisha. I don’t like the taste of the typical kerala rasam recipes and she made this one for me. Very nice

1. Sliced medium size tomato – 3-4nos
2. Whole red chilli (dried) – cut half
3. Green chilli –according to your taste
4. Ginger mashed -1 piece
5. Garlic sliced – 4-5 big pods
6. Turmeric powder
7. Curry leaves
8. Hing power (kayam)
9. Salt 

Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds, then add Whole red chilly + Green chilly, ginger mashed, garlic (sliced) + thin sliced tomato + turmeric powder + salt + curry leaves and sauté well. Add hing powder. once tomato is almost like half gravy add enough water and boil. Put off the fire in 2-3 minutes.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve